The Vietnamese melodrama “Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass” has so far earned $3.5 million at the box office since its Oct. 1 release.
With its high ticket sales, The Hollywood Reporter calls it the “highest grossing drama of all time” in the region. It may become Vietnam’s “second-highest grossing local film ever in any genre” if it earns more than $4 million.
Vietnamese-American director Victor Vu’s 11th movie is set in a poor village in a rural area during the '80s and revolves around the lives of two young brothers. It is based from Nguyen Nhat Anh’s award-winning 300-page novel, “I See Yellow Flowers upon the Green Grass.”
Earning 91 billion Vietnamese dong, Vu’s 2014 horror flick “Vengeful Heart” is so far the “highest grossing movie of all time in Vietnam,” according to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
Netherlands-based Fortissimo Films bought the movie rights of “Yellow Flowers,” reported Variety.
Michael J. Werner, the chairman of Fortissimo Films, said that Vietnam’s present cinema “captures the energy, dynamism, introspective story-telling and cinematic/technical sophistication” of its society.
“Yellow Flowers” bagged the Features Films of 2015 award at the 2nd Silk Road International Film Festival (SRIFF) held on Sept. 26 at the Strait Olympic Sports Center Stadium of Fuzhou in Fujian Province.
Vietnam’s entry shares the recognition with China’s “Saving Mr. Wu,” an action crime thriller directed by Ding Sheng and based from a true story starring Andy Lau; and with Russia’s “Puppet Syndrome,” a drama by Elena Hazanov and based from Dina Rubina’s novel, “Petrushka’s Syndrome.”
SRIFF ran from Sept. 22-26. Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan served as the festival ambassador.
According to SRIFF’s official website, aside from striving to attain a “global presence” for itself, the annual festival also aims “to promote the cultural exchanges and cooperation among countries along the Silk Road” and “to increase the influence of Chinese films.”
SRIFF is different from the Silk Road Film Festival (SRFF) held annually in Dublin, Ireland.
Based from its official Facebook account, SRFF, founded on March 1, 2013, “celebrates cinema, culture and art, presenting films from regions, which were once part of the historical network of the Silk Road ancient trade routes and focuses in particular on Asian, Arab, Persian, African, Mediterranean and European cinema.”
“Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass” will debut in the U.S. on Nov. 8 in Los Angeles, California, at the annual film industry event, American Film Market (AFM).