Censorship and State Control in the Vietnamese Film Industry
Tran Dinh Thanh Lam of Inter Press Service wrote: "In Vietnam, a few state companies are allocated funds to produce films to be shown in state-owned cinemas. Film scripts must be vetted and approved by the ministry's Department of Cinematography before the cameras begin rolling. With socialist Vietnam treating film as a medium best employed to educate the masses, its control of the industry has been heavy- handed and predictably dull, its output being overly serious films that held little appeal for young audiences whose tastes changed as the pace of Vietnam's doi moi, or economic reform, grew. [Source: Tran Dinh Thanh Lam, Inter Press Service, April 26, 2003 *]