Central province to hold traditional crafts festival

The Hue Traditional Crafts Festival will be held from April 27 to May 1 in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue to highlight traditional local crafts.

Organisers said artisans from Ha Noi, Bac Ninh, Ha Giang, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Quang Nam, An Giang, Ninh Thuan, and Binh Duong would take part in the festival.

They make items like garments, terracotta, porcelain, wooden decorative items, bamboo and rattan products, knits, and paper flowers.

At the festival, visitors will be able to join in activities and street performances. There will also be other events like food shows.

Italy boosts cultural cooperation with Vietnam

Italy wants to increase cultural cooperation with Vietnam in the time to come, Cultural Minister Lozenro Ornaghi told his Vietnamese counterpart Hoang Tuan Anh in Rome on January 17.

During talks, both sides agreed to boost cooperation in organizing film festivals, cultural weeks, and other art performances.

They also agreed to increase delegation visits to share experience, notably in archeology and heritage preservation.

The two countries are celebrating the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year, and Italy will do its utmost to make the Vietnam Year in Italy a success, said Minister Ornaghi.

He is committed to supporting the Vietnam Cultural Days in Italy, which is taking place in Rome from January 16-23, and the Vietnam Week in Venice due to be held in June 2013.

Minister Anh said he hopes the two countries will strengthen cooperative relations in all areas, including culture, to promote mutual understanding.  

He invited Ornaghi and other Italian friends to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Italy House in Vietnam in Hanoi.

The house introduces Italy’s distinctive cultural identities, and helps bridge the two countries’ art circles, said Anh.

Both host and guest reviewed bilateral cooperation in archeology and cultural heritage preservation, as well as human resource training, and agreed to increase cooperation in this field.

Italy has undertaken a heritage restoration project at My Son Sanctuary, a UNESCO-recognised heritage site, in the central province of Quang Nam.

The same day, an exhibition on Vietnamese publications and another exhibition on the Vietnamese Cultural Space were held in Rome as part of the Vietnam Cultural Days in Italy.

“Vietnamese Cultural Days” Festival held in Italy

 “An exhibition entitled "The Colour of Vietnam” officially opened in Rome, Italy on January 16.

The eight-day event, organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MoCST) and the Embassy of Vietnam in Italy, is part of activities to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties.

It aims to strengthen the solidarity and friendship between the two countries and promote the images of Vietnam’s land and people to Italy.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Minister of MoCST affirmed that Vietnam will create favorable conditions for Italy to hold its cultural programs in Vietnam.

Umberto Postiglione, a leader of Rome, considered the exhibition a symbol of Italy-Vietnam solidarity and expressed hope that Vietnamese culture will be introduced in other cities in Italy.

Foreign visitors were very impressed by many works of four Vietnamese young artists-Tran Gia Tung, Le Minh, Tran Trung Thanh and Tran Anh Tuan.

Previously, another exhibition named “Italy-Vietnam solidarity in 1960-1970” has been held by the Italian General Confederation of Labour.

Since the two countries set up their diplomatic ties in 1973, they have strengthened all-round cooperation in a sustainable manner.

Silent film depicts energetic Ha Noi

A black-and-white film punctuated by the hectic tempo of Ha Noi will premiere on Saturday in the capital city.

The documentary, Nhung Am Thanh Ta Thay: Ban Giao Huong Thanh Pho Ha Noi (The Sound We See: A Ha Noi City Symphony), is an art project conducted by the experimental documentary making and video art centre Hanoi DocLab in collaboration with the Echo Park Film Center – a non-profit media arts organisation based in Los Angeles, and the Goethe Institute in Ha Noi.

Produced by 18 young local filmmakers, the work is a cinematic exploration of the dynamic urban environment of the capital.

For the past month, filmmakers worked together to document the rhythm and movement of daily life in Ha Noi from their unique perspectives. Participants shot locations they felt best represented the city at each particular time of day and night, with each hour becoming one minute in the final product. The result is a spectacular 24-minute journey through Ha Noi as it has never before been experienced.

Shot on black and white Super 8 motion picture film [8mm celluloid film] and hand-processed by the filmmakers on-site at the DocLab, the work references the classic cinema of Walter Ruttman's 1927 masterpiece Berlin: Symphony of a Great City while celebrating the energy and possibility of 21st-century Ha Noi.

The film will be screened at 7pm in the courtyard of the Goethe Institute, 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street. Entrance is free.

The screening will be accompanied by a live score composed for the film by two local contemporary musicians, Luong Hue Trinh and Tri Minh.

French amateur photograper introduces Ha Noi's alleys

Daniel Frydman debuted his new photography exhibition, Alleyways in Ha Noi, at the central city's La Tour Eiffel Studio yesterday.

Daniel, 68, who has lived in Ha Noi for seven years, introduced 25 photos of alleys taken in the Old Quarter.

"The crowded, dark, narrow alleys in the Old Quarter have fascinated me throughout my years living in Ha Noi," the French photographer said at the opening ceremony. "I really want to depict the life of Hanoians in alleys, which preserve the ancient architecture of the downtown."

The amateur photographer also plans to create photo exhibitions depicting Agent Orange victims and the landscapes of Viet Nam.

The exhibition will be on display through next month.

Festival offers free books in bid to help poor children

More than 15,000 books covering a variety of fields are available for readers during the Free Reading Books festival at Savico Megamall, 7-9 Nguyen Van Linh Street, Ha Noi.

Visitors have the opportunity to purchase books at discounted prices, and special prizes are up for grabs.

Several seminars will also be held during the festival.

Taking place from yesterday, Jan 17, to Sunday, the festival is being organised by the Thai Ha Books Company and Savico Megamall.

The organisers are also collect books from readers to donate to poor children.

Ben Tre museum opens space for wood, pottery artefacts

The Provincial Museum of the southern province of Ben Tre has officially opened a showroom of wood and pottery objects.

The space consists of hundreds of items from various eras, including a collection of eight pottery artefacts dating from the 2nd to the 19th centuries donated by priest Nguyen Huu Triet from HCM City.

The museum also received a 1.2m-high fibreglass statue of President Ho Chi Minh donated by General Le Van Dung. The statue was placed in a traditional Southern-style coconut house preserved by the museum.

Irish art troupe visits HCM City capacity development centre

The Disability Research and Capacity Development Centre held a meeting this morning in HCM City with an art troupe from Ireland and a group of teenagers, some of whom have physical disabilities.

The troupe included Dylan Forely, three-time All-Ireland fiddle champion; Vincent Woods, Irish poet, playwright and broadcaster; Michelle Mulcahy, one of the greatest multi-instrumentalists in the history of Irish music; Louise Mulcahy, a well-established performer and tutor on both flute and Uilleann pipes; Niall O'Leary, a world and All-Ireland champion in solo step dancing; and Mick Moloney, who has recorded and produced more than 60 albums of traditional music and acted as advisor for scores of festivals and concerts in the US, Africa and South and Central America.

Brazilian food, samba dancers to be featured

A full-day Brazilian food festival Festa Do Brazil will bring culinary delights, music and dances to Ho Chi Minh City on January 19.

The festivals will offer lunch and dinner buffets with Brazilian-style churrasco. The night will feature performances of samba dancers from the Luna Negra Band and Hot Chicks band. A lucky draw will also be included.

The festival will be held at Au Lac do Brazil restaurant at 238 Pasteur Street in District 1. The event will take place in Hanoi on January 26.

Tickets are VND800,000 net/ person for lunch and VND1,200,000 net/ person for dinner. Part of the ticket proceeds will be donated to Operation Smile Vietnam.

VNN/VOV/VNS