In a good year for Asian films and directors at the 2013 Cannes Festival, Vietnamese films still hold a modest position at the festival.

Compared to other Asian countries such as China, Japan, Philippines, Singapore and even Cambodia, Vietnam has few films screened at the 2013 Cannes.

Only “16:30”, a locally-prize-winning 17-minute film by young director Tran Dung Thanh Huy, was screened at the Short Film section at the festival, which took place in Cannes, France from May 15 to 26.

The film, which won five awards at the 2012 YxineFF, an online international film fest and independent and nonprofit project, made its way to the festival thanks to a program called “Voyage À Cannes” (Voyage to Cannes), which was held for the first time in Vietnam to promote local film talents.

“The Cannes is much beyond my imagination in both scope and creativity. Over 2,000 short films were screened at its Short Film Corner alone, with 20 shortlisted,” said Huy.

Huy noted that with only “Lua Phat” (Once upon a time in Vietnam), which is made only to be screened at the Cannes, and “Duong dua” (Race tracks) being screened at the festival’s Marche du Film (Market of Films), Vietnam is at a serious disadvantage compared to other Asian countries.

“I realized that Vietnamese films and directors are hardly known by the festival participants except for a few established Vietnamese names such as Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung, local directors Phan Dang Di and Bui Thac Chuyen,” he noted.

Hung’s 1993 film “L'Odeur de la papaye verte” (The Scent of Green Papaya) won the Cannes’ “Camera d’Or” (Golden Camera) prize and remains the only Vietnamese film to be shortlisted so far for the Oscar’s Best Foreign Language Film nominations.

Di and Chuyen won small prizes at the Cannes some years ago with “Bi, dung so” (Bi, don’t be afraid) and “Cuoc xe dem” (The night ride) respectively.

Huy also pointed out that unlike other Asian countries, Vietnam didn’t send any representative from the Vietnam Film Festival to promote its films.

“There are flags of many countries at the gate to the ‘Marche du Film’, but I was really sad that there was no Vietnamese flag there. But the moment I felt most dismayed was when we were walking on the red carpet. We have to accept the fact that our film industry is nothing compared to the world's,” he stressed.