Who is Hoang Nam, the father of 'Soul Lamp', who is not worried about confronting Tran Thanh?

After a long time of cherishing, director Hoang Nam officially launched his first feature film Lamp of the Soul. He considers this a spiritual gift for the audience who have followed his 10-year journey.

The film belongs to the horror genre, labeled T18 with the main setting set in Cao Bang province. In the conversation after the early screening, director Hoang Nam expressed confidence in the content and techniques of the new film. Hoang Nam is not worried when the film has to confront Tran Thanh and other directors, because he believes that if the film is really good, it will be enough to hold the audience.

Director Hoang Nam, full name is Le Hoang Nam, born in 1984, is currently a Youtuber, MC and director. He owns the Youtube channel Challenge Me - Challenge Me with more than 1,200 videos and 4 million subscribers. Hoang Nam's videos impress thanks to their attractive content, specializing in decoding mysterious and spiritual stories and being methodically invested in images and sounds.

Famous for his role as a Youtuber, when encroaching on cinema, Hoang Nam admitted that he still had many surprises. However, he said that filmmaking is a great passion, opening up many new opportunities. Therefore, when making Lamp of the Soul, Hoang Nam was not afraid to sell his house and car to invest in the film. He was relieved to make this decision.

"I have a house and a car in Hanoi. When I started the project, I moved to Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City and realized that there was no need to use those two assets anymore, so he decided to sell them. At that time, the movie was finished, and I also anticipated what my brainchild needed. I don't want to regret it later because of the lack of money to complete the film.

To be honest, when I first started my career, I didn't have any assets, I felt very relieved, just carry my backpack and go. I believe that when an opportunity comes, we must seize it, because life is impermanent, and we should not let ourselves regret anything. Until now, even though I don't have many assets left, I still feel comfortable and relieved. In return, I have a spiritual child who has just been born to send to the audience," director Hoang Nam shared.

Director Hoang Nam did not disclose the amount of investment for the film but affirmed that Lamp of the Soul is not a low-budget project. The film was filmed in the 7th lunar month, under the influence of Typhoon Yagi, making filming difficult. At one point, the recording equipment was damaged, causing the crew to spend about 300 million VND to repair.

"I am not convenient to say specific funding. But after following the Lamp of Souls, everyone will see that this is not a low-budget project. I hope the film will achieve stable sales so that I can continue to make films in the future," he added.

Launched on the 10th of Tet, Lamp of the Soul will confront many big projects such as Tran Thanh's Quartet of Revenge and Kiss of Silver Billion directed by Thu Trang. However, Hoang Nam said that each project exploits a different theme, bringing many interesting options to the audience. Tet movies often have modern colors, while Lamp of the Soul exploits folk and antique materials, creating newness. In particular, this is also the first horror film to be released in 2025.

"Many people tell me to avoid competing with big films, but in fact, each project has its own color, so I'm not too worried. Tet movies often have humorous and modern elements, while my films exploit folk horror. I believe that many audiences will be interested in this genre."

Despite facing many strong opponents, Hoang Nam still maintains an optimistic attitude, believing that if the film is of sufficient quality, the audience will come to the theater to support. He revealed that when he decided to release the film on Tet, many people in the industry had advice and even looked at him with pitying eyes.

"When I knew that I wanted to make a film on Tet, the audience and people in the film industry reminded me that this was the time for Tran Thanh to make a film debut. They likened his project to a monster, and I was a rabbit, which would be devoured. Some people even looked at me with pitying eyes, thinking that I didn't know what fear was.

However, I think the essence of the problem is not that Tran Thanh is a 'monster', but the most important thing is still the audience. I hope people will support both Tran Thanh and Hoang Nam, as well as go to the theater to follow quality film projects. At the same time, I hope to have the opportunity to collaborate with Tran Thanh in the future," the male director expressed.

After 3 days in theaters, Lamp of Soul still creates a surprising "twist" at the theater, competing to lead the box office with Thu Trang's Billion-Dollar Kiss. According to Box Office Vietnam's reference data, as of 8 am on February 10, the film earned more than 48 billion VND.

Notably, just released at one time (February 8), the work directed by Hoang Nam ranked first with 10.4 billion VND, surpassing Silver Kiss (which is also a notable case of upstream) with 10.2 billion VND, while The Fourth Quarter only ranked 3rd with 7.3 billion VND.

However, despite causing a box office fever, The Soul Lamp is creating a lot of controversy on social networks. Many viewers praised the attractive film and beautiful scenes, but there were also many people who criticized the film for being discrete and unsatisfactory acting. The film is even suspected of plagiarism.

Director Hoang Nam also revealed that The Soul Lamp is a film without tricks, without box office stars and does not have to have the content of hooks and entertainment. The initial success of the film so far, according to him, is from the love of the audience when they see the value of the film brought.

The billion-dollar kiss is far from the opponent, The soul lamp is about to close the knot, Tran Thanh is out of breath Phúc Sen13:42:39 17/02/2025There weren't many surprises at the weekend box office when Billion Dollar Kiss still led the revenue, despite the appearance of Captain America 4. Thu Trang's film was stable with 27 billion in the last 3 days of the weekend, 300 thousand tickets sold, bringing the total revenue to 194 billion VND.