The American Film Marketing Association (AFMA) has this year invited two top-level Vietnamese government officials to the American Film Market.
"We are truly honoured to have Dr Luu Trong Hong, the first deputy general director, and Mr Do Duy Anh, chief of international relations of the Vietnamese government's cinema department, as our guests," said AFMA president Jonas Rosenfield.
The initiative follows an American Film Export Association (AFEA) Regional Market in Bangkok last year, after which AFEA chairman William Shields traveled to Vietnam. "He was extremely impressed with the market potential he found there. He met with representatives of the cinema department and found them eager to learn our business, and particularly interested in learning how best to fight piracy. Therefore, AFMA has invited Dr Luu and Mr Do to attend AFM in order for them to witness how the free market operates vis-a-vis the AFM."
In a report on his findings in Vietnam, Shields concluded that, "if we compare Vietnam to ten years ago and Korea, I think it is not extraordinary to say that Vietnam has the potential of being the next Korea, or the third largest buyer of our product in Asia. The population supports it, and with the growth of its economy, I think the potential is very real."
The AFEA chairman stated that the country "has dramatically changed since 1975. The population has doubled since and has approximately 73 million, one half under 20 years old. It appears the country will obtain a population of over 100 million by the year 2006."
While most cinema theatres are "totally inadequqte for modern audiences", Shields also observed a "tremendous number of video stores", basically stalls which have hundreds of pirated tapes on almost every title, including most recent titles available for a rental rate of the equivalent of 20 cents per day. "It goes without saying that there will be a tremendous legitimate market, if indeed the pirate market can be contained."
Christian De Schutter
