Through cinema, the beautiful scenes of Hue will attract tourists. Photo: PHAN TRUNG
The year of the film studio
After "The muse of Hue", the director duo Bao Nhan - NamCito continue to carry out a series of projects to promote Hue tourism through cinema. The movies "Flowers bloom at night" and "The bride of Hue" bring viewers another vitality of Hue, in addition to the usual ancient and quiet beauty.
“Flowers bloom at night" will enter Cannes Film Festival (France) in the future, while "The bride of Hue" is expected to screen in theaters in Australia, the USA, Korea ... Mar6 Pictures Company of these two the directors has just finished filming the movie "The cougar queen 3" in Hue.
Bao Nhan, the director, said that, depending on the content and purpose of each film project, they choose different locations, famous landmarks, and landscapes in Hue to film.
If "The muse of Hue" is a story about food and minimal life, "Flowers bloom at night" is a dreamy story, so it was filmed mostly in Phuoc Tich old village, An Hien garden house and a few mausoleum scenes. The movie "The cougar queen 3" is an entertaining film in the hit film series currently filmed in the most modern and luxurious spaces in Hue. Each project, we try to bring Hue into the cinema with a new perspective to promote and introduce to the audience a both ancient and modern land.
This year, Ha Cang village in Quang Phu commune, Quang Dien district was chosen as the setting for the movie "Blue eyes" directed by Victor Vu. As soon as the crew released the first trailer, many young people came to the lonely tree to "check in".
Victor Vu shared: "Hue is the most perfect place for "Blue eyes" because this place has the picturesque scenery, the quiet space, and bold literature quality. The roads, trees, villages, myrtle hills... will be very poetic in the eyes of the viewers".
Previously, there were many famous movies that chose Hue as the setting, such as: "Indochine", "The candle of the palace", "The moon at the bottom of the well", "The girl on the river" ... Especially, the French movie “Indochine” released in 1992 being the first foreign movie which was filmed in the palace and mausoleum in the Imperial City of Hue and won an Oscar (for movies in foreign languages). This event created a sudden increase in the number of European tourists, especially French visitors to Hue, the number of French visitors in the last 10 years has always been in the top 5.
An Hien garden house in the movie series "The Muse of Hue". Photo: Provided by interviewee
Impressed by the poetic Huong River and Ngu Binh Mountain, Buu Loc, a director, will choose Hue to film 70% of the scenes in the movie "Kieu". Mr. Buu Loc said: “I often make films about culture and my number one choice is to shoot in Hue. 70% of the context in Hue will meet the demands of the script. Hue’s setting can be brought into modern films and not just historical films.”
Movies - a leverage for tourism
Talking with the directors who have been to Hue to film, they all affirm that Hue can become an ideal studio, an attractive destination for filmmakers in the future.
Through cinema, Thua Thien Hue has the opportunity to introduce its heritage, landscape, people, traditional culture, and especially food. Recently, the film "The muse of Hue" has been being shown on domestic and international flights of Vietnam Airlines and Korean KBS World channel.
Korean tourists are very interested in and want to come to Hue to experience the culture and cuisine. Hanatour Travel Company of South Korea is also planning to open charter flights from Korea to Hue.
The increase of film-based tourism is not new in the world. For example, after the movie "Kong - The Skull Island", Quang Binh and Ninh Binh retained the movie set for tourism and were very attractive destinations for tourists to visit and take pictures. The movie "Yellow flowers on green grass" by director Victor Vu helped to promote Phu Yen's tourism potential.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Phu Yen organized a meeting with the film crew to promote tourism destinations. Many travel agencies build tours by the name of the film to attract attention ... Before this film, the tourism growth rate of Phu Yen was only 12-13%, but from the day of the movie being shown, tourism increased over 20% and up to 30%.
The success of South Korea is the clearest evidence that cinema has an important role in promoting tourism. Recently, the World Tourism Organization - UNWTO assessed that Southeast Asia would become the fourth largest international tourist attraction in the world, and Vietnam is one of 10 countries with the fastest tourism growth. Attracting tourism through movies is also an advantage of Hue.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc, Deputy Director of the Department of Tourism, localities with filming destinations can create "check in" spots for people to take photos according to the film context. Travel agencies that organize tours to Hue should integrate these destinations. It is possible to combine the heritage tour with the country experience, including the scene of the movie "Blue eyes" on the way to Tam Giang lagoon in Quang Dien, or on the way to Thien Mu to stop at An Hien garden to see the setting of "The muse of Hue" ...
By Minh Hien