Photo exhibition highlights Algeria-Vietnam friendship

A photo exhibition featuring the friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Algeria opened in Hanoi on October 28.

The exhibition, organised by the Algerian Embassy in Vietnam, aims to mark Algeria’s 57th National Day (November 1).

On display are documentary photos describing the relationship between Vietnam and Algeria since 1958 when President Ho Chi Minh visited the African country.  

The exhibition also introduces photos on the life of Vietnamese and Algerian people.

Epic Vietnamese poem for stage

Composer Nguyen Thien Dao has returned to Vietnam from France to arrange an opera ballet based on the famous Tales of Kieu, written by poet Nguyen Du (1766-1820).

In cooperation with the Vietnam Opera Ballet Theatre, he expects to create a traditional yet contemporary piece including opera, ballet, poetry, theatre, film and rock music.

The Tale of Kieu is an epic poem, widely regarded as the most significant work in Vietnamese literature, translated into 31 languages and published in many countries around the world.

In 3,254 verses, the work recounts the life, trials and tribulations of Thuy Kieu, a beautiful and talented young woman. To save her family, she sells herself into marriage with a middle-aged man, a disguise, who subsequently forces her into prostitution for a period of 15 years after which she manages to regain her dignity.

Kieu's stormy life and tragic love are both reflected in the 80-minute opera ballet, entitled Dinh Menh Bat Chot (Unexpected Destiny). The piece was written for a soprano, who will recite several verses to help the audience understand the context, two baritones, one bass, a choir and a symphony orchestra.

Dao, currently residing in France, is a respected musician both locally and abroad. Throughout his career, the composer has written more than 80 musical works, extensively performed internationally.

Folk music proposed to be on school curricula

Tran Van Khe, renowned Vietnamese music professor has proposed the Southern Vietnamese folk music be included on every school curricula during a meeting held to discuss ways to promote and preserve the traditional form of art.

“The government should bring traditional folk music to schools. It’s necessary for students to deeply understand our traditional music and appreciate its beauty,” said Tran Van Khe, renowned Vietnamese music professor, at a meeting titled “Southern Vietnamese Folk Music Preservation” in Ho Chi Minh City on October 25.

At the meeting, held by Bong Sen Traditional Music Theater in collaboration with the Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism, the 90-year-old professor also said new lyrics could be written for folk songs to accommodate contemporary tastes in music and increase its attractiveness to the young generation.

Other experts also emphasized the importance of preserving the southern folk music.

Dang Thanh Loan, former Director of Vietnamese Institute for Musicology, suggested organizing folk song-singing clubs in southern villages and communes to establish a place for interested people to gather together as well as drawing public attention to the traditional music.

Dan tranh artist Hai Phuong said it is necessary to establish libraries where archives on the southern folk music are kept and made accessible to all interested people who want to learn about the music.

In addition, documentaries about the music and its famous performers should be made and broadcast on television to reach a wide audience, Vo Trong Nam, deputy director of the Culture Department said.

Hollywood script consultant to teach Vietnamese screenwriters

Hollywood script consultant Pilar Alessandra who founded the popular screenwriting program “On the page” will have a three-day course on TV and movie screenplay in Ho Chi Minh City next month.

At the course to be organized by Vietnamese House Of Wisdom Ltd Co in collaboration with the US-based Hollywood Film Institute, Pilar will give lectures in English with the assistance of a Vietnamese translator.

Pilar started her career in film as a script reader for Amblin Entertainment.

With the formation of Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Pictures in 1994, she became a senior story analyst and a reader liaison between the studio and Hollywood producer Robert Zemeckis's company, ImageMovers.

She later taught screenwriting and story analysis at the UCLA Writers’ Program.

In 2004 opened her On the Page Writers Studio, which provides classes, workshops and private consultations for screenwriters and television writers at all levels in Sherman Oaks, California.

In 2010, she published her book “The coffee break screenwriter”.

Pilar is currently a lecturer at universities in many countries. She also mentors and judges at many film festivals and studios in the US.

The course costing US$275 and $175 for students will be held on November 28, 29 and 30 at the Vietnam News Agency Representative Office in Ho Chi Minh City at 116 – 118 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street in District 3.

Photo exhibition extols Italian UNESCO heritage sites

A photography exhibition entitled ‘Italian Sites on the UNESCO Heritage List’ opened at 45 Trang Tien Street in Hanoi on October 25 to mark the 150th anniversary of Italian unification (1861-2011).

The 89 pictures by photographer Luca Capuano on display provide visitors with a unique look at Italy’s 44 treasured heritage sites including the Monte San Giorgio, the Rhaetian Railway through the Albula and Bernina landscape, the historic centre of Urbino and the Orto Bonatico di Padova botanical garden in Padua.

Addressing the opening, Italian ambassador to Vietnam, Lorenzo Angeloni, said that Italy has more UNESCO World Heritage sites than any other country in the world, including 45 of the total 911 recognised landscapes. This affirms the country’s role and significance in preserving cultural and historical treasures.

The exhibition, sponsored by the Italian embassy in Vietnam, will last through October 28.

Writing contest launched to highlight achievements of medics  

The Ministry of Health along with the Health and Life Newspaper announced the launch of a writing contest on medical workers themed “Silent sacrifice” in Hanoi on October 26.  

Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, head of the organizing body of the competition, said at the launch ceremony that this contest aims to honor the achievements of the health sector, especially the unsung and silent sacrifices of nurses and doctors who constantly struggled to fight diseases and epidemics to protect the health and lives of people.

All Vietnamese above 15 years of age, living in or outside Vietnam are eligible to take part in the contest.

The contestants must choose to write about real life characters and factual incidents, giving the characters real residential and work addresses and listing all achievements made by them from 1986 to date.

Entries must be forwarded to the organizers no later than October 26, 2012.

On the same day, another competition themed “Bac Lieu-15 years of Renovation and Development” was launched by the Press Association in the Mekong delta province of Bac Lieu.

Nguyen Minh Chanh, chairman of the Press Association in Bac Lieu Province, said the competition is open for amateur writers in the country.

All entries should not exceed 2,500 words, and are being published in the media from September 1 to December 10, 2011.

The contents of the entries should reflect the achievements, reconstruction and development works in the province in the field of   industrialization and modernization during the last 15 recent years.

Entries can also be based on outstanding persons who have achieved breakthroughs in field like labor and manufacturing or typical role models who were able to mobilize resources, investment and ground breaking research.

Entries can be sent via email to: hoinhabaovntbl@gmail.com no later than December 10,  2011.
 
Photo exhibition marks centenary of Australian journalist  

A photo exhibition to mark the 100th birth anniversary of Australian journalist Wilfred Graham Burchett (September 16, 1911) opened at the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Ho Chi Minh City on October 28.

The exhibition displays photographs of Vietnam and the Vietnamese people taken both during wartime as well as peace time by the Australian journalist who had a profound love for Vietnam.

His son, George Burchett arrived in the city and visited the revolutionary base in Tay Ninh Province and Cu Chi Tunnel where statues of the journalist and local guerilla fighters are located.

Wilfred Graham Burchett was born in 1922 in Melbourne, Australia. The journalist was known for his reporting of conflicts in Asia and his Communist leanings. He died at the age of 72.

The journalist visited and interviewed lawyer Nguyen Huu Tho, Chairman of the South Vietnam National Liberation Front Central Committee, in 1965 and 1966.

Burchett was author of many reports on the U.S. invasion of Vietnam, describing it as an unjust war. He was invited to take part in a grand meeting to mark the April 30th victory in 1975 in Ho Chi Minh City.

The exhibition was also held at the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi earlier on September 14.

‘ASEAN Today’ TV program debuts in October  

A new TV program ‘ASEAN Today’ featuring stories on people and places in the ASEAN countries is being produced by Indonesia’s Metro TV news channel and will be aired from October 30.

The 30-minute global program on Indonesia’s first 24 hour news channel is expected to deliver breaking news as well as cover news stories of the region and broadcast entertainment programs provided by channels in the 10 ASEAN countries.

The first broadcasts will give updates on the preparations underway for the 19th ASEAN Summit in Bali scheduled from November 17 to 19, the revived coffee industry in Laos, Vietnamese folk music, and the world’s best diving spots in eastern Indonesia.

‘ASEAN Today’ will provide an important platform for featuring the different aspects of life in the ASEAN countries.

Central Vietnam has recently experienced severe flooding but people here still had to go about their basic chores of lighting a fire to cook food, access clean drinking water and finding food to eat.
 
PV