Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese filmmakers are moving artificial intelligence (AI) from emergency patch to production tool, replacing actors in special cases and testing new ways to build visual worlds.
AI in Vietnamese film
AI first made headlines in Vietnamese cinema as a fix. In 2025, the “Chot Don” (Deal!) team swapped out the female lead’s image to get the film into cinemas. In September, the “Mai No Mot Loi Tam Biet” (Chrysalis) crew used AI plus CGI to replace a female actress caught in scandal.
Now crews are using it by choice. In September, TFS film studio and Ho Chi Minh City Radio and Television Station (HTV) unveiled “Bai San” (The Hunting Ground), billed as fully AI-produced visuals. In early October, director Nguyen Quang Dung’s animated “The Gioi Tran Trui” (The Naked World) drew attention for modern tech, including AI in production. “Ho Linh Trang Si: Bi An Mo Vua Dinh” (Spirit Guardians: The Last Secret of the First Emperor), released for the September 2 holiday, also carries an AI imprint.
Nguyen Trong Khoa, Head of the Digital Film Production Faculty at RMIT University Vietnam, said AI is a budget tool, offering visual development, previsualisation, animation, visual effects and other resource-heavy stages. It lets Vietnamese filmmakers test bold ideas, build worlds, create creatures and simulate action before committing to costly production.
The payoff extends beyond features as advertising, brand storytelling, short films, music videos, pitch trailers and online series can all gain from AI, he said.
Inevitable shift
Director of the Cinema Department Dang Tran Cuong said the answer is not to throttle new tech but to channel it. He wants AI to expand human creativity, not replace human responsibility. Cost cuts and faster workflows are welcome, but creators and distributors still own the final product.
Traditional or AI-made, films must meet legal rules on content, classification, copyright and related rights, especially where children and minors are at risk, he said.
Khoa observed that success should not be measured by the degree of AI use, but by whether this technology contributes to improving storytelling quality, diversifying creativity and creating sustainable development opportunities for Vietnamese filmmakers./.
VNA
