India helps to restore My Son heritage site

The Indian Government will provide Vietnam with three million USD to restore and preserve the world cultural heritage site of My Son in central Quang Nam province, announced the Indian Embassy on June 20.

A temple in fourth-century My Son Sanctuary.
The project will be carried out by Archaeological Survey of India, which previously successfully restored the temples at Angkor Wat and Ta Prhom in Cambodia and Wat Phou in Laos.

To mark the occasion, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Vietnam Institute of Culture and Arts will co-organise a conference to discuss the links between the Cham civilisations in Vietnam and India on June 26-27.

Hollywood director to lecture at IDECAF in HCM City

A Hollywood director, David Worth, will hold classes at the French Cultural Exchange Institute (IDECAF) in HCM City over the next three days.

Worth was invited to Viet Nam by House of Wisdom Viet Nam to pass on cinematic knowledge to young film-makers.

He will focus on the movie magic used by a number of worldwide famous directors, namely John Ford, George Stevens, Tony Scott and Alfonso Cuaron, and share his experiences in making action movies and independent films.

Majoring in Motion Pictures at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Worth has been greatly affected by the European New Wave art cinema.

He had achieved an enviable reputation as director of photography before becoming director for a wide range of action, martial arts and horror movies.

Composers' association publishes romantic songbook

A songbook featuring the piano scores and lyrics of 60 love songs by composer and pianist Dang Huu Phuc has been released by the Viet Nam Composers' Association.

The 242-page collection, including 12 songs inspired by folk music, is the first instalment in the association's planned series of songbooks.

Other themes will include the four seasons and the sea.

Some of the songs in the collection have been published for the first time despite being composed 35 years ago. Phuc has written 12 music books of symphonic, piano and vocal music.

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