Vietnam Overseas

HCM City Television is making a significant departure from Vietnamese norm by showing a large number of locally made TV series. Last year Vietnamese studios produced nearly 1,000 serials, nearly three times the previous year’s figure, and many of them were warmly received by audiences. 

‘’A decade ago the country’s TV stations were broadcasting large numbers of foreign films, mainly Chinese and Korean,” HCM City Television (HTV) director Nguyen Van Nam said. “HTV’s decision last April to reserve prime time for Vietnamese series has encouraged both State and private studios to increase their production and improve quality,” he said. 

HCM City Television Film Studio (TFS) made over 300 serials last year, mostly soaps depicting the lives of common folk. They were a big hit with audiences in both Ha Noi and HCM City who formerly had no choice but watch tearjerkers made elsewhere in Asia. HTV 9 is now airing the 40-episode Mien Dat Phuc (A Good Land) directed by Dinh Duc Liem. It tells the story of traditional potters in the southern Binh Duong Province. 

HTV plans to next air over 10 serials comprising over 100 episodes made by TFS, Viet Nam’s biggest film studio. “These series, including Tam Ho Chieu Vao Doi (A Passport to Life) and Tro Choi Sinh Tu (A Game of Life and Death) focus on contemporary life and target young viewers,” Nam said. 

HTV 9’s 100-episode prime time series Mui Ngo Gai (The Scent of Sage Leaves) is receiving a warm response from viewers. It has been made in collaboration with a Korean production house. TFS recently started making four series on modern vocations like private detective work and modelling with an eye on young viewers. 

After its smash success Tuyet Nhiet Doi (Tropical Snow), the private film studio M & T Pictures has lined up its latest production, a 34-episode series called Ghen (Jealousy). The serial, featuring romance, marriage, and family, will go on air on HTV 7 from Friday. 

M & T Pictures will soon complete three more TV series including Toi La Ngoi Sao (I’m a Star) on masters of ceremonies, a job many young people in Viet Nam consider attractive. As audiences increasingly look forward to locally-made serials, private companies like Lasta Co Ltd, BHD, and Vifa are stepping up to the plate with plans for more and more productions. They mostly target young viewers and feature models and young singers. 

Young singer Doan Trang and models Than Thuy Ha and Thanh Hoai will act in M & T Picture’s Jealousy. “The presence of models and singers is an attraction for viewers,” director Vu Ngoc Dang who made Tropical Snow, said.

VNS (March 19, 2007)

Published: 25 November, 2005

HANOI, Nov 18 Asia Pulse - Vietnamese basa catfish will have the opportunity to further enter the US market after a visit from two US businesses to the southern An Giang Province, one of the largest producers of basa catfish in Vietnam.

The An Giang Fisheries Import Export Joint Stock Company (Agifish) last week received a delegation of Mazzetta and Amanda, two large seafood companies that trade Vietnamese seafood in the US. Mazzetta is the main supplier of McDonald’s, the famous US fast-food firm.

Mazzetta has bought Vietnamese shrimp for four years. This time, besides studying the Vietnamese shrimp market, Mazzetta went to An Giang to research putting Vietnamese basa catfish into McDonald’s fast-food distribution system.

Mazetta was the largest Vietnamese shrimp importer in the US, said Jordan Mazzetta from Mazzetta. He also recognised that Vietnamese basa catfish had great potential in the US.

Vietnamese basa catfish still has a little bit of a problem with contamination of antibiotic substances, he said.

But he believed the problem would be solved in the near future, especially after he visited bio-pangasius (basa catfish) cages in the province.

The delegation visited cages owned by Agifish bio-Pangasius Union (ABPU), a newly established trade centre of cat fish breeders and exporters in Agifish. All things related with breeding catfish, including seeds, food and medicine, have been carefully controlled to avoid contamination of antibiotic substances, the ABPU said.

Paul Andriesz from Amanda also visited the ABPU cages. Amanda has operated in Vietnam for 16 years, has a large seafood processing factory in the country, and annually exports an average of US$170 million worth of Vietnamese seafood.

Andriesz said customers are more and more interested in bio-seafood so the Agifish’s bio-basa growing cages should be further increased.

He said the fact that Agifish bio-Pangasius Union and the union members achieved a Safe Quality Food certificate is a good selling point for Vietnam’s fisheries industry.

“Amanda and Mazzetta are large US firms and distribute Vietnamese seafood to fast-food shops and restaurants in the US,” Ngo Phuoc Hau, Agifish general director said.

“So, if our seafood has access into those shops and restaurants, we will sell a large volume of catfish with good prices for Vietnamese farmers,” Hau said.

“We can have a large market and promote development of tra and basa catfish breeding industry in Vietnam, but we must meet the strict demands of the market,” he added.

(VNA)