The first film by popular concert organiser Nguyen Quang Huy won six Golden Kite awards, the annual awards bestowed by the Vietnam Cinema Association, in a ceremony held in the capital on March 15.

Than Tuong (Idol) tells the story of Tri, an ethnic Hoa (Vietnamese with Chinese origin) living in Ho Chi Minh City, and his path to becoming a music idol. Despite his father's disapproval, he works hard to become a concert organiser and then a singer.

The film gathers popular names in Vietnamese showbiz like singers Hoang Thuy Linh, Noo Phuoc Thinh, Dong Nhi and Ong Cao Thang and Miss Viet Nam 2006 Mai Phuong Thuy.

It won the Golden Kite awards for Best Feature and the 2013 Journalism Choice award for Best Movie, as well as the awards for Best Director (director Nguyen Quang Huy), Best Cameraman (Trang Cong Minh), Best Designer (Ngo Phuoc Truong) and Best Supporting Actor (Ngo Kien Huy in the role of Le Tran Nguyen).

"In more than 20 years working as a concert organiser, I haven't produced anything that got any nominations, let alone won anything. This is the first time I joined the Golden Kite Award event and I just want to meet my colleagues," director Huy said. "If after receiving an award, people forget to continue to work even harder, then the award is meaningless. Tonight my team and I will celebrate our victory, but tomorrow we will continue to work on our next project."

Explaining the movie's great victory, director Nguyen Vinh Son, head of the jury, commented that the film was pure entertainment.

"Though it did not top the box office list, it is a good film in every way," he said. "Its content is familiar, yet the filmmakers were creative in setting up scenes and dialogue and music with lots of meaning."

This year, 13 feature movies, 15 television series, 14 cartoons, 50 documentaries, 12 scientific documentaries, 45 short films and 4 cinema research works competed for Golden Kite Awards.

State-funded Nhung Nguoi Viet Nen Huyen Thoai (The Legend Makers) was the only political movie.

"Yet the movie could not take the Golden Kite award as there were some irrelevant details," Son said. "That's why we are creating a new award for movies on war themes to encourage filmmakers to create historical films."

In the same ceremony, the participants recognised late People's Artist Pham Van Khoa, among the first founders of Vietnamese cinema and the first director of the Vietnam Film Studio, now Vietnam Feature Film Studio. This year would be his 100th birthday.-VNA