Quang Tri Province hosts dance, music festival  

Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia dance and music festival will be held in Quang Tri Province on July 22-26.  
 
12 delegations will present traditional dances and songs honoring the solidarity and relationship between the three countries.

The participants will take part in a parade and offer flowers at the Quang Tri ancient citadel that has been recognized as a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO this June.

The festival will be an opportunity for artistic troupes from the three countries to meet and promote the friendship between the three countries.

The event is being organized by the Performing Arts Department of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in coordination with the People’s Committee of Quang Tri Province.
 
Green Campaign launches volunteer competition  

The steering committee of the Green Summer Campaign has launched a competition “Volunteer Moment” to encourage more youth to come forward to participate in campaign activities for social welfare.   

Through the competition, the committee will award ideal youth role models of the campaign. The competition kicked off on July 17 and will last throughout the campaign.

The competition will entertain two kinds of entries. One will be detailed written stories of real life people, their actions and initiatives during the campaign. The other will be a photo entry of a minimum five photos on certain themes along with appropriate captions under each picture.

Written entries should be sent to email Id: chaomuahexanh@gmail.com and photo entries to http://khoanhkhactinhnguyen.me.zing.vn

The most attractive prize for the photo competition will be a canon camera450 D worth VND9, 870,000 (US$470) and VND5, 000,000 in cash, for the first prize. Other prize winners will be given a book voucher of VND1, 000,000 for Phuong Nam bookstore.

Nearly 5,000 young people were present at the launch ceremony of the 18th annual event in District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City yesterday.

This year, a total of 50,000 volunteers will take part in the campaign taking place from July 17 to August 14 in 322 wards and communes of the city.

Volunteers from 13 other provinces of the southern regions, the Central Highlands and Laos will also join the campaign.
 
Wind power investors tangled by mineral exploitation rules  

Hanoi firms paid to throw children’s parties  
 
Busy parents in Vietnam's capital city are paying firms between US$300 to $800 to organize their children's birthday party.  

The new service is offered by approximately 20 media firms in the city and more than 40 groups of business students, news website VnExpress reported on Sunday.

Parents are aware of these services from various parental forums and websites.

Dang Van Von, a business administrator of such a firm, said that the company receives more than ten contracts every month.

Von said the number of orders increases on Children’s Day on June 1 and during the mid-Autumn festival, in which parents who know each other will throw joint parties for their children.

The organizers cover every aspect from party design, invitation cards, foods, drink, games, venue and musical instruments if ordered.

They meet with the parents to set up plans for the party and finalize the details according to budget requirements.

If the parents can handle foods and drink, and don’t need to rent a space, the fee is around VND1.5 million ($73).

The fee includes a cameraman, VND1 million for the emcee, VND100,000 for a canvas with suitable decorations, and money to purchase gift bags for the children that attend the party.

Entertainment acts are an extra fee. A monkey or magician, for example, runs about VND1.5-2 million additional.

Dang Hong Vu, a father in Hanoi, has launched such a party for his daughter Vodka.

The girl enjoyed it so much she constantly talks about her birthday.

“When would my birthday come again?” the girl would say, quoted by Vu.

“Please make it like the previous time. All my friends loved it,” she said.

The organizers also provide make-up to paint the faces of the children to look like Superman, Cinderella, a rabbit or other cartoon icons.

Pham Ngoc Duc, director of a media firm that receives 20 party contracts a month, said the service is not for money but to expand the business of the company and promote its image.

Duc said profit from the new service only accounts for two percent of the company’s total profit.

Vietnamese version of blockbuster Avatar to be released next year  

The filming of Vietnam’s Avata, inspired by James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar, will start filming in September to premier in Vietnam prior to Valentine's Day weekend next February.

The film, produced by Chanh Phuong Film Studio, will feature characters Jake Sully and Neytiri in a journey from Pandora to Vietnam to look for the spiritual origins of Pandora people.

According to Vietnamese-American martial art actor Johnny Tri Nguyen, who wrote the film’s scenario and will play the leading role, Vietnamese version Avata will have a different name from Avatar, and is a comedy film project.

Johnny Tri Nguyen, whose acting roles include martial arts films Tom-Yum-Goong and Cradle 2 the Grave, will star in the film. Nguyen also worked as a stunt double in Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, and will be accompanied by famous comedian Thai Hoa in the Avata film.

Hoi An house to become traditional medicine museum

The Hoi An people’s committee has approved a plan to turn a traditional house at 46 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street into a museum of Vietnamese traditional medicine.

The museum will display documents and objects related to the preparation of traditional medicines.

The Hoi An Centre for Heritage Conservation and Management, which will the manage the museum, has recently been gifted many documents and objects related to Vietnamese traditional medicine by Jean Cousso, chairman of the Association of the Friends of Hue.

Vietnamese-French artist entertains jazz lovers

Vietnamese-French artist Nguyen Le has entertained Hanoi jazz lovers during his fourth return to the homeland.

Sharing the stage with singer Tung Duong and Anh Em (Brothers) band in Hanoi on July 12 and 13, he introduced his world music and jazz works developed on Vietnam’s folk music.

He told the press that he was very happy to witness strong developments and great changes of Vietnam whenever he came back to the country and felt excited to perform in Hanoi this time.

Le, born in Paris in 1959, came to Vietnam’s folk music after he became a jazz and professional world music composer. His “Tales from Vietnam” album released in 1996 won an array of French prizes including the Diapason d’Or Choc du Monde de la Musique and the Choc de l’annee Jazzman.

He set up a band named Ultramarine, whose DE release won a best world music award in 1989 and won the first prize of France’s Jazz de la Defence national contest in 1983. He joined France’s national jazz orchestra with many performances around the world during the 1987-1999 period.

CDEF funds new cultural projects

Next month, culture lovers will have the opportunity to join eight new modern projects funded by the Cultural Development and Exchange Fund (CDEF).

The focus of these projects will be on cultural exchanges between Vietnam and Demark, visual arts, and both traditional and modern music.

CDEF has so far received a total of 23 applications from prospective participants, including 8 from Denmark and 15 from Vietnam.

CDEF-funded projects, each worth US$3,500, are designed to promote new and modern culture in Vietnam.

Vietnam, Denmark boost cooperation in culture

The Danish government will continue to cooperate with Vietnam in realising phase 2 of the project “Dialogues between cultural managers and cultural policy makers”, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST).

Accordingly, from now to 2015, the Danish government will provide Vietnam with about 6.5 million DKK (more than US$1 million) to help develop the country’s contemporary arts and enhance cultural exchange activities between the two countries.

The MCST plans to host an event themed “Vietnam’s Cultural Days in Denmark” in the third quarter of this year, which will include arts and music performances, film screening, paintings and photographic exhibition with the aim of introducing the culture, customs and images of Vietnam and its people to the Danish people.

In the 2006-2010 period, Denmark implemented a national strategy for bilateral cooperation with Vietnam, with five out of seven projects achieving positive results.

Vietnam funds a circus project in Cambodia

Construction of a 1,000 seat circus theatre began in Phnom Penh on July 18 as a gift from the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

As the project investor, Vietnam Circus Art and Variety High School rector Hoang Minh Khanh said work is now underway after careful preparations, from legal procedures to transparent bidding, to ensure the high quality of the project.

Ooc Xo Chiet, Secretary of the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Art, expressed belief in the project’s strong contribution to reviving and developing Cambodian circus to its former glory, as illustrated through sculptures at the famous Angkor Wat temples.

Chase Hanoi 2011 photography exhibition to open

The photography exhibition “Chase Hanoi 2011” will be held at the Viet Art Center at 42 Yet Kieu Street in Hanoi from July 26-28.

The exhibition, co-organised by Vietnamese students studying overseas, will offer visitors different views of everyday life.

Chase Hanoi is an art-gallery project featuring the work of Vietnamese art students conveying the message “beyond the eyes”.

Vietnam’s largest foreign language bookstore opens

Xuan Thu Foreign Language Bookstore, the largest of its kind in Vietnam, opened at No. 391A Tran Hung Dao Street, District 1 in Ho Chi Minh City on July 15.

Covering an area of 2,000 square metres, the bookstore will stock around 500,000 copies of 150,000 Vietnamese and foreign language titles on a wide range of topics, including many new releases from the world’s leading publishers.

It also sells office stationery, study aids, and souvenirs and has an entertainment area for children.

The bookstore is invested by the Ho Chi Minh City Book Distribution Corporation with total capital of VND 50 billion (around US$2.5 million).

Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia music festival to open

Twelve art troupes from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia will gather at a music festival to take place in Dong Ha city, the central province of Quang Tri, on July 22-26.

The event, coorganised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Quang Tri provincial People’s Committee, aims to boost the exchange between artists and tighten the solidarity and friendship between the three nations.

The Lao National Art Troupe and the Cambodian Royal Art Troupe are expected to entertain the audience with special performances, said the organiser at a press briefing held in Dong Ha city on July 18.

The participating artists will also engage in a wide range of activities such as offering incense and flowers in tribute to fallen soldiers in the Quang Tri Old Citadel.

This is the second festival of its kind held in Quang Tri province following the first one in 2007.

PV