Why Filming in Vietnam Is the Next Great Production Frontier | CREATVAsia

Vietnam — an emerging hub for global film production — offers a powerful combination of cinematic locations, production expertise and long-term stability for filmmakers, producers and content creators from around the world.

Looking for new horizons to tell your story? Vietnam offers cost-efficient cinematic scale, professional expertise and long-term stability — qualities increasingly vital for filmmakers in today’s global marketplace.

The landscapes of Vietnam and its neighboring countries have long provided filmmakers with remarkable visual possibilities. Within relatively short distances, productions can move between ancient cities, dense jungles, picturesque rivers, towering mountains, and 3,000km of tropical coastlines — an awesome concentration of camera-ready environments in a landmass smaller than the state of California.

At CREATVAsia (The CREATV Company), we have spent more than three decades supporting international productions filming in Vietnam. We’ve delivered to our clients an astonishing range of authentic and truly unique film locations, capable of supporting full length features, primetime television, documentary, branded content campaigns, TVCs and more spanning many periods, cultures and worlds, both real and fictional.

For many Western audiences, films themselves provided some of the earliest glimpses of the country. The Oscar-winning Indochine filmed in northern Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay and Ninh Binh, as well as in the ancient imperial capital of Hue, revealing the dramatic beauty of the country’s karst seascapes and historic architecture. Jean-Jacques Annaud’s The Lover (L’Amant) recreated 1930s Vietnam and was shot on location in Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An and the Mekong Delta, capturing the once-extensive network of ferries connecting communities across the region.

Early epic productions such as Indochine (above) demonstrated something filmmakers continue to discover today: Vietnam offers a remarkable range of authentic locations capable of supporting stories from many periods and cultures. Photo appears courtesy of Paradis Films and IMDB.

In our era of uncertainty, stability has become one of the most valuable assets a filming destination can offer. Vietnam combines reliability, safety, and visual distinction. But what makes the country particularly compelling in this context is the Government of Vietnam’s concrete effort to strengthen the nation’s legal and administrative framework, production infrastructure and commitment to establishing partnerships that make the country a reliable and cost-efficient place to foster international production.

"For three decades, CREATVAsia (The CREATV Company) has brought Vietnam to the world and the world to Vietnam."

The updated Vietnam Cinema Law, which came into force in January 2023, introduced clearer regulations, streamlined permitting processes, and stronger support for international filmmaking. From location scouting and permitting to production logistics and local crew support, the infrastructure surrounding film production in Vietnam has matured significantly over the past decade. As a result, more filmmakers are beginning to explore the country’s diverse landscapes as viable settings.

The infrastructure supporting film production in Vietnam has matured significantly over the past decade, with experienced crews, improved regulations and competitive production costs.

Behind every successful production in Vietnam is a growing community of skilled local professionals who understand both the craft of filmmaking and the needs of international crews. At The CREATV Company, we take pride in bringing international productions together with experienced Vietnamese crews whose technical expertise and production management skills support projects at every scale.

For more than three decades, we've helped international filmmakers navigate Vietnam’s production landscape and unlock the country’s extraordinary locations. Our company was the official Vietnamese Production Partner of some of the largest projects ever filmed in Vietnam, including Legendary/Warner for Kong: Skull Island (2017), Disney for Artemis Fowl (2020), Netflix/Muse for A Tourist’s Guide to Love (2023) as well as CBS for The Amazing Race, Nat Geo for Race to the Center of the Earth, ABC for The Bachelor, NBC for This is Us, and many more.

For producers seeking to maximize production value, Vietnam offers a rare balance of high-quality services and competitive costs — from experienced crews and efficient logistics to excellent value across production budgets.

As the global production landscape continues to evolve, Vietnam stands poised to become one of the industry’s most exciting new filmmaking frontiers. The combination of stability, accessibility, visual diversity and production-friendly policies inspires our 2026 campaign: Safe. Cost-efficient. Cinematic.

“We’ve brought filmmakers to an unforgettable trove of locations,” says Managing Director Othello Khanh, “coupled with reliable infrastructure, Vietnam offers a professional production environment where ambitious projects can be realized with confidence.”

Othello believes the moment is right for Vietnam to take its place among the world’s most enthralling production destinations.“In a stable and welcoming environment with a fully mature production ecosystem, the country offers filmmakers something increasingly rare: the freedom to create ambitious stories in a setting that is both dependable and inspiring.”

CREATVAsia's 2026 campaign’s artwork was created using images re-imagined using AI. Because of our company’s commitment to client confidentiality, behind-the-scenes material from productions we’ve supported cannot be shared. “Our clients’ sets are not scenes, so to show the right moments would mean using our clients’ productions as promotion, when it’s the locations we brought them to that we wish to highlight.”

The campaign revisits the spirit of those places through AI-generated imagery — bringing filmmakers, reality television stars and content creators into landscapes across Vietnam, from city streets to rice fields, rivers and mountains. The images also reflect the scale of productions the company supports: whether a crew of one hundred or a crew of one, Vietnam offers the right setting.

In a rapidly changing world, Vietnam offers filmmakers something both timeless and increasingly rare: a place where great stories can be created with confidence.

Through CREATVAsia, our team looks forward to helping the next generation of global productions discover what Vietnam has to offer — a filmmaking frontier that is safe, cost-efficient and unmistakably cinematic.

Safe. Cost-efficent. Cinematic. Welcome to Vietnam. For a practical look at how a shoot can be structured, see our guide to planning a film shoot in Vietnam in the link below. How to Plan a Film Shoot in Vietnam: A 7-Day Production Framework

For those further interested... CREATVAsia [The CREATV Company] Production Services