Victor Vu

Victor Vu
Born (1975-11-25) November 25, 1975
North Hollywood, California, U.S.
Occupation Director, producer, writer
Years active 1997 - present

Victor Vu (born November 25, 1975) is a Vietnamese American film director and screenwriter. Vu has won Vietnamese awards and commercial success while also embroiled in plagiarism and dishonesty scandals. Along with critical acclaims, news media and public opinion have also accused him of plagiarism when similarities to foreign films come to light; in particular, Vietnamese regulators found Vu's film Inferno to have copied Hollywood's 1991 film Shattered. This resulted in Inferno's disqualification from Vietnam's Golden Kite Awards.

Life and career

Born and raised in Southern California, Vu earned his BA in film production from Loyola Marymount University. He has directed Passport to Love, Battle of the Brides, Blood letter,[1] Spirits – Oan Hon,[2] First Morning, Inferno – Giao Lo Dinh Menh, Scandal (2012).[3] and Vengeful Heart (2014) (Vietnamese: Quả Tim Máu). His social drama Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass, co-funded by Vietnam's Cinema Department, is based on Nguyen Nhat Anh's best-selling novel.[4][5]

Vu was investigated— in Vietnam's first such case—by Vietnamese cinema regulators for plagiarism, after the Vietnamese news media and public accused his film Inferno of being a copy of Wolfgang Petersen's film Shattered.[6] A televised news report in Vietnam claimed that Inferno was up to 90% similar to the Hollywood film Shattered.[7]

Vu's press conference to counter accusations of plagiarism- Vu held a press conference in Vietnam to deny plagiarizing the movie Shattered but it was perceived in Vietnam as a dishonest whitewashing attempt. In his press conference Vu acknowledged the similarities but claimed he has never heard of Shattered and explained that the similarities are due to "what's called the creative pocess." Vu explained that he uses "exactly the Hollywood method and the Hitchcock method" and because all Hollywood films follow the same mold, it's inevitable that if he uses the Hollywood method his film has no choice but be similar from A to Z to other Hollywood films by coincidence, although the film idea was his. Vietnamese news media at Vu's press conference made public their recording of Vu's press conference.[8][9]

Facing rising public and news media criticism, officials of the Vietnamese Cinema Administration and Vietnamese Cinema Association opened the first ever official plagiarism investigation in Vietnamese cinema. They met on March 4, 2011 to watch Vu's film and compare it with Shattered. Afterwards, they decided to eliminate the film from the Golden Kite Awards, saying that Inferno is too similar to the 1991 Hollywood film.[10][11]

As well as controversy, Vu also garnered critical and box office success.[12][13][14][15][16][4] At the 2012 Golden Kite Awards, Vu's period action film, Blood Letter, won Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Sound, however on Vietnamese social media there were also accusations this film copied from various Korean and Chinese films.[17] In the same year, Victor Vu's thriller Scandal (2012) received the Film Critics Award for Best Film and the Golden Kite for Best Supporting Actress.[18][19] Vu's romantic comedy Passport to Love won Audience Choice and Best Supporting Actress at the 2009 Golden Kite Awards.[20] At the 18th National Film Festival, Scandal (2012) received the Golden Lotus Award for Best Feature Film, Best Director (Victor Vu) and Best Actress, while Blood letter took home the Silver Lotus Award.[21][22][23]

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ "BLOOD LETTER - 2012 LA Asian Pacific Film Festival". May 12, 2012. Archived from the original on August 6, 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  2. ↑ "Spirits of Vietnamese culture". May 21, 2004. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  3. ↑ "Trailer For Victor Vu's Slick Vietnamese Thriller SCANDAL". Aug 26, 2012. Retrieved 16 Nov 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Fortissimo adds Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass to Cannes slate". May 6, 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  5. ↑ "Cannes:Vietnam's Yellow Flowers picked by Fortissimo". March 6, 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  6. ↑ "Vietnam looks into first film plagiarism case". October 26, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Vietnam Television exposes director Victor Vu". June 21, 2014. Retrieved June 21, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Victor Vu press conference on plagiarism charges". May 17, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Similarities with Hollywood flick a ‘coincidence': director". October 26, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
  10. ↑ ""Inferno" removed from Golden Kite Award’s nomination". March 7, 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  11. ↑ "Film suspected of plagiarism dropped from national award". March 7, 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  12. ↑ "Vietnam's arts and entertainment has 'stealing' problem". September 28, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
  13. ↑ "Cannes:Vietnam's Yellow Flowers picked by Fortissimo". May 6, 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  14. ↑ "Knockoff "Inferno" loses right to attend Award". March 7, 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Cannes:Fortissimo Films to Distribute Vietnam's Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass". May 7, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Much hyped Vietnamese kids film to seek distribution at Cannes". May 14, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  17. ↑ ""Sword of the Assassin"/"Blood Letter": exposed for plagiarism". Jun 7, 2013. Retrieved Jun 7, 2013.
  18. ↑ "Golden Kite Awards: Blood letter wins best film". March 10, 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  19. ↑ "Golden Kite Winners Awarded". March 10, 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  20. ↑ "No gold for feature film at Golden Kite Award". March 3, 2009. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
  21. ↑ "Top filmmakers lauded at VN Film Festival". October 17, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Vietnam Film Festival honors artists of Vietnamese Cinema". October 17, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2015.
  23. ↑ "And the winners of the Golden Lotus Awards are ...". October 17, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2015.

External links

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