Phu Yen to host festival of Vietnamese ethnic groups

A cultural, sports and tourism festival of Vietnamese ethnic groups in the central Highlands of Phu Yen province will be held on July 1-9.

2009 Cultural, sport and tourism festival of Vietnamese ethnic groups in Phu Yen Province.

The festival will include three major activities: The Culture, Sports and Tourism Festival of Vietnam’s ethnic groups in the Central and Highland provinces on July 1-3; A Sports Competition of the National Tourism Year in the South Central Coastal provinces on July 1-5 and a Food Festival on July 6-9.

Many artisans and artists from 13 provinces and cities of the region like Khanh Hoa, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Da Nang, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, Kon Tum and Lam Dong will join the event.

The festival is also an opportunity to promote culture and tourism potentials of the Central and Highland provinces to local and international visitors.

The event calls on ethnic people of the region to take part in the movement themed “All people to build cultural life” and the campaign “All people to do physical exercise to emulate Uncle Ho”.

The cultural, sports and tourism festival of the Vietnamese ethnic groups is part of the National Tourism Year 2011, which is being held throughout the southern central coastal provinces of Phu Yen, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan and Da Nang city.

With the theme ‘Paradise for Sea and Island Tourism’, the National Tourism Year 2011 is an opportunity for the region to promote its vast tourism potential.

Concert to raise funds for Central Region

A special 220-minute concert titled “footsteps of the Central” with 39 interesting items regarded as storytelling and honoring the beauty of the land and local people in the Central region will be held at the Hoa Binh Theater on July 16.

The organizer, pop star Dam Vinh Hung and his famous friends such as actress Hong Van, actor Hoai Linh and singers Ngoc Anh, Quang Linh, My Tam, Cam Ly, Quang Dung, Ho Ngoc Ha, Phi Nhung, Kasim Hoang Vu and Duong Trieu Vu will join the concert.

Vietnam’s central region faces natural disasters and floods annually, some of which can be quite severe.

This has prompted singers to join hands to donate all proceeds of the concert to the disadvantaged people in the Central region, especially poor disabled children in Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Tri and Quang Nam-Da Nang provinces.

Viet Van wins two PX3 awards

Viet Van, a reporter of Lao Dong (Labour) Newspaper, has won two awards at this year’s PX3 competition.

PX3 is the biggest annual photographic competition in France, which has attracted thousands of entries from 76 countries.

The “Sand story No9” photo won a bronze medal and “Working in the Morning” won an honorary certificate.

Viet Van is the first Vietnamese reporter who has won PX3 awards for three consecutive years and the UK Photo Master Cup and the US International Photography Awards for two consecutive years.

Da Lat flower festival to feature wide range of activities

As many as 18 programmes will take place during the Da Lat Flower Festival to be held in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong from December 30, 2011 to January 3, 2012.

Major programmes will include an international flower exhibition, a street flower parade, a flower market-day, a cuisine and flower festival, and a seminar on flower.

A series of cultural and arts activities will also be held as part of the festival, including a flower road at the Palace Hotel and tours of flower villages, fields, valleys, hills and villas, a trade village fair, a gala night of street dances and flower balloon performances.

The opening ceremony of the festival will be held on the night of December 31, 2011.

Dale Carnegie book pirates to be sued

Local publishing house Tri Viet – First News has said it will sue copyright violators for publishing pirated Dale Carnegie Vietnamese versions en-masse.

The books “Dac Nhan Tam” and “Quang Ganh Lo Di Ma Vui Song” translated from “How to Win Friends and Influence People “and “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” by Dale Carnegie respectively have been pirated many times, First News said.

In 2008, First News bought the copyright to translating and publishing the two books from American publishing firm Simon and Schuster.

The books had been well-known earlier with Vietnamese readers since the 70s through copies translated by Nguyen Hien Le and published by several local publishers in collaboration with Nguyen Quyet Thang.

But according to Thang, he was authorized by Le to use his translation and that Thang has bought copyright to the two books.

First News said that right after acquiring the copyright, it sent documents to the Publishing Department and all local publishers to inform the matter to prevent piracy.

But pirated Vietnamese copies have still been published and sold publicly in Vietnam during the last three years by over 13 local publishers including the Culture and Information Publishing House in collaboration with Thang.

The pirated copies also print the sentence “Da mua lai ban quyen cua Nha xuat ban Simon and Schuster Inc Publishers - Rockefeller Center, 1230 Sixth Avenue, New York. 20 (Copyright purchased from Simon and Schuster Inc Publishers - Rockefeller Center, 1230 Sixth Avenue, New York. 20)” on their inside covers.

Still, Simon and Schuster confirmed they only sold the copyright to First News.

Hoi An residents join hands to protect relics

Local residents in Hoi An City are now joining hands to help authorities protect the city’s cultural and historical relics.

The team of locals who will report to the Hoi An Relics Preservation and Management Center will be in charge of propagandizing cultural heritage laws and regulations to other residents in the World Heritage city as well as communicating locals’ concerns to municipal authorities.

The team has so far gathered 33 members from Minh An, Son Phong and Cam Pho wards.

July at Idecaf focuses on movies from France, Germany, Vietnam

Idecaf lines up a moviefest with French, German and Vietnamese films being shown throughout next month.

Directed by Etienne Chatiliez, Tanguy gets the ball rolling at 3 p.m. on July 2. Paul and Edith Guetz, a wealthy couple in their fifties, are getting sick of their 28-year-old son Tanguy, who still lives with parents and doesn’t seem too keen to leave his family home. Even though he is brilliant, successful and charming, that doesn’t matter to his parents who are determined to make his life hell in order to get him out of their luxurious apartment.

Trang Noi Day Gieng (Moon at the Bottom of the Well), a Vietnamese movie which won a number of Golden Kite Awards in 2008, will be screened at 3 p.m. on July 16. Hanh it seems has a happy marriage; she is a dutiful wife and teacher in a rural Vietnamese village. Childless, she allows her husband Phuong, a local school headmaster, to marry a second wife so that she can bear him a baby. But in the small village their secret is impossible to keep for long and they decide to separate. Following the breakdown of the marriage, Hanh loses her grip on reality and begins doubting everything. In her depression, she finds an ideal man from the afterworld.

Vincent Garenq’s Comme Les Autres stars Lambert Wilson, Pilar Lopez de Ayala, Pascal Elbe and Anne Brochet. The French affair is a story of two gay men who fail to adopt a child. They set up a deal with one of them marrying a Columbian woman so that she can live in France but in return she has to bear a child for her husband and his boyfriend. It will be shown at 3 p.m. on July 30.

Roman De Gare is about how people meet through destiny. Judith Ralitzer is an attractive woman and a successful writer who is searching for a character for a new book. She happens to meet a serial killer who has just escaped from jail. Huguette, a stylist at a large hairdressing salon in Paris, will help change their destinies. This film is on at 3 p.m. on July 23.

The Fox and the Little Girl stars Isabelle Carre, Bertille Noel-Bruneau and Thomas Laliberte. One autumn morning a little girl is walking around and she sees a fox. She is spellbound by this intriguing creature and forgets her fear and approaches the fox. Immediately, the barrier between the animal and the little girl disappears as they bond immediately and have a fabulous friendship. Thanks to the fox, the little girl discovers a wild and mysterious world she never knew existed. It will be aired at 3 p.m. on July 9.

In July, a German romantic comedy by Fatith Akin will be shown at 7.30 p.m. on July 12.

Canadian artist graces Park Hyatt Saigon

The Park Hyatt Hotel Saigon welcomes Mary Beth Ancheta, a Canadian singer and pianist at its Park Lounge nightly from Wednesday through to Monday from 8.00 p.m. to 11:45 p.m.

Ancheta has toured throughout Europe, North America and Southeast Asia sharing the stage with some of the world’s great artists such as Bjork, Mute Math, Interpol, Helmet, John Mayer, Arctic Monkeys, Bocephus King, and Juno. Her latest project is a collaboration of innovative electronic music with jazz pianist Geoffrey Keezer entitled ‘Montre Echo - The Near Forever’. She has also composed scores for movies and television.

For more information and reservations contact the Park Hyatt Saigon, 2 Lam Son Square, District 1, tel 3520 2357 or email saigon.park@hyatt.com.

Lead pioneer Thang showcases at Tu Do Gallery

A lacquer painting exhibition by artist Luong Quoc Thang, the pioneer who introduced lead as a new color of the country’s lacquer arts, will open in District 1’s Tu Do Gallery on Saturday.

The exhibition features 20 paintings made of lacquer on wood, presenting his world of creativeness, rawness and simplicity. The works were all made during the last five years.

The most striking works are Viet Birds depicting Vietnam’s culture which is developing and flying high, the Seed of Heritage expresses the cultural heritage of the nation which has awakened after many years in the wilderness or The Arhats Dancing which is the result of a practical journey to Tay Phuong Pagoda in Hanoi. Meanwhile A Market Full of Flowers is a typical metaphor about the bustling year-end atmosphere in Hanoi with many flowers scattered around the city as the people prepare to welcome the new year and say goodbye to the old.

As the first artist researching and using lead, giving one more color to the poor color palettes of lacquer which inherently has four basic colors of white black, white, red and yellow. “The mission of an artist is creativity, research and being brave enough to make something new,” said Thang.

The exhibition, at 53 Ho Tung Mau Street in HCMC’s District 1, runs until July 30.

Fashion behind closed doors

Chuong Dang is one of a select band of fashion designers who are chasing a remake style in Vietnam.

He makes costumes unique due to their stunning, strange patterns and colors. Earlier this month, he opened a fashion cafe so that guests can learn more about his style over a cuppa.

Tucked modestly in a quiet alley in District 1, the cafe is named Kujeans. Your first impression is the wooden gate designed as a barrier with the words ‘If the door opens, we open. If the door closes, we close’.

The gate is an ancient feature and is also a barrier to keep the noise of city life firmly on the outside. “The design of the cafe makes people feel that time is going back due to its stillness and ancient features,” said Chuong.

Inside Kujeans, the comfortable setting enables guests to relax and whilst sipping their drinks, they can admire the designs of Chuong and others.

Designs are hung on the window, on the kitchen case, dining tables or in the garden. The cafe at that time resembles a fashion showroom, luring fashion lovers with the sweet melodies of classical music.

Guests are also free to read many fashion books and magazines.

“The designs make the cafe resemble an art gallery. People who do not care much about fashion also love to visit this wonderful cafe,” said Hung Le, a customer.

Chuong also invites numerous designers to give short talks on fashion for enthusiasts and he also holds mini fashion shows every month.

Kujeans Cafe is located at 103 Dang Dung Street in District 1.

PV