Victor Vu

Vu was investigated— in Vietnam's first official plagiarism investigation —by Vietnamese cinema regulators. After initial rave reviews and acclaims, Vietnamese news media and public began to discover Vu's film Inferno bore striking similarities to Wolfgang Petersen's 1991 film Shattered. A televised news report in Vietnam claimed that Inferno was up to 90% similar to the Hollywood film Shattered.

As well as controversy, Vu also garnered critical and box office success. At the 2012 Golden Kite Awards, Vu's period action film, Blood Letter, won Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Sound, however on Vietnamese social media there were also accusations this film copied from various Korean and Chinese films. In the same year, Victor Vu's thriller Scandal (2012) received the Film Critics Award for Best Film and the Golden Kite for Best Supporting Actress. Vu's romantic comedy Passport to Love won Audience Choice and Best Supporting Actress at the 2009 Golden Kite Awards. At the 18th National Film Festival, Scandal (2012) received the Golden Lotus Award for Best Feature Film, Best Director (Victor Vu) and Best Actress, while Blood letter took home the Silver Lotus Award.

Facing public uproar and news media criticism, officials of the Vietnamese Cinema Administration and Vietnamese Cinema Association opened the first ever official plagiarism investigation in Vietnamese cinema. They met on March 4, 2011 to watch Vu's film and compare it with Shattered. Afterwards, they decided to eliminate the film from the Golden Kite Awards, saying that Inferno is too similar to the 1991 Hollywood film.

Victor Vu is a controversial Vietnamese-American film director, writer and producer. Along with critical acclaims, news media and public opinion have also accused Vu of plagiarism. In Vietnam's landmark first official plagiarism investigation, Vietnamese regulators found Vu's film Inferno to have copied Hollywood's 1991 film Shattered. This resulted in Inferno's disqualification from Vietnam's Golden Kite Awards. Vu called a press conference to try misinform Vietnamese public that in Hollywood, such identical similarities are the obligatory result of using Hollywood filmmaking method. He also directed the 2019 hit film, Mắt Biếc, which won many awards and brought him back to the spotlight.

Born (born November 25, 1975) and raised in Southern California, Vu earned his BA in film production from Loyola Marymount University. He has directed Passport to Love, Battle of the Brides, Blood letter (Sword of the Assassin), Spirits – Oan Hon, First Morning, Inferno – Giao Lo Dinh Menh, Scandal (2012)., Vengeful Heart (2014) (Vietnamese: Quả Tim Máu), social drama Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass based on Nguyen Nhat Anh's best-selling novel was Vietnam’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 89th Academy Awards but was not nominated.