Discovery Channel cooperated with Uproar Asia to launch the First Time Filmmakers (FTFM) Vietnam documentary competition on August 12 with the aim of bringing Vietnamese stories to the world.

The FTFM Vietnam, which received a US$250,000 grant from the Ford Foundation, is to help Vietnamese filmmakers develop their documentary storytelling skills.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity for filmmakers across Vietnam to showcase their talents to a global audience and have the whole new world of international television production awaken before them,” said Sarah Macdonald, Managing Director of Uproar Asia.

Accordingly, Uproar Asia will invite Vietnamese citizens with some experience in documentary filmmaking to submit proposals for 30-minute, story-based films on the theme of “Vietnam’s Urban Transition.”

A panel of foreign and Vietnamese judges will select twelve of the proposals, and all the finalists will be invited to attend a three-day television documentary production workshop in Hanoi next month.

The five best directors will be chosen to make their own films under the supervision of Uproar Asia, and the final editing for each 30-minute film will take place with technical advice from Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific in Singapore in March 2010. The films will then be broadcast on Discovery Channel.