Victor Vu

Victor Vu is a controversial Vietnamese-American film director, writer and producer. Along with critical acclaims, news media and public opinion have also accused Vu of plagiarism. In Vietnam's landmark first official plagiarism investigation, 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. Vu called a press conference to try misinform Vietnamese public that in Hollywood, such identical similarities are the obligatory result of using Hollywood filmmaking method. He also directed the 2019 hit film, Mắt Biếc, which won many awards and brought him back to the spotlight.

Victor Vu
Born (1975-11-25) November 25, 1975
North Hollywood, California, U.S.
OccupationDirector
Producer
Writer
Years active1997 - present

Life and career

Born (born November 25, 1975) 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 (Sword of the Assassin),[1] Spirits – Oan Hon,[2] First Morning, Inferno – Giao Lo Dinh Menh, Scandal (2012).,[3] Vengeful Heart (2014) (Vietnamese: Quả Tim Máu), social drama Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass based on Nguyen Nhat Anh's best-selling novel [4][5] was Vietnam’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 89th Academy Awards but was not nominated.[6]

Vietnam's first plagiarism investigation

Vu was investigated— in Vietnam's first official plagiarism investigation —by Vietnamese cinema regulators. After initial rave reviews and acclaims, Vietnamese news media and public began to discover Vu's film Inferno bore striking similarities to Wolfgang Petersen's 1991 film Shattered.[7] A televised news report in Vietnam claimed that Inferno was up to 90% similar to the Hollywood film Shattered.[8]

Vu's press conference to explain away accusations of plagiarism- Vu held a now-infamous press conference in Vietnam to deny plagiarizing the movie Shattered but it was perceived 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 Process." 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 different directors applying the same Hollywood mold to an idea will have to end up having films with A to Z similarities. Hence since Vu used the "Hollywood Thriller" mold, his film had no choice but be similar from A to Z to Hollywood thriller Shattered by coincidence, and trying to avoid similarities would be extremely difficult. Vietnamese news media made public their recording of Vu's press conference.[9][10]

Facing public uproar 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.[11][12]

The extent of Vu's copying and public scandal propelled a candid public debate. Radar Van Hoa, a Vietnamese newsmagazine television program aired a bold episode which called attention to Victor Vu's plagiarism as symptomatic of a larger problem in Vietnamese cinema. Movie critic Dr Vu Ngoc Thanh said in the broadcast the extent of copying in Vu's Inferno "never happened before in the history of world cinema" and said his analysis is "it's the unavoidable result of unethical filmmaking, and reflects a lack of moral among some modern Vietnamese filmmakers including overseas Vietnamese." The news program said it hoped Vietnam's first official plagiarism investigation and expulsion of Vu's film would serve as timely warning to filmmakers to be more ethical.[13]

As well as controversy, Vu also garnered critical and box office success.[14][15][16][17][18][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.[19] 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.[20][21] Vu's romantic comedy Passport to Love won Audience Choice and Best Supporting Actress at the 2009 Golden Kite Awards.[22] 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.[23][24][25]

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. "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. Frater, Patrick (2016-09-16). "Vietnam Selects 'Yellow Flowers' For Oscars Contention". Variety. Retrieved 2018-02-03.
  7. "Vietnam looks into first film plagiarism case". October 26, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
  8. "Vietnam Television exposes director Victor Vu". June 21, 2014. Retrieved June 21, 2014.
  9. "Victor Vu press conference on plagiarism charges". May 17, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
  10. "Similarities with Hollywood flick a 'coincidence': director". October 26, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
  11. ""Inferno" removed from Golden Kite Award's nomination". March 7, 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  12. "Film suspected of plagiarism dropped from national award". March 7, 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  13. "Vietnam Television News:Unethical filmmaking bred film director Victor Vu's movie plagiarism scandal". Feb 16, 2015. Retrieved Feb 16, 2015.
  14. "Vietnam's arts and entertainment has 'stealing' problem". September 28, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
  15. "Cannes:Vietnam's Yellow Flowers picked by Fortissimo". May 6, 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  16. "Knockoff "Inferno" loses right to attend Award". March 7, 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  17. "Cannes:Fortissimo Films to Distribute Vietnam's Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass". May 7, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
  18. "Much hyped Vietnamese kids film to seek distribution at Cannes". May 14, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  19. ""Sword of the Assassin"/"Blood Letter": exposed for plagiarism". Jun 7, 2013. Retrieved Jun 7, 2013.
  20. "Golden Kite Awards: Blood letter wins best film". March 10, 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  21. "Golden Kite Winners Awarded". March 10, 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  22. "No gold for feature film at Golden Kite Award". March 3, 2009. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
  23. "Top filmmakers lauded at VN Film Festival". October 17, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2015.
  24. "Vietnam Film Festival honors artists of Vietnamese Cinema". October 17, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2015.
  25. "And the winners of the Golden Lotus Awards are ..." October 17, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2015.
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