‘We are the filmmakers’, the project for students at junior high schools (7^th & 8^th grade), high schools (10^th & 11^th grade), colleges and universities nationwide, has taken its first step. 

At 9 a.m. & 2 p.m. (17^th February 2008) the Center for assistance and development of movie talents (TPD Center) held the opening ceremony for the classes on ‘We are the filmmakers’ at 22A Hai Bà Trưng street, Hanoi. On the same day an opening ceremony for another class in Ho Chi Minh city was also organized at 8.30 a.m. at Thai Binh private school, 236/10 Nguyễn Thái Bình street, Precinct number 12, Tân Bình district. 

  Over the past few months the project officers and collaborators have contacted and cooperated with a number of junior high schools, high schools, and universities in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city. TPD Center has selected 38 students from 10 different schools in Hanoi & 34 students in HCM city to attend the 3 classes, including 1 class in Ho Chi Minh city and 2 classes in Hanoi (1 class is for junior high school students, the other is for high school, college and university students).

The 3 classes are on every Sunday, from 17^th February to 1^st June 2008. That is the reasonable timetable as it does not have any impact on the students’ study at their own schools. The lecturers of the course, with their good teaching methodologies, will equip students with fundamental and basic knowledge about cinema and filmmaking, then encourage them to proactively participate in the class. Teaching materials and lesson plans for the course are designed by the lecturers, and will be further developed onwards.

The young lecturers of the course include both Vietnamese and foreign lecturers, such as Nguyễn Trinh Thi, Nguyễn Mạnh Hà, Phạm Thị Hảo, Nguyễn Tăng Minh, Julie Beziau, etc. Each lecturer is in charge of a certain area. Director Bùi Thạc Chuyên, head of the project ‘We are the filmmakers’, also takes part in teaching, and lesson plan design and preparation. 

‘We are the filmmakers’ can be considered as the pilot project giving movie-lovers the first opportunities to work with non-professional recording equipment to make movies. After the first 3 classes, TPD Center will try to put the project into practice, so as to help more students to have a chance to learn and make their own films.