Published:  00:00 Tuesday - September 14, 2010

Vietnam's first international film festival will be held in Hanoi from October 17-21 to celebrate the capital's millennium, said Le Ngoc Minh, deputy director of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's Cinema Department.

Thirty cinematic works by Asian directors in three categories, including feature films, documentaries and short films, will be screened during the festival.

Competitive entries will include both celluloid features and documentaries produced within the last two years. Entries may or may not have been screened already, but they should not have been broadcast on television or the internet.

Eight award categories will include best feature, best short film, best documentary, best director, best actor, best actress, the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) prize, and the Journalists prize.

Three conferences on Vietnamese cinema will be held during the festival, including Solutions to Enhance Production of Vietnamese Films, Vietnam – an Attractive Environment for Producing Films, and Building a Vietnamese Cinema Industry.

Two Vietnamese feature films will participate in the competition: Trung Uy (Lieutenant) by director Ha Son and Long Thanh Cam Gia Ca (A Song about a Musician in the Thang Long Citadel) by director Dao Ba Son.

The feature film jury will include Australian director Phillip Noyce, director of the Venice Film Festival Marco Muller, French cameraman Francois Catonne, actress Kang Su-yeon from the Republic of Korea, and Vietnamese director Dang Nhat Minh.

Jury members for the short film and documentary categories will include French cameraman Mathieu Poirot Delpech and Vietnamese director Bui Dinh Hac.

Aruna Vasudev, the founder and President of NETPAC, Philippine director Doy Del Mundo, and Vietnamese cinema critic Ngo Phuong Lan will sit on the NETPAC prize jury. Journalists who cover cinema will sit on the Journalists Award panel.

Films will be screened at the National Cinema Centre, MegaStar Cinema branches and Cine Complex. Some films will also be screened outdoors in the King Ly Thai To Garden and in the square in front of the Hanoi Opera House.

The opening and closing ceremonies will be held at the National Convention Centre on October 17 and 21, respectively.

A music gala will be held for participants at the Temple of Literature.

Three outdoor photo exhibitions will also be held in the city centre during the festival.