“Lua Phat” (Once upon a time in Vietnam), which is made only to be screened at the Cannes, and “Duong dua” (Race tracks) have made their way to the 2013  Cannes Festival’s Marche du Film (Market of Films), the world’s largest film fest, which runs from May 15 to 26.

According to BHD, a local film distributor, a five-minute introduction on “Lua Phat” and its two-minute trailer were shown at the fest on May 17.

“Lua Phat”, Vietnam’s first fantasy action film directed by Vietnamese-American director Dustin Nguyen, attracted considerable attention from foreign filmmakers and distributors, almost 300 experts from international film festivals as well as filmbiz newspapers including the “Film Biz Asia”, “Movie Scope”, and ‘Hollywood Reporter”.

“If I’m an audience member, I certainly will give it a standing ovation,” said Daniel Guando, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions of world-famed Weistein Group, one of the US’ largest film distributors.

“Lua Phat”, produced by the Vietnam Media Corp and scheduled to hit local screens from August 22, was nurtured by Dustin Nguyen for five years, who acted as director, scriptwriter and starred as one of its male lead characters.

Dustin Nguyen has taken main roles in several locally successful films as well as foreign ones, including “Angels”.

Meanwhile, according to Blue Productions, after being granted the release permit, “Duong dua” (Race tracks), directed and produced by veteran actress Hong Anh, is also set to make its way to the 2013 Cannes’ Marche du Film.

Anh, Blue Productions’ director, said that her company was invited to join the Cannes Producer Network in 2009.

“Duong dua”, a film invested with VND12 bil (US$ 568,000),  to which its producer made ample revisions after its content was assessed by the Motion Pictures Office to be overly gory, is set to join the eagerly awaited local ‘film feast’ this summer, but only 16-year-olds and above are allowed in.

Late last year, the office’s assessing board requested that numerous alterations be made to the film, a debut by director Nguyen Khac Huy, as it falsely depicts a dark, gloomy society, plagued by gangsters in numerous scenes of gambling, rape, and ruthless killings.