Countdown to 2012 Olympics starts in HCM City

The British Council in Vietnam launched the 100 Day Living Clock Countdown in Ho Chi Minh City on April 18 to welcome the upcoming London 2012 Olympics, which will open on July 27.  

The numbers from 1-100 were illustrated by children studying at the British Council in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Every day starting from April 18, a new number will be unveiled in varying locations across Vietnam and the world, while number one will be announced in Hanoi.

Alison Ball, Director of the British Council in Ho Chi Minh City, said the Council’s initiative aims to instill the enthusiasm into local people before the summer games start this July.

German film screens at IDECAF

Die Wolke (The Cloud) is a 2006 German film about a nuclear-plant disaster, directed by Georg Schunitzler with Vietnamese subtitles, airing at 7.30pm at IDECAF on Tuesday.

The film, which lasts 102 minutes, concerns an incident in the nuclear power station Schweinfurt.

A radioactive cloud has evolved, which is contaminating the area. As residents escape, two high-school students, Hannah and Elmar, are at school. As they flee, they become separated from one another. Hannah gets caught in the contaminated rain and wakes up in a hospital alone. But when she finally sees her boyfriend Elmar again, she gains new hope. The film can be seen at IDECAF at 31 Thai Van Lung Street in Distrrict 1, HCM City. Tickets are VND15,000 each.

Yxine Film Festival’s jury announced

The third annual Vietnamese online short film festival YxineFF 2012, themed “Individual”, has announced its jury board.

The judges include director Phan Dang Di, actress Do Hai Yen, film producer Tran Thi Bich Ngoc, cameraman Nguyen K’Linh, and translator Cao Viet Dung.

“YxineFF has been a good opportunity for local future filmmakers who always need straight and honest conversations with themselves, with their colleagues, and with audiences before deciding to pursue their dream on the filmmaking road, which is more rough than smooth,” director Phan Dang Di said.

This year’s festival will also be the first time the event is open to international entries. “We want to strengthen the local community and reach the international dimension of the festival, which has been the goal of YxineFF from the beginning,” Marcus Vu Manh Cuong, head of the festival, said.

The festival will accept entries until July 15. It is also scheduled to open with advance events around the world, including a screening titled “Best of YxineFF” on April 22 at the University of California, Los Angeles within the framework of the sixth biennial Cinema Symposium, before officially kicking off in Vietnam in September.

Last month, YxineFF organized a screening and discussion about recent Vietnamese cinema at Malessherbes Centre, University of Paris IV-Sorbonne.

First launched in 2010 by the Sai Gon Media Company, local film aficionados, and cinema practitioners, YxineFF aims to broaden the independent film-making community in Vietnam and offer local filmmakers an opportunity to promote their works worldwide.

Last year, it attracted 2 million viewers of the more than 100 entries posted on the festival’s website.

UCLA to hold symposium on Vietnamese cinema

The Vietnamese Language & Culture Center (VNLC), in collaboration with the Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association (VAALA), will organize the sixth biennial Cinema Symposium at the University of California, Los Angeles this weekend.

Called “Shifting Scenes”, the symposium will focus on recent features of contemporary Vietnamese cinema such as the increasing fluidity of geographical and cultural boundaries, internet-based distribution and networking channels, and the accessibility of digital film-making technology.

The event will gather notable experts including attorney Michael Chang from Warner Bros. Entertainment, exhibitions director Ellen M. Harrington from the US’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,director Le Van Kiet, actress Porter Lynn and head of the Vietnamese online short film festival YxineFF, Marcus Manh Cuong Vu.

Formed in 2002 by VAALA and VNLC, the Cinema Symposium aims to strengthen the network between professionals working in the film industry and students with an interest in film and Vietnamese culture.

The symposium will take place at 2:30 pm at the school’s Dodd Hall on April 22.

Gravity Games highlights alternative sports

Alternative sports, including skateboarding, breakdancing, rock climbing, parkour, inline skating, freestyle football, and BMX trial will be highlighted during the Gravity Games at Dong Da Park at 4 Dang Tien Dong Street, Dong Da District, from 1pm this Sunday, April 22. The event is being organised by VietClimb to help support Earth Day, and workshops on the various sports will offer the basics for newcomers.

Sunday night, starting from 6pm, at Ha Noi Rock City, 27/52 To Ngoc Van Street in Tay Ho District, the festivities will continue with breakdance and graffiti demonstrations, and performances by DJs including Tha Trickaz from France, Peppe – IT from Italy, and Ha Noi-based Slo-Lo.

Discover the capital with Friends of Viet Nam

Friends of Viet Nam Heritage, an informal group consisting mostly of Ha Noi residents from other countries who have joined to work voluntarily to promote and preserve Vietnamese cultural and historical heritage, are organising a city walk on Saturday to visit the Ngu Xa bronze-making village in Tay Ho District and Quan Thanh Temple. The walk, with an English-speaking guide, will be divided into two parts, from 9.30am-12pm and from 1-2.30pm. To register, contact Roman at FVH.CityWalks.English@gmail.com

The group will also host a lecture on Sunday on the Mother Goddess folk belief, alongside an ongoing exhibition on the theme taking place at the Viet Nam Women's Museum at 36 Ly Thuong Kiet Street. The three-hour event will start at 2pm at the museum's Meeting Room 202. Contact John at Lefthanded2hanoi@yahoo.com

Other activities include a talk in English about perilla and its medical properties at 10am on Wednesday, April 25, at the O Chao Tea House, 25 Xuan Dieu Street, and a city walk with a Japanese-speaking guide to Bach Ma Temple in the Old Quarter on Thursday, April 26. Contact Tra My at trmy.nguyen@gmail.com and Miho Furudoi at herijapan@yahoo.co.jp, respectively, regarding these events.

National opera singers to perform Verdi

Music by Giuseppe Verdi will be presented during An Evening of Opera at Luna D'Autunno, 78 Tho Nhuom Street, on Wednesday, April 25. Under the baton of British conductor Graham Sutcliffe, vocalists and musicians from the Viet Nam National Opera and Ballet will perform 10 pieces during a two-hour performance beginning at 8.30pm, including the Saper vorreste from the opera Un Ballo in Maschera, the Un di Felice and Lunga da Lei from La Traviata, and Il Balen del suo Sorriso and Di Quella pira from Il Trovatore.

Spanish movie nights begin at restauramt

HCM City's first Mexican-Vietnamese fusion restaurant Khoi Thom is screening famous Spanish films throughout April.

The schedule includes smash box-office hit La Piel Que Habito on April 24.

The English-subtitle film will begin at 8pm, and tickets cost VND70,000. Khoi Thom is located at 29 Ngo Thoi Nhiem Street, District 3. La Piel Que Habito

Live indie rock music at Yoko night spot

Brett Newski and the Corruption will perform at Yoko, 22A Nguyen Thi Dieu Street, District 3 – one of HCM City's most popular live music venues.

The city-based trio consists of British drummer ‘Mean' Matt Green, Canadian bassist Jeffro Gantner, and American vocalist/guitarist Brett Newski.

The band will perform indie rock, a genre of alternative rock that originated in the US and UK in the 1980s. The show begins at 8.30pm.

VN films break new ground

Vietnamese contemporary cinema and overseas national filmmaker devotion will be subjects at the sixth Biennial Cinema Symposium in California on Sunday.

Themed Shifting Scenes, the event will feature notable panellists who will lend diverse perspectives to the creative, technical and commercial aspects of filmmaking.

The symposium will include diverse and accomplished speakers including Michael Chang from Warner Bros Entertainment, Ellen M Harrington from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Le Van Kiet (director of House in the Alley), Porter Lynn (actress in Touch) and Marcus Manh Cuong Vu (director of the Yxine Film Festival). In addition, the audience will have a special Skype session with director Victor Vu (Battle of the Brides, Blood Letter), who is currently on location in Viet Nam.

This year's theme explores the "shifting scenes" of contemporary Vietnamese cinema. The possibilities for filmmakers to tell stories and for audiences to engage with the cinema have greatly expanded due to ongoing "shifts", such as the increasing fluidity of geographical and cultural boundaries, internet-based distribution and networking channels, and the accessibility of digital filmmaking technology.

The symposium will provide a forum for audiences to engage with film-industry professionals in examining the unique opportunities and challenges that present themselves in this dynamic landscape.

Each panellist will share his/her experiences, challenges and achievements. Audience members are encouraged to participate in the dialogue with panellists. After the discussion, there will be a special screening of the best short films from the Yxine Film Festival, which will be free and open to the public.

The four best films from the Yxine Film Festival will also be shown, including Ca Chuoi (Mother Never Cries), a story about a middle aged woman who finds a girl to sleep with her mentally challenged son, and Duoi Bong Cay (Under the Tree's Shadow), in which Snake takes Frog away and Mouse goes to save Frog with another purpose.

The other two films include An Interrogation (2011), about the residence permit of a Vietnamese student who got married to a Frenchman and The Man Who Was There, about a man who lives alone.

The Cinema Symposium was first organised by the Vietnamese Language and Culture Centre (VNLC) and the Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association (VAALA) in 2002 to forge and strengthen a network between professionals working in the film industry and students with an interest in cinema and Vietnamese culture.

Occurring in between the biennial Vietnamese International Film Festival (ViFF), the event will maintain momentum in promoting works by or about local culture and identities.

It will also highlight the important work of industry professionals in front of and behind the camera, which has helped enrich Vietnamese cinema internationally.

Films to be screened during national holidays

A series of films will be screened throughout the country from April 24 to May 30 to mark upcoming national holidays, including Liberation Day (April 30), May Day, Dien Bien Phu Victory (May 7) and President Ho Chi Minh’s birthday (May 19).

The opening on April 24 at the National Cinema Centre in Hanoi will feature a documentary on General Doan Khue by the People’s Army Cinematography Studio and the feature film ‘Mui Co Chay’ (The Scent of Burnt Grass) by the Vietnam Feature Film Studio.

After the launching in Hanoi, the films will be shown to the public in all cities and provinces across the country, particularly aiming to attract war and revolutionary veterans, Vietnamese heroic mothers, national contributors, and members of the armed forces.

Other movies to be featured during the event include ‘Dung Dot’ (Don’t Burn), ‘Nhin Ra Bien Ca’ (Look at the Sea), ‘Giai Phong Sai Gon’ (Liberating Saigon) and ‘Buoc Ngoat’ (Turning Point). Films celebrating the land and people of Quang Tri province, such as ‘Ban Tho Me’ (Mother’s Altar), ‘Que Cha Dat To’ (Fatherland) and ‘Ngay Cuoi Cung Cua Chien Tranh’ (The Last Day of War), will also be shown to mark the 40th anniversary of the province’s liberation (May 1, 1972-2012).

The film series is sponsored and organized jointly by the Cinematography Department, the Vietnam Feature Film Studio and the National Cinema Centre.

Cultural market to highlight country's rich ethnic heritage

Thirteen ethnic minority groups from across Vietnam will take part in a cultural market scheduled to open in Hanoi’s Dong Mo Village in Soc Son District on April 19.

The groups include H’mong and Tay from Ha Giang, Dao and Thai from Son La, Muong from Hoa Binh, and Nung from Lang Son.

Ba Na and Gia Rai ethnic groups from the central highlands province of Kon Tum, M’Nong and E De from the central highlands province of Dak Lak will also join the event, along with Cham and Kho Me group from the southern province of An Giang and Hoa group from HCM City.

An investment promotion conference on cultural and tourism products, a music show to honour the cultural identities of the country’s ethnic groups, a northern highlands market, an exhibition on traditional handicrafts and folk games will take place.

According to the event organiser Nguyen Khac Phuc, the showcase will highlight the values of the various ethnic groups in the country via cultural products, gastronomy and traditional games.

Authentic amateur performances by ethnic people will be encouraged, he added.