'Revealing' unprecedented scenario at DANAFF III

The 3rd Danang Asian Film Festival (DANAFF III) is a festival with outstanding development in terms of scale, duration and program content with an unprecedented series of events.

Following the success of previous festivals, DANAFF III will feature many unprecedented activities.

PHOTO: HOANG SON

Impressive days with cinema

After 2 successful seasons and being honored in the top 10 typical cultural events of 2023 and 2024 (voted bySports - Culture Newspaper ), the 3rd Da Nang Asian Film Festival - 2025 (DANAFF III) organized by the Vietnam Film Promotion Association (VFDA) in coordination with the People's Committee of Da Nang City will officially take place from June 29 to July 5. Compared to the previous 2 seasons, from 5 days of official operation, DANAFF III increased the film festival time to 7 days. The total number of films selected for the programs is more than 100 films (compared to 46 films of DANAFF I and 63 films of DANAFF II). The number of film screenings increased to about 200 (compared to 100 films of the previous season).

Impressive days with cinema

In particular, this year's program content has been expanded with many new highlights, notably the launch of the "Asian Cinema Panorama" program, which selects outstanding and successful Asian cinema works at international film festivals in the past year, along with films selected by DANAFF for their premiere. Within the framework of the program, this year also marks the first appearance of the "Asian Film Critics Award".

The Organizing Committee (OC) of DANAFF III also coordinated with relevant agencies of Korea to select and introduce 14 typical works, produced from the 60s of the 20th century to the present through the program "Imprints of Korean cinema through each period of time". Including 3 films by veteran Korean filmmaker Im Kwon-taek. In particular, along with the screening activity is the seminar "Korean cinema: Lessons from international success and experience in developing the film industry" with the participation of international experts, Korea and Vietnam; delegates from film studios; representatives of film schools, universities with film studies majors from Korea, the US, Vietnam...

According to the assessment, Vietnamese and Korean cinema have many similarities in the themes and language of films in the 60s and 70s of the 20th century. However, since the 90s of the last century, Korean cinema has made great strides, leaving a strong mark on the international cinema map. From that reality, the conference is expected to bring practical experiences and valuable reference values ​​to the cinemas in the region.

The Organizing Committee representative introduced the shirt with the traditional DANAFF logo printed on it at the press conference on June 3.

Create a playground to nurture talent

The Organizing Committee added that within the framework of the film festival, there is also the "DANAFF Talents - DANAFF Potential Talents" activity with a series of training and connecting activities, developing film projects for young, promising talents in the field of cinema. In particular, marking a new development step at DANAFF III is the "Project Incubator" program, which was organized for the first time as a key activity with 2 main categories, including: Asian Art Film Project (Art-house Film Project) and Vietnamese Film Project of various genres (Genre Film Project). From the series of submitted projects, the Organizing Committee has selected 14 potential projects to participate in the development round.

The "Project Incubator" is also a 4-day intensive learning space for the workshop - where filmmaking groups are advised by prestigious international experts, such as: Mr. Christian Jeune (Director of Film Selection, Vice President of Cannes Film Festival), Mr. Kim Min Young (Producer of the film Quất Mộ Trung Ma ), Ms. Isabelle Glachant (Producer of many films by Vương Tiểu Soái). The "Project Incubator" also receives support from prestigious film funds in the region, contributing to practical support for Vietnamese film projects in the initial stages. In particular, the best project in the Asian Art Film category will receive a prize worth 8,000 Euro; the best project in the Vietnamese Films of All Genres category will receive a prize worth 5,000 USD.

In addition, DANAFF III continues to maintain the "Talent Nurturing" workshop on acting with 2 classes, a total of 50 young talents from Vietnam, Japan, and Korea. 2025 is also the year that witnessed the largest presence of young acting talents in Da Nang and the Central region. In addition, there is also a seminar "Discovering and nurturing film talents: International experience and Vietnam's solutions" bringing together lecturers, artists and experts to discuss strategies for developing high-quality human resources for the film industry in the context of integration.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Thi, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Da Nang City, added that with the slogan "DANAFF - Asian Bridge", DANAFF III also has many new and attractive activities, such as: Film project market, exhibition of scenes filmed in Da Nang, selected film screening program "Half a century of Vietnamese films about war" introducing 22 typical works... "We hope that DANAFF III will continue to bring a creative art space, where filmmakers, directors, actors gather, exchange, share and inspire. We hope that through this event, the image of Da Nang - a young, dynamic, friendly city with great potential for developing the cultural industry will be widely introduced to international friends", Ms. Thi emphasized.

26 competing films, 2 competition categories

Following DANAFF II, this year's Cinema Achievement Award will honor an outstanding Asian filmmaker who has made many contributions to the development of cinema. DANAFF III continues to maintain activities that have become hallmarks of previous seasons, such as: the opening ceremony, closing ceremony and award ceremony broadcast live on VTV; 2 categories of competing films, including: Asian Film Competition (14 films) and Vietnamese Film Competition (12 films); the program "Today's Vietnamese Cinema" with 18 new Vietnamese films produced in the past year.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/he-lo-kich-ban-chua-tung-co-tai-danaff-iii-18525062008264685.htm