HÀ NỘI — The movie Hộ Linh Tráng Sĩ: Bí Ẩn Mộ Vua Đinh (Spirit Guardians: The Last Secret of the First Emperor) will represent Việt Nam in the preliminary round of the International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.

Directed by Nguyễn Phan Quang Bình, the mythological film is inspired by a Vietnamese legend about the tomb of Emperor Đinh Tiên Hoàng (924 – 979), Việt Nam’s first emperor. It follows seven warriors entrusted with carrying out a top-secret mission after the emperor’s death.

The film was screened in the Gala Presentations section at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival before and is set to screen in the A Window on Asian Cinema section at the Busan International Film Festival.

It will join entries from across Europe, the Americas and Asia in the preliminary round. Asian entries include official submissions from Thailand, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Nepal, Cambodia and Taiwan.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to be announced on December 15, with the final five nominees announced on January 21, 2027.

Last year, Red Rain represented Việt Nam at the 98th Academy Awards. The war-themed film made an impression at the domestic box office with revenue of more than VNĐ700 billion (US$27 million) and more than eight million viewers.

However, the movie never made it to the shortlist of 15 films in the International Film category.

Vietnamese-born French filmmaker Trần Anh Hùng’s The Scent of Green Papaya marked Việt Nam’s first appearance at the Academy Awards earning a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the 66th Academy Awards in 1994. — VNS