From July 22-24, 190 cinema clusters nationwide will simultaneously organize two complimentary daily screenings at 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. These sessions are explicitly designated to serve esteemed veterans, contributors to the revolution, policy beneficiary families, the armed forces, Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union members, youths, students, and the general public at large.
The novel highlight of this year’s Film Week is that, for the very first time, the entire commercial cinema system is collectively participating in a nationwide free screening program dedicated to serving a political mission. Currently, the National Cinema Center, alongside 13 enterprises specializing in film distribution, dissemination, and theater operations, has officially confirmed their enthusiastic participation.
Running parallel to the commercial theater network, the Vietnam Cinema Department (under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) is actively collaborating with provincial Departments of Culture and Sports, local arts and culture centers, Viettel Telecom, TV360, the state-run cinema system, and mobile screening teams. Together, they’re organizing numerous screenings to serve the populace, particularly focusing on remote, isolated, border, and island regions.
Sharing his thoughts on the highly anticipated event, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong stated that the Film Week is an exceptionally profound cultural activity with deep political and social significance. He elaborated that it substantially contributes to educating the patriotic tradition while widely spreading the moral philosophies of “repaying gratitude” and “He who drinks from the well should remember the digger.”
According to Deputy Minister Ta Quang Dong, the fact that the entire commercial theater network is participating in the program for the first time stands as a rock-solid testament to the collective collaboration among management agencies, corporate enterprises, and the film industry. Their unified goal is to bring genuinely valuable cinematic works much closer to the mass public.
Alongside the screenings, the Film Week also features interactive exchange programs connecting talented artists and film crews directly with eager audiences in Hanoi, HCMC, Ha Tinh Province, and Quang Tri Province. These events are also combined with solemn incense-offering ceremonies at local martyrs’ cemeteries, the release of floating flower lanterns on the Thach Han River, and the thoughtful presentation of gifts to policy beneficiary families.
The commercial cinema system’s synchronized participation in the Film Week commemorating the 79th anniversary of War Invalids and Martyrs’ Day marks a monumental shift in the distribution of state-commissioned films. Decree 189/2026/ND-CP, which officially took effect on July 15, has successfully forged a robust legal corridor to mobilize enterprises into disseminating works serving political missions, essentially unlocking a fresh mechanism to bring state-produced films closer to everyday citizens.
For Director Dang Tran Cuong of the Vietnam Cinema Department, the past struggles of state films were highly palpable. He explained that previously, state-commissioned films such as “Peach, Pho and Piano” encountered severe hurdles during commercial distribution because the entirety of their generated revenue had to be remitted straight to the state budget.
The revamped mechanism now allows distributing entities to fully account for all film dissemination expenses right before fulfilling their strict budget remittance obligations. This highly practical framework has miraculously created the optimal conditions for the National Cinema Center as well as 13 film distribution and theater businesses to enthusiastically join this year’s Film Week.
The Vietnam Cinema Department Director observed that the ongoing commercial release of the film “Sound across the Ocean” also serves as a golden opportunity to test the entire new mechanism in real-world scenarios. From the initial distribution phase, precise cost accounting, and revenue sharing all the way down to the final settlement of funds owed to the state budget, everything will be operated synchronously to precisely evaluate any potential bottlenecks that might unexpectedly arise.
The ultimate rollout results will serve as a rock-solid foundation to continually refine the process, strictly ensuring the new mechanism can be applied effectively for future state-commissioned films. After all, the primary objective isn’t merely maximizing revenue, but rather flawlessly guaranteeing that state-ordered cinematic works can reach the population as widely as humanly possible.
However, it’s worth noting that the regulatory untangling currently halts right at the distribution phase. In the production stage, mobilizing social resources still hits a stubborn snag, primarily because existing mechanisms don’t permit the State to co-invest capital alongside private enterprises to seamlessly execute large-scale cinematic projects.
Therefore, it’s absolutely essential to carefully study and thoughtfully amend the Cinema Law related regulations to fully perfect the public-private partnership mechanism in film production. This bold move will create conditions for both the State and ambitious enterprises to jointly invest in high-quality works dedicated to serving crucial political missions.
“Decree 189 heavily focuses on two core components of actively encouraging organizations and individuals to participate in distributing state-commissioned films, while simultaneously stipulating a robust revenue-sharing mechanism after carefully deducting reasonable expenses. This is officially the first time the film industry has operated a combined mechanism with the commercial distribution system to widely disseminate state-ordered films on a national scale.”
Director Dang Tran Cuong of the Vietnam Cinema Department
