ĐÀ NẴNG — Two Vietnamese and one Thai film projects won the Best Project Awards as part of DANAFF Talents, a key programme of the third Đà Nẵng Asian Film Festival (DANAFF III).

In the Art-house Film Projects section, Câu Lạc Bộ Lý Luận Trẻ (The Young Theorist’s Club), directed by Đàm Quang Trung and produced by Vũ Hoàng Triều and Vương Quốc Anh, was awarded a three-month mentorship under the mylab programme.

The film tells a story about a small district in the Mekong Delta, a 16-year-old girl is torn between the lofty world of theoretical debates at an elite student club and the unsettling reality of her father's job as a 'sleep-for-hire' watchman.

Previously, his film Những con voi bên vệ đường (The Elephants by the Roadside) won Best Director and Best Cinematography at the 2024 Singapore International Film Festival.

Ghost of the Currents, directed by Itt Patiparn Boontarig and co-directed by Kalil Pitsuwan, with producer Napakarn Boontarig, received €8,000 (US$9,000). The grant was awarded by Cinémas du Monde, a financial support fund managed by France’s National Centre for Cinema and the Moving Image under the French Ministry of Culture.

Ghost of the Currents was selected and funded by the newly established Thailand Creative Culture Agency, created to promote Thailand's creative industry. This project is also one of three Thai films presented at the Thai Pitch event during Cannes 2025.

After a devastating flood, a man returns to his Mekong riverside village, where the villagers blame a vengeful "River Ghost" for the disaster, but when he encounters the spirit of his lost lover, he learns that the true force haunting the river is something far greater.

Flying Cows (Bò sữa bay), directed by Nguyễn Phạm Thành Đạt and produced by Nguyễn Hữu Thị Tường Vi, received a US$5,000 prize sponsored by the Motion Picture Association (MPA).

The film tells a story about a struggling farmhand at a dairy farm undergoing industrial change. Trâu is given a mission to steal a secret milk formula to lift his family out of poverty. When he has to stay close to San, the boss's daughter and the scientist of the formula, their growing love forces him to choose between his family's future and the girl he can no longer betray.

DANAFF Talents is a training, networking and project development initiative dedicated to nurturing promising young talents in the field of cinema. The program includes a series of activities such as the Talent Incubator acting workshop, the Project Incubator as a project market and masterclasses for filmmakers.

It offers a supportive environment where emerging cinematic voices can learn, exchange ideas, refine their skills and connect with both local and international experts, helping pave the way for their future in the film industry.

Project Incubator holds four days of masterclasses with international mentors to support the development of the selected projects. It also provides a live networking session involving production, distribution and film funding partners, designed to help filmmakers find the right collaborators for their projects.

As part of its ongoing commitment to talent development, DANAFF III continues to host the Talent Incubator acting workshop, offering both basic and advanced training sessions, as in previous editions.

The Basic Acting Class is led by veteran Korean acting coach Lydia Park, while the Advanced Acting Class is taught by acclaimed Japanese director Tada Junnosuke, a recipient of international theatre awards.

This year, the programme welcomed 50 young talents from Việt Nam, Japan, South Korea and beyond. Among the standout participants are Juliet Bảo Ngọc, who won Best Actress at DANAFF 2023, Ngọc Xuân and Đỗ Nhật Hoàng, who are known for the film Ngày Xưa Có Một Chuyện Tình (Once Upon a Love Story). — VNS