Vietnam’s BHD & Vietnam Media Corp are launching sales here in Cannes on historical martial arts action movie The Last Secret Of The First Emperor, set to star Johnny Tri Nguyen (Da 5 Bloods).
The film will be directed by Nguyen Phan Quang Binh, known for war drama Song Of The Stork (2002), which was sold to more than 25 territories, and The Floating Lives (2010), which at the time of its release was Vietnam’s highest grossing arthouse film ever. His recent credits include romantic drama Secrets Of The Wind (2019).
Johnny Tri Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American actor whose credits include Spike Lee’s Vietnam-set Da 5 Bloods, will also serve as martial arts action director on the film. Nguyen, who works between the U.S. and Asia, has also had roles in action films such as Charlie Nguyen’s The Rebel and Fanatic and Prachya Pinkaew’s The Protector.
BHD says the film will feature high-octane martial arts action sequences, but will also be a tale of family bonds, romance, noble sacrifice and Vietnam’s rich history and culture. It will be filmed in Vietnam’s Ninh Binh province, known for its stunning landscapes, with support from the provincial government.
The story follows seven warriors on a top-secret mission: to transport 99 coffins as a strategic diversion designed to mislead hostile forces. Their true objective is to ensure that the tomb of Vietnam’s first Emperor remains an eternal mystery.
Currently in pre-production, the film will shoot for 60 days in November and December 2025 for release in the second quarter of 2026.
“There’s something about Vietnamese martial arts that is very special for us, because throughout history, the little country of Vietnam has been facing a lot of big enemies, and there’s something unique about the martial art that carried us through,” Nguyen said.
“I want to present that little secret to the audience in the film. We’re going to put a lot of attention into making sure that it’s historically correct, even down to the wardrobes and costumes and set.”
Vietnam has a pavilion and is hosting a series of events at this year’s Cannes Marche organised with the support of the Vietnam Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Vietnam Tourism Development Fund (VTFF) and the Vietnam Film Development Association (VFDA).
At the delegation’s opening conference, BHD Senior Vice President Ngo Bich Hanh discussed the challenges and opportunities for Vietnamese films in the international market: “In the last decade, the international industry and audiences have primarily recognized Vietnamese cinema through independent films that have won awards at prestigious international film festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Busan,” she said
“Meanwhile, Vietnamese commercial films, which achieve high domestic box office success, are often comedies, a genre that doesn’t always translate easily to the international market, though some such as Mai have reached over $2M internationally.
“We believe that the local industry has developed strongly, and this decade, the Vietnamese movie industry will be able to tell its stories in a big, epic way that appeals to both local and international markets. The Last Secret Of The First Emperor, a historical epic martial arts film about the mystery of Vietnam’s first Emperor, could be one of those films.”
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