VAS Students Film Festival of 2016
The festival took place in a lively atmosphere with anticipation hanging in the air and we were touched by the interesting behind-the-scenes stories, profound footage and the meaningful comments offered by the judges. Although this was their first experience with cinematographic projects, the VAS students had expressed their confidence, artistic talents, technical excellence and coordinated teamwork in creating and completing these short films.
Eight months after its implementation, the VAS organizing committee had received a total of 8 final products submitted from a variety of our campuses. Each product was a tremendous achievement from the high school students familiarizing themselves with the Seventh Art. In particular, the committee highly appreciated the movies, "Lights Off" from the Hoang Van Thu Campus, "The Farewell of the Dolls" from the Sunrise Campus and "That Day" also from the Sunrise Campus. The students not only transferred the original works correctly but also expressed their points of view and their creativity with their acting skills shining through their character interpretations, the meaningful context and the strategic input of hypothetical situations drawing the viewers' emotions into each of the productions.
The Literature Department plays a very important role in shaping the feelings and the perceptions of our students. However, the substance of literature is language, being intangible symbols which must be felt in an indirect way. Meanwhile, the expressive features of sights and sounds that make up movies is tangible. Therefore, the transfer from a written literary work to that of a film not only requires the students to display their role-playing capabilities, incorporate their emotional experiences and empathize with those of the characters’, but also it is an opportunity for the students to discover the manifold interrelationships between literary language and that of the language of film as the first step to getting used to such transitions. As an additional benefit, the projects also help the students to feel the beauty of the language and immerse themselves in literary works as well as sharpen their own communication skills in these kinds of group activities.
The final results of the festival are: second prize was awarded to the film "Lights Off" (HVT), "The Farewell of the Dolls" (SR) and "That Day" (SR); third prize went to the film "Mrs. Dau" (SR), and "The Nanchang Lady" (BTH). Consolation prizes were awarded to the film "Tam Cam" (TCV), "Tam Cam" (SR) and "Saigon in Me" (BTH). Besides rewarding the individual film efforts, the organizing committee also awarded the best male and female actor in both leading and supporting roles, best director, best cameraman, best screenplay and best original music.
