‘Prince and Pagoda Boy’ film introduced to American viewers

The Vietnamese film ‘The Prince and the Pagoda Boy’ was screened for American viewers on July 17 during the “Vietnamese Film Week in the United States”.

The film, which recounts the life of Ly Cong Uan from his childhood as a Buddhist disciple to his ascension to Emperor of Vietnam in 1010 AD, was shown at the AMC Empire 25 theatre in New York in presence of Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga, Head of the Vietnamese Permanent Delegation to the United Nations, and a large number of overseas Vietnamese and Americans in the city.

This was the last showing of the Vietnamese Film Week in the US. Previously, ‘Winning Lottery’, ‘The Village’s Sons’, ‘The Blind Knight’ and ‘Scandal’ were shown in Honolulu, Hawaii and Washington D.C.

The “Vietnamese Film Week” was one of many events marking the 20th anniversary of the normalisation of the US-Vietnam relationship.

Workshop to commemorate noted writer

A workshop on the life of late writer To Hoai (1920-2014) will be held here on Saturday and will be attended by dozens of researchers and writers.

The event aims to commemorate Hoai's first death anniversary, and is being jointly organised by the Ha Noi Writers Association and Phuong Nam Book Company.

The book company has also published 18 collections by the writer, such as the novels Que Nha (Homeland), Que Nguoi (Others' Homeland) and Muoi Nam (Ten Years), a collection of short stories Chuyen De Quen (Things to Forget) and a collection of notes Ky Uc Dong Duong (Indochina Memories).

The collections are the latest editions that were proof-read by the writer before he passed away.

The three novels are among the works for which the writer was awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize in Literature and Arts in 1996.

To Hoai was born as Nguyen Sen into a craftman's family in Thanh Oai District on the outskirts of Ha Noi. He was well-known for his children's tale, Adventures of a Cricket.

As a teenager, Hoai did various jobs, such as teaching children, selling goods, to being an accountant for traders in the city.

Hoai embarked on his literary career in the early 1940s, but could not devote his life to writing till 1954. During his 60 years of work in the literary field, he wrote more than 100 works in different genres, from short stories, multi-series, long stories and memoirs to novels, film scripts, essays and commentaries.

The writer is famous for a great number of works such as De Men Phieu Luu Ky, 1941 (Adventures of a Cricket); O Chuot, 1942 (Hunting Mice); Nha Ngheo, 1944 (Poor Family); and Truyen Tay Bac, 1953 (Stories of the Northwestern Region); as well as Ba Nguoi Khac, 2006 (Three Others).

Besides his pen name, To Hoai, the writer also used other names such as Mai Trang, Mat Bien, Thai Yen and Hong Hoa.

Superstar DJ Zedd to start his Asian tour in Vietnam this August

Russian-German musician Zedd will bring his "True Colors" tour to Ho Chi Minh City on August 7, his website officially announced.

Zedd, aka Anton Zaslavski, is touring the world to promote his second studio album.

The southern city will be the first one among five legs in his Asian tour in August. The others are Manila, Bangkok, Osaka and Tokyo.

Zedd will perform at the Rach Chiec Golf Driving Range in District 2, organizers announced.

The 26-year old musician is best known for his smash hits "Clarity," "Spectrum" and his latest single "I Want You to Know" featuring Selena Gomez.

He won a Grammy award for Best Dance Recording early this year for "Clarity."

He’s rapidly become the go-to producer for a number of influential artists.

His second album "True Colors," released on May 15, features collaborations with Jon Bellion, Troye Sivan, rapper Logic and upcoming production duo Botnek.

Samsung helps explore Vietnamese culture

Samsung Electronics Vietnam Co Ltd has launched “Culture Explorer- Vietnam”, a new mobile application to facilitate understanding and appreciation of specific destinations across Vietnam via location technology of Google maps.

The application will help users explore Vietnam’s natural landscapes, architectural structures as well as interesting information about the cultural heritage across the country from a new perspective.

It is a result of a long-term cooperation between Samsung and its strategic partnerships, especially the Tourism Information Technology Center (TITC) underthe Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

“Culture Explorer –Vietnam” application is compatible with smartphones and tables using Android operating system. Users can download free the application from Google Play Store and Galaxy Apps.