The earliest films were produced by the French and periodically films are discovered and returned to the Vietnamese film archives.Vietnamese film makers started directing films in the 1920s under the banner of the Huong Ky Film Company. They started with documentaries and silent films but by the late 1930s were producing feature films. Cinemas were built and 100s of foreign films dubbed into Vietnamese were shown each year.
The Ministry of Information and Propaganda was inaugurated in 1945 and the film makers, working under incredibly difficult conditions on the battlefield, produced documentary footage used to support the war efforts. With the help of Eastern Europe, the film industry in the north of Vietnam produced some great documentaries and docudramas which won awards at film festivals.
The Quiet American by Graham Greene was filmed in 1957 in Saigon and predicted the expansion of the war. Later, Hollywood jumped on the bandwagon and hundreds of films from the western perspective were made.
In the late 1980s, with the move to a market economy the Vietnamese film industry lost a lot of its funding and there was a sharp decline in the number of films made. Indochine and The Lover were the first western films shot in Vietnam, and they paved the way for other foreign film makers.
Recently, Vietnamese films have stretched the censors sensibilities. Notable contemporary films include, When the 10th Month Comes (about family responsibilities), Sand Lives, Long Legged Girls, Heaven’s Net (about corruption), Bar Girls (the dangers of HIV) and Living in Fear (about farmers and land mine dangers)
Co-productions with Overseas Vietnamese directors have been well represented at film festivals and have done well at the box office. They include The Scent of Green Papaya, Cyclo, Vertical Ray of the Sun, Three Seasons, Buffalo Boy and The Rebel.
The Hanoi Cinemateque, 22A Hai Ba Trung has a summer film festival highlighting films by Vietnamese or about Vietnam.

The Cinemateque
22A Hai Ba Trung
At the end of the alley for Artists Hotel
Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
T: (04) 3936 2648
info2@hanoicinema.org
Art house cinema. Membership 200,000 vnd/year. Tickets by donation.

Fansland
87 Ly Thuong Kiet
Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
T: (04) 3942 4484
Most films dubbed into Vietnamese

Goethe Institut
68 Nguyen Thai Hoc
Ba Dinh, Hanoi
T: (04) 3734 2251
F: (04) 3734 2254
info@hanoi.goethe.org
www.goethe.de/hanoi

Japan Foundation Centre
27 Quang Trung
Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
T: (04) 3944 7419/20
www.jpf.com.vn  
CDs and music videos for use in the centre

Korean Cultural Centre
25 Nguyen Du
Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi
T: (04) 3944 5980
DVDs of Korean films to watch at their centre

L’espace
24 Trang Tien
Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
T: (04) 3936 2164
F: (04) 3936 21605
contact@espace.ccfhanoi.org
www.ifhanoi-lespace.com

MegaStar Cineplex
VinCom Tower, 6th floor
191 Ba Trieu
Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi
T: (04) 3974 3333/3156
F: (04) 3974 3160
vct@megastarmedia.net
www.megastarmedia.net/en
Films in the original language with Vietnamese subtitles
45,000 (child) to 85,000vnd 

National Cinema Centre
87 Lang Ha
Dong Da, Hanoi
T: (04) 3514 2278/3514 1716/3514 1114
Foreign and Vietnamese films usually dubbed into Vietnamese

TPD Movie Centre
22A Hai Ba Trung
Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
T: (04) 3936 6559
F: (04) 3936 6582
tpdmovie@gmail.com
www.tpdmovie.com.vn
For 50,000 vnd per year you can watch DVDs on their large screen DVD players. 2000 films to choose from in many languages. Bring 2 photos.

Vietnam Film Centre
51 Trang Hung Dao
Hoan Kiem, Hanoi

VIDEOS / DVDs
Cyclo
Hearts and Minds
Heaven and Earth
Hitchhiking Vietnam (1997) 
Indochine
Long Legged Girls (The)
Nostalgia for the Countryside
Quiet American (The)
Rebel (The)
Reget to Inform
Sand Lives (Vietnamese)
Scent of Green Papaya (The)
Song of the South (6 hour series)
Three Seasons
Traveling Circus
Vietnam Passage (PBS Doc.2002)
Vietnam’s Unseen War. Pictures from the Other Side. National Geographic 2002
When the Tenth Month Comes (must see)
Some films can be purchased at The Cinemateque, 22A Hai Ba Trung