Nominations for the 2017 Golden Lotus Bud Awards have been announced for three categories - short films, teen films and documentaries.

A scene from Unweekend, directed by Do Tuan Anh.

There are seven documentary nominees, seven short-film nominees and five teen film nominees selected from 83 documentaries, 25 short films and 18 films produced by secondary school students.

With the theme of Kaleidoscope, the awards respect the diversity in people’s personalities and points of view.

The films selected are each 12-20 minutes long. Film budget limits were set at VNĐ5 million (US$250) per film.

The nominated films will be screened free-of-charge during the first week of October at Công Nhân (Workers) Theatre, 42 Trang Tien Street in Hanoi. The award ceremony will be held on October 22 at the same venue.

The annual award has been organised by Assistance and Development of Movie Talents (TPD) since 2009. The event features the best short documentaries and short films, all made by participants in the We Are Filmmakers Project (WAFM).

WAFM is a long-term programme to encourage young people to become involved in filmmaking. It was launched in 2002 by the Hanoi-based TPD.

It is a forum for them to share the passion, experience and opinions of making films. 

The awards are judged by Oscar-winning director Mark Jonathan Harris, director Arnaud Soulier and film maker Julie Beziau. 

VNS