Hollywood director sets up scholarship fund

Vietnam’s Tourism Ambassador and Hollywood film director Jordan Charles Vogt-Roberts returned to Vietnam to launch a scholarship fund for Vietnamese students on May 18.

Vietnamese landscapes were featured in Kong: Skull Island by GQ-worthy Hollywood film director Jordan Vogt-Roberts.

The fund will offer two full scholarships worth US$90,000 each for four years of study at a university in the US.

The annual scholarships include tuition and accommodation and living expenses for students studying in the arts and cinematography.

To give women opportunities in study and career, at least one scholarship will be awarded to a female talent.

The fund is open to students in the arts and cinematography. Candidates should submit a film clip or a poem for application.

Speaking at a press conference in HCM City, the director said that he had worked with dozens of organisations and benefactors to develop the fund.

He hopes the fund will begin in the autumn season.

During his 10-day business trip that began on May 6, the director participated in various social and charity programmes in Hanoi and HCM City.

Vogt-Roberts said he was working with the ministry to make music videos about tourist destinations in Vietnam to introduce the sites to international audiences.

“I have also invited American directors and actors to visit famous tourist destinations, including Sa Pa of Lao Cai province, Son Doong Cave of Quang Binh and Da Nang,” he added.

Last year, Vogt-Roberts and his crew worked in Ninh Binh, Quang Binh and Quang Ninh to film Kong: Skull Island or Titan, the King Kong prequel.

The shooting occurred from February 18 to late March in Trang An, Van Long and Tam Coc of Ninh Binh, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in Quang Binh and Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh.

The film stars Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston and Samuel L. Jackson, who all expressed positive feelings about Vietnam during filming.

It was the biggest Hollywood movie ever to be filmed in Vietnam.

Kong: Skull Island or Titan earned more than US$142 million in ticket sales globally, and US$6.6 million in only Vietnam, after just two weeks of release.

Vogt-Roberts was officially named Vietnam’s Tourism Ambassador for 2017-2020 by the country’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in March.

He is the first film director to take on the position, which aims to promote the image of Vietnam’s people and culture to the world.

“I can help further expose the world to Vietnam, helping people know how beautiful this country is,” said the director after receiving the title.

In his mid-30s, Vogt-Roberts’s directorial debut was with The Kings of Summer at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. It was also screened at the 2013 Cleveland International Film Festival.

It won the Narrative Feature Audience Award at the 2013 Dallas International Film Festival.

He also co-wrote and directed the TV series Mash Up./.

VNF/VNA