The contest aims to provide a platform for young documentary makers and to draw a bigger audience.

"Young students learning documentary film making in Hanoi are not aware of the difference between journalistic reports and the arts of documentary film making," said film director Zin Myoe Sett from Myanmar, who teaches documentary film-making for the Vietdoc competition.

"A documentary film does not simply cover facts, but also deals with a topic in artistic, poetic or experimental ways and open new perspectives on it."

Thai Mai Lan, project co-ordinator at the Goethe Institute, said "We would like to encourage young people to explore the medium of documentary films in depth, since it is a very interesting way to show different and new perspectives on Vietnam and on the opinions and feelings of the people who live here."

The Goethe Institute has opened "Doclab", where young film-makers can register to borrow cameras, use computers to cut their films and take part in workshops. The competition is also open to those not attending the workshop. Any film-maker between 18 and 30 can hand in a short film on the subject. Entries close on May 15.

The competition is financially supported by the Dutch Embassy and the German Society for International Cooperation. The best films will be shown in public at the Goethe Institute on May 22. The winners will also be screened at the European Documentary Film Festival in June in Hanoi.

Winners will receive US$500 to US$1,000 and extra support if they are working on longer documentaries.