Vietnam attends 2011 Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

A Vietnamese hot air balloon team took part in the third Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Malaysia from March 17-20.

Vietnam was asked by the organizer to send five balloons to the fiesta even though this was the first time it has been invited.

27 hot air balloons from 14 countries attended the fiesta including the US, Japan, Belgium, Switzerland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, France, Germany, the UK, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This also provided an opportunity for Vietnam to promote its image to the world and call on international friends to vote for Ha Long Bay as one of the world’s seven natural wonders.

It was estimated that the 2011 fiesta attracted as many as 300,000 domestic and international visitors.

Int’l musical evening “Say Hello to Vietnam’s Sea”

An international musical evening with the theme “Say Hello to Vietnam’s Sea” was held at Sand Hill stage in Mui Ne, Phan Thiet on March 18.

The free event, part of the international boat racing festival, drew the participation of many Russian and Australian singers, and jazz bands from the Czech Republic

The foreign singers performed in various kinds of music including pop, rock and jazz, as well as beautiful dances, which attracted thousands of audiences.

A light show was also organised the same day at the Park Diamond Phan Thiet Hotel.

Festival marks Int’l Francophone Day in Hanoi

Hundreds of students in Hanoi on March 19 joined in a festival celebrating the International Francophone Day 2011 at the Hanoi University.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Swiss Ambassador to Vietnam Jean-Hubert Lebet, President of the Group of Francophone Embassies, Delegations and Institutes, praised the initiative to organise the festival on the occasion of the International Francophone Day (March 20).

The festival offered an opportunity for the Francophone community in Hanoi, especially students, to share their interest in the language and cultures of French-speaking countries, he said.

It also helped increase the popularity of the French language in order to make it not only the language of culture but also the language of science, trade, economics and law, he added.

During the event students visited camps and showrooms of embassies of French-speaking countries, including Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, and France. They also had a chance to join interesting games such as hockey, a traditional sports in Canada, and a contest on France as well as enjoy famous cheese from Switzerland.

The 14th French Singing Contest for the northern region was also held during the festival, drawing the participation of 16 units with 26 solo and duet items.

Hong Kong television captures aromas of Vietnamese coffee

The special aroma of Vietnamese coffee and Vietnam’s coffee drinking culture will be introduced in a 12-episode film produced by Hong Kong Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB).

The film is the second part of a TVB programme called, “the aroma of coffee” which aims to introduce coffee and the culture of coffee drinking in well-known locations around the world. The first part was shot in Kenya, Taiwan, the US and Denmark.

During their stay in Vietnam from March 10-15, TVB filmmakers filmed beautiful images of vast coffee plantations in Buon Ma Thuot in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, and the hard-working farmers caring for coffee trees.

Ho Chi Minh City’s coffee culture was also a focus in the 36-minute film.

In addition to Vietnam, the film-making team will continue to explore Jamaica, Brazil, China and Australia.

The film sees the participation of famous Hong Kong actor Chen Hao and actress Ly Nha Ky of Vietnam.

Chen Hao said he had never been in such a surprising place as Buon Ma Thuot, where the farmers love coffee and devote their life to it.

He also said the filmmakers hope to tell Hong Kong citizens about coffee lovers in Vietnam, how coffee is produced there and how the country is now the second largest coffee exporter in the world.

After talking with Chen Hao about the Vietnamese coffee culture, Ky said that Chen Hao was excited to learn that Vietnamese use a filter to make coffee instead of a coffee machine, and that they will drink coffee anywhere.

Chen Hao said he would like to visit Vietnam again, because it is a peaceful and beautiful country with delicious food and very hospitable people.

Exhibition to prove font of all knowledge

The 56th International Typographic Exhibition featuring 242 winning entries including printed matter, packaging, logos and movie titles will open at the Goethe Institut in Hanoi on March 19 by the New York Type Directors Club (TDC).

Every year, the TDC holds a competition for the use of type and letter forms in design and for the design of typefaces. The winning entries came from 20 countries including the US, Germany, Australia, Canada, China, the UK, France, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Netherlands.

The exhibition is being sponsored by Richard Moore Associates.

Other activities taking place during the exhibition include a screening of a documentary titled ‘Helvetica’ directed by Gary Hustwit, which is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which celebrated its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives.

The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.

There will be a discussion on Type Talk in which FPT Arena students will be invited to create typographic posters on the theme of ‘Shout It out Loud’.

There will be another screening of a film titled ‘The Art of Hermann Zapf’ on Monday. The video, produced in 1967, features Zapf at work at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, Missouri and in Zapf's design studio in Dreieichenhain, Germany.

The exhibition will finish on March 22.

Show helps tourists learn Vietnamese people’s life

More than 100 professional artists will work together to portray the Vietnamese people’s life through different stages of evolvement at an installation art show to be held in March.

Themed ‘Huong Dat’ (Aroma of Soil), the show will be staged at the Youth Theatre, mainly for foreign tourists and overseas Vietnamese to get to know more about Vietnam ’s culture and its wet-rice civilization.

Thatched cottages, buffalos and ploughs, farming tools, earthenware, stone works, and rattan articles, will become part of the installation show.

Directed by the people’s artist Le Hung, the event was due to include performances of dances and songs, pieces of puppet plays, traditional and contemporary music.

’Huong Dat’ is one of the artistic activities designed to promote the country’s images and its arts to the outside world.