VietNamNet Bridge - Studios are beginning to shift their focus to historical and biographical serials, which are attracting more and more eyeballs around the country.

"Fewer soap operas and more historical serials will be the focus of HCM City’s Television Film Studio (TFS) this year," TFS director Nguyen Viet Hung said.

Two of its seven serials this year will feature historical personalities.

One will be about the life and achievements of Emperor Quang Trung who defeated 200,000 Qing invaders from China more than 200 years ago.

The other, for which filming began late last year, is about Huynh Van Nghe, a revolutionary in the war against French colonialists.

Nghe was also a gifted poet, who wrote many acclaimed paeans to peace and the beauty of his country.

Young actor Huynh Dong, who plays Nghe in the film, rose to fame with his roles in serials like Goi Giac Mo Ve (Recalling Dreams) and Mot Ngay Khong Co Em (A Day without My Sweetheart).

Hung said his studio would make around the same number of serials as last year. "We want to have quality productions," he said, adding "Making history serials also takes time."

TFS would focus on interesting scripts about young people and contemporary life, he said.

The protagonist in Am Tinh (Negative) will be the Miss Viet Nam 2006, Mai Phuong Thuy, who makes her acting debut.

The film tells the plight of a beauty queen who leads a Bohemian lifestyle and contracts HIV/AIDS.

Hung said HCM City Television (HTV) would continue to show Vietnamese series during prime time.

"Locally made serials, more than half of which were produced by private studios, are shown on HTV 9 for 18 to 19 hours a day," he said.

With audiences lapping them up, private companies like Lasta Co. Ltd, BHD, and Vifa are making plans for more and more productions mostly targeting young viewers and featuring models and young singers.

Lasta made over 300 TV series last year. Studios run by TV stations in Binh Duong, Dong Nai, and Can Tho provinces also plan to make more serials in co-operation with private studios.

VTV’s Viet Nam Film Company will make several new serials this year with scripts written by acclaimed novelists.

Tien Biet Nhung Ngay Buon (Farewell to Sad Days), based on a novel by Trung Trung Dinh, is about the difficult times faced by Viet Nam when it shifted from being a command economy to a market-oriented one.

VietNamNet/VNS