Banned Vietnamese Action Film CHO LON Leaked Online, Investigation Now Underway

In a startling update for the dead-on-arrival Vietnamese martial arts gangster thriller, Bui Doi Cho Lon, Twitchfilm delivered a report this week that the film was briefly leaked online. As if the film being banned by Vietnamese censors wasn’t bad enough, director Charlie Nguyen gave a statement expressing his own sadness for how his film is being treated by online internet users.

“Leaving the side the issue of BDCL being banned, or who leaked the film without considering the heavy losses to the filmmakers and the danger they face before the law.” he says. “I was totally shocked and deeply hurt as if someone had killed my child. This is a rough draft, not fully edited in the story, sound, light, color, special effects and composition. It’s a version that I never want anyone to see because it’s food that’s not fully cooked. But now I have to sit here as people watch this very bad draft and judge the film on that basis. Whoever leaked the film was ignorant and very cruel to BDCL’s cast and crew. Hopefully he will soon be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

The film was originally slated for an April 19, 2013 release, only to face severe scrutiny when Vietnamese censors delayed the film’s premiere early that month, deciding that the film wasn’t suitable for release until certain scenes were taken out, re-shot or re-written altogether. Since then, the film continued its social networking promotional push in addition to sharing behind the scenes footage, stills and a magazine cast shoot. In spite of all this, including efforts by Charlie and the crew to meet the necessary standards to release the film, much to the chagrin of martial arts cinema fans, as well as the film’s cast and crew, the film was ultimately banned in Vietnam, which paralyzed any effort to potentially release the film outside the country’s borders.

Several filmakers spoke out in protest of of the board’s decision at the time, including the film’s lead actor and action choreographer, Johnny Tri Nguyen, stating “What’s more to be said? It’s like losing my son.”.

To combat this, the Vietnamese Department Of Cinema made a recent announcement to the press in Hanoi regarding a plan to turn Vietnam’s local film industry into Southeast Asia’s leading market by 2020, a plan which would also elimiate the current rating system by which films are granted release. The move has sparked a new conversation by leading experts and other film figures criticizing the new announcement, including screenwriter Nguyen Thi Hong Ngat who called the seven year goal among other things, “a fantasy”.

The leak of Charlie Nguyen’s unreleased film, Bui Doi Cho Lon, is currently under heavy investigation as authorities are now seeking out the source of the leak.

Special thanks to the amazing writers at Twitch covering all angles of the on-going story about Vietnam’s film industry as the news develops.