When talking to the local press recently, you said that producers and directors seem to hesitate to make historical dramas. It is costly to make that kind of movie, and producers and directors fear that movies may face strong opposition from the public if they accidentally relate wrong stories about history. Do you think this hinders directors’ creativity, and is that why there have been very few historical dramas in Vietnam? 

The current policies show that the state supports and encourages films with historical topics, and I believe it is one of the important targets for Vietnam’s cinema. As in literature and other arts, movies need to restore history and disseminate history to Vietnamese people. It would be dangerous if people forget history, make mistakes and betray history.

For many years, we have had a rigid and forced viewpoint when making films or composing literature works with historical topics. We ourselves set barriers to limit our creativity. This is because we don’t have enough materials to confirm how historical figures lived, what they ate and wore, how they loved and thought.

Creativity is limited in filmmaking because we are afraid of creativity. We fear that some people who have historical knowledge may criticize that the historic events shown in the films are not right and they did not happen in the past. However, it is necessary to differentiate artistic movies from documentary films. When making artistic works, we have to create a space and life to serve the figures and the historic events, thus deepening the personalities and the events that we mention. 

When working on a historical figure such as Ho Chi Minh, we need to detail everything to prepare for the character, including language, thoughts, activities, dreams and worries, to reconstruct the image of a great man. 

Talking about Ho Chi Minh, we must show the simplest things. It is that simplicity plus big dreams and extraordinary actions that makes a great man. 

If we only build a character as a great man from the way he dresses, speaksand walks, we will fail. That is the reason we failed when making many artistic pieces, both in literature and cinema, with historical topics for many years.

Love a person, and be confident enough to create the person and make the character deeper, more beautiful and greater.

But in reality, some historical dramas with creative content to make characters more attractive have been minutely dissected by critics. Many people raised their voice criticizing the content. ‘Dat rung  PhuongNam’ (Song of the South) which hit screen last year is an example.

The most important thing is that in creativity, it must not betray history, distort the time of events, space and purposes. For example, the nature of the August Revolution is national liberation, and film directors will distort history if describing it as an impromptu uprising of people. 

If the film can express the desire for freedom of a nation, of each person, and if the creativity serves the spirit, the film will be a masterpiece.

I have a big aspiration and a film script I am writing, about Co Loa citadel. America has made a very good film about Troy citadel. However, I believe that if considering the ideology and the fate of humanity, Troy is not comparable with Co Loa. 

I met an American filmmaker and when he heard about my Co Loa project, he was very surprised. He suggested that I write a script and translate it into English, and then come to the US to meet with the biggest film studios to ask them to invest money to make a film about CoLoa citadel.

This means that you don’t intend to make the film with Vietnamese directors?

I still cannot think of any director who can recreate the spirit and ideology of Co Loa citadel. We also don’t have money to build a Co Loa citadel.

We have only little information about Co Loa history and we need to make a film with a lot of creativity based on the information about that period, the Vietnamese people and culture, traditional customs and soil, as well as other matters.

My Anh