Thuy Linh shines at Miss International

The strikingly beautiful Vietnamese model Cao Thuy Linh was chosen Best National Costume at the 2014 Miss Grand International (MGI) beauty pageant on October 7.

Eighty-five international contestants coming from different countries and territories around the globe participated in the gala affair held in Bangkok, Thailand.

Daryanne Lees from Cuba was sashed winner of the MGI 2014. The two runner-up title went to Hiwot Mamo from Ethiopia and Kathryn Kohut from Canada.

Miss Grand International is an annual international beauty contest organised by the Miss Grand International Organization in Thailand.

British graphic designer to judge Hanoi logo contest

Hanoi Radio Television has announced that well known graphic designer Peter Anderson will serve on the jury at the awards ceremony for its logo design contest set for October 13.

Peter Anderson hails from Belfast, the UK. He graduated from Central Saint Martins– University of the Arts London and is now a professor there.

He created the logos for many television programmes including “Dr Who”, “Sherlock” and “Primeval”.  

The logo design contest launched by Hanoi Radio Television is part of activities marking the 60th anniversary of Hanoi’s Liberation Day (October 10) and 60 years of Hanoi Radio Television (October 14).

The award ceremony is set to take place on October 13.

Animation festival opens in capital

The Vietnam-the Republic of Korea (RoK) Animation Festival was opened at the Grand Plaza Hanoi,117 Tran Duy Hung Street on October 9, bringing networking opportunities to fledgling filmmakers and free screenings of award-winning films to the public.

Held by the Korean Cultural Centre, the three-day festival will allow members of the Vietnamese and South Korean animation industries to exchange information and animated art.

The Korean ambassador to Hanoi, Ha Chan-ho, and the head of the Cinematography Department, Ngo Phuong Lan, will attend.

The Au Co Art Centre, 8 Huynh Thuc Khang Street, will screen 12 films from the two countries for free at 3pm, 5pm and 7pm on October 10-12.

The award-winning Korean films to be screened are Cloud Bread, Pororo The Little Penguin, Hello Jadoo!, Little Bus Tayo and The Airport Diary. Vietnamese animators will show works called Ve Vang va De Lua (Yellow Cicada and Fire Cricket), Chiec Long Cong (Peafowl's Feather), Duoi Cua Than Lan (Lizard's Tale), Cang To Cang Be (Big Pincer Small Pincer), Bo Vang (Yellow Cow) and Vu Dieu Anh Sang (Light Dance).

"This is the first time the Korean Cultural Centre has held an animated film festival," said Park Nark-jong, the centre's director. "It is a new kind of cultural exchange between the two countries."

The festival is aimed at helping Vietnam develop its film-making industry, and helping local filmmakers network with their RoK colleagues.

About 200 film producers and entrepreneurs in the animation industry will hold seminars. Experts from both countries will review the development of the industry, sharing experiences and best practices for creating animated films.

"I hope the festival will promote the animation industry, as well as cooperation in the countries' creative industries," Nark-jong said. "In addition, the event will refresh a wave of Korean television series and pop music in Vietnam."

Photo exhibition spotlights Hanoi’s development

As many as 132 photos on Hanoi’s renovation and development are being displayed at an exhibition, which opened in the capital city on October 8.

The event, part of celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Hanoi’s Liberation Day (October 10), highlighted achievements recorded by the capital city in its renewal process, as well as people’s better living conditions.

The exhibits focused on the city’s urbanization as well as the peaceful life in suburban areas. They also featured traditional festivals and beautiful, friendly and smart Hanoians.

Dang Dinh An, Chairman of the Hanoi Art Photography Association, said this was the first time such big photo exhibition on Hanoi is organized which coves a wide range of areas, from politics to society and culture.

Visitors to the event had a chance to look at a Hanoi decades ago, and the modern city after the war-torn period.

Int’l experts compare notes on music composers’ training

Music experts from Vietnam, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Norway, Laos and Russia are comparing notes in music composers’ training at a seminar in Hanoi on October 8-9.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Dang Thi Bich Lien said this is a key step for the future development of music composers. The seminar helps Vietnam update new training trends in the world and apply to teaching reality in the country.

Participants agreed on the importance of the training and development of professional music.

They analysised the real situation of music composers’ training in Vietnam and referred to training models of the Netherlands, the Philippines and Norway.

President of the Norwegian Society of Composers Bjorn Bolstad said to attract students to get involved in music composition, Norway has implemented a project, offering an opportunity for school pupils to access modern music and symphony orchestra performances.

The seminar, co-organised by the Vietnam National Academy of Music (VNAM) and the Vietnam Composers’ Association is under framework of the Asia-Europe New Music Festival which is being held in Hanoi and Quang Ninh.

Hanoi to launch cultural day of peace

Over 2,000 participants, including 1,000 representatives of international organizations and foreign embassies are expected to participate in a cultural day with messages of peace, the organising board has announced.

The celebration aims to mark the 60th anniversary of Hanoi’s Liberation Day (October 10) and the 15th anniversary of UNESCO recognition of Hanoi as a City of Peace.  The festivities are set to get underway at Ly Thai To flower garden in Hanoi on October 12.

At the opening of the event, children will write their wishes on a dove painting measured at 3mx4m and roughly 1,000 students are to participate in a walk for peace.

A wide range of activities such as an art street festival, drawing competitions, martial art performance, and releasing of doves are planned for the event.

Traffic culture through eyes of children

Nearly 2,000 drawings portraying day-to-day traffic situations from a child’s perspective were submitted to a children’s art competition run by the National Committee for Traffic Safety from June 22 to August 30.

An award ceremony was held in Hanoi on October 8, with 20 first prizes, 30 second prizes, 80 third prizes and five team prizes.

The artwork features children’s good deeds in traffic situations, such as helping the elderly across the road, cycling in the correct lane, and stopping at red lights. The drawings also showed common traffic problems, such as congested roads, traffic jams and road accidents.

The competition is part of an ongoing traffic culture project to raise awareness on traffic regulations and road safety.

Ministries and sectors nationwide have been called for stricter control of transport activities in a bid to bring the number of fatalities from traffic accidents in 2014 to below 9,000.

Fireworks to mark Liberation Day

Fireworks will light up the sky from 30 locations throughout the capital on October 10 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Ha Noi's liberation from the French.

The 15-minute pyrotechnic event will begin at 9pm.

High-range fireworks will go off at Hoan Kiem (Restored Sword) Lake, Thong Nhat (Reunification) Park, Lac Long Quan flower garden (near West Lake), Van Quan Lake and My Dinh national stadium.

Low-range displays will be fired from other locations in inner and outlying districts.

Artist seeks to entice with cai luong history lessons

Cai luong (reformed opera) star Kim Tu Long is intensely focused on attracting audiences back to theatres and having them learn about historical events through the art.

It is a challenging task.

Next Saturday, Long, 48, will face up to that challenge with his third and largest live show at HCM City's Ben Thanh Theatre.

The show, Ban Sac Anh Hung (Characteristics of Heroism), includes 13 extracts from popular plays, including Dinh Bo Linh (Hero Dinh Bo Linh), Nhuy Kieu Tuong Quan (Heroine Trieu Thi Trinh) and Cau Tho Yen Ngua (Writing Poems on Horseback).

Long will be joined by 50 other performers like cai luong actors Que Tran, Tu Suong, Vu Luan, Phuong Hang, and his wife Trinh Trinh.

"The country's history and national heroes are featured in depth in cai luong," Long said.

"I will bring the original tunes of traditional music and historical stories to theatre lovers.

"Young people think history is dry on stage but I will do it differently."

To this end he has invited young singers Nhat Kim Anh, Thuy Trang, and Ba Thang to perform certain key passages, and hoped this would "attract young audiences like a pop concert".

He generally promised to combine traditional and modern styles for the show.

"We are living in a modern world. Therefore, to make an impression on audiences, cai luong artists need to improve their productions with unusual performing styles."

It is hard for anyone, even experienced artists like Long, to keep going for a three-hour live show with sound and light effects.

He knows this and has been practising singing and dancing for several hours a day for the last four months.

Cai luong is a southern theatrical art that originated in the Mekong River Delta early last century.

Long began his professional career at the Tran Huu Trang Theatre, the region's leading cai luong troupe, in 1985.

With his strong voice and rapid improvement in performance skills, he soon became a bright star on the cai luong firmament.

In 1992 he won the Tran Huu Trang Golden Prize, theatre's biggest honour conferred by the HCM City Theatre Association.

He has performed for several cai luong troupes in HCM City and southern provinces.

Like many of his peers, he devotes all his energies to the stage and to finding ways to attract audiences.

He often performs in remote areas for the benefit of people living there.

The show, which begins at 8pm on October 18, is expected to attract more than 1,000 people.

Autumn Book Fair presents new publications

There are thousands of newly published books at the ongoing Autumn Book Fair 2014, which is taking place at the Vietnamese Women Museum.

Co-organised by Kim Dong, Tre (Youth) and the Women publishing companies, the fair has more than 15,000 books on several topics such as culture, politics, history, soft skills education and gastronomy.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of Ha Noi's Liberation, there are also new and reprinted books about the capital city, including Ha Noi Rong Ruoi Quan Quanh (Wander in Ha Noi) by Bang Son, Mieng Ngon Ha Noi (Ha Noi's Delicacies) by Vu Bang, and Song Mai Voi Thu Do (Living Forever with Capital) by Nguyen Huy Tuong.

The fair will end on Sunday.

An experimental sculpture called New Form: Sculpture – Architecture – Space will be displayed at Manzi Art Space from Friday until November 4.

The display is an activity of the New Form project (Phase II, 2014-15), which sculptors living and working in Ha Noi founded to develop their career and find new creative directions as well as experience a professional working environment.

The project aims to overcome stereotypes of traditional sculpture and open up new directions in thinking and creative possibilities of this art form. In phase II, New Form focuses on the connection of works of sculpture with architectural living space in reality.

New Form: Sculpture – Architecture – Space is curated by Nguyen Anh Tuan with the participation of sculptors Pham Thai Binh, Thai Nhat Minh, Khong Do Tuyen and Hoang Mai Thiep and designer Pham Dam Ca.

The free-entry display opens at 2pm at Manzi Art Space, 14 Phan Huy Ich Street.

Cinematheque screens Verdi's La Traviata

A screening of the classic version of Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata will be held at Cinematheque on Sunday.

A story of unrequited love, death, duels, masked balls and revenge, the opera is based on the novel The Lady of the Camellias, first published in 1848 by Alexandre Dumas. The three-act opera premiered in Venice on March 6, 1853, and since then became the world's most popular opera.

The screening will start at 7pm at Cinematheque, 22A Hai Ba Trung Street. Email info@hanoioperaguild.com for more information.

Moveable Feast takes diners for a ride

Pots ‘n Pans is teaming up with Hanoi Cooking Centre (HCC), L'Embellie, The WareHouse and Chapi Vietnam to present their second Moveable Feast next Saturday, October 18.

The presentation follows the success of the first Moveable Feast last year. The evening will start at Manzi Art Space courtyard over canapes and cocktails.

The diners will move on to entrees under the stars on HCC roof terrace before taking in the panoramic views of Hoan Kiem Lake and the Old Quarter as they indulge in their second entree pairing with good wines at The WareHouse on Hang Trong Street, to be prepared by Pots ‘n Pans.

The main course will be served at L'Embellie Restaurant, and sweet treats will be offered at Pots ‘n Pans.

The Moveable Feast will start at 6.30pm at VND2.5 million per person. Tickets are available at Pots ‘n Pans, 57 Bui Thi Xuan Street; HCC, 44 Chau Long Street; and L'Embellie Restaurant, 49 Trieu Viet Vuong Street.

Annual Oktoberfest comes to town

The Oktoberfest Vietnam 2014 featuring German cuisine and culture will be held at Windsor Plaza Hotel on October 10 and 11, and from October 14 to 18.

Originating in Munich, the festival will offer all-you-can-eat authentic German cuisine such as sausages, sauerkraut, sauerbraten and pretzels, overflowing imported German beer, and traditional German games.

It will also feature music performed by Gaukis Bavaria, a Bavarian Oktoberfest band which has played concerts worldwide.

Participants are encouraged to wear traditional costumes. The event will begin at 6pm at 18 An Duong Vuong Street in District 5. Tickets cost VND1 million for weekday, and VND1.3 million for Friday and Saturday.

Photos reveal underground metal scene

A photography exhibition featuring HCM City's underground metal scene captured by British documentary photographer Neil Massey will be held at Antique Street in District 1 until October 19.

Bloody Chunk includes dozens of Massey's black-and-white photos of rock and heavy metal music bands taken over a period of 18 months.

Before moving to HCM City, Massey worked in London for 14 years as an editorial photographer specialising in music and youth subcultures.

The exhibition is open from noon to 5pm at 38 Le Cong Kieu Street in District 1.

$150mn ethnic cultural complex left desolate in northern Vietnam

A cultural complex representing Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups has sat derelict since parts of it were opened four years ago in time for the millennial birthday of Hanoi.

A project to build the Vietnam National Villages for Ethnic Culture and Tourism in Son Tay District is estimated to cost VND3.2 trillion (US$150.62 million).

But only one-third of this amount has been disbursed for the construction of the cultural complex so far.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has ruled that implementation of the project be finished by 2019.

However, the cultural complex, which sits on a 1,544-hectare land plot, has been neglected since it was inaugurated in October 2010 to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

Thang Long (Soaring Dragon) is the former name of the Vietnamese capital city.

The villages are intended to showcase the cultural traits of Vietnam’s 54 races and promote their heritage.

The complex will also serve as a venue for major cultural and sports events on the national scale.

The place currently looks like a wrecked area in the aftermath of a storm.

The wooden and earthen replicas of the ethnic minorities’ houses have sustained serious damage, including peeling flakes of earth, screeching planks of wood and bamboo on the floor, tilting stakes, and collapsing roofs.

Some of the houses are covered with tattered canvases, giving them an even nastier look.

The area is also spoiled with litter, straw, rocks, and electrical wiring.

The doors to all of the houses are invariably shut, leaving visitors unable to take a close look inside without poking their head in through the windows.

Some houses still look good on the outside, but there is nothing inside to re-create the cultural lives of the ethnic communities.

The stale air and dull atmosphere deter visitors even more.

A large part of the houses highlighting the Chut and Cong ethnic minorities were destroyed in a fire last year.

According to workers in the area, the fire which was caused by a short circuit consumed the two houses.

Little remains of the houses other than black stakes and discolored walls, which are now covered with ragged sheets of nylon.

The aisles leading to the Village of Southern Peoples are riddled with sewage, which poses a serious hazard to unwary visitors.

The bathrooms and other auxiliary facilities have not fared any better.

Very few visitors are seen at the vast complex, which also features sections containing stone statues from the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago, statues crafted by people in the Central Highlands, tomb houses, and a re-creation of a floating market.

Two months ago, a Tuoi Tre (Youth) reporter, who disguised himself as a visitor, saw ten staff members sitting idly outside the management building.

One of them told the reporter to ride his bike straight into the areas he wished to visit, as there was no bike parking lot.

A tour guide told him that the complex only draws visitors during festivals, while it is almost empty the rest of the year.

The reporter returned to the complex on Monday, and little had changed.

According to Toan Thi Huong, a manager of the complex, the facility hosts only three major cultural events annually.

The events are funded by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

She added that the plan to bring representatives of the ethnic minorities to live in the complex has proved a great challenge due to lack of funds.

The complex’s management only summons them for major events, after which they return home.

Lam Van Khang, vice head of the complex’s management, told Tuoi Tre that as planned, the facilities are being developed and built entirely through state funding.

However, only 30 percent of the earmarked sum has been released since 2010, which has resulted in the delay of many sub-projects at the site, he explained.

Nguyen Dinh Loi, also vice head of the complex’s management board, told Tuoi Tre on Tuesday that one of the challenges the complex has faced is restoring the damaged structures while retaining the unique traits of the ethnic peoples.

He added that many of the construction materials are the original, natural ones used by ethnic groups, so they decay easily.

Loi said that the complex receives few tourists during the hot summer months, when they prefer going to the beach. He added that it “is [only] packed with tourists during major events.”

Hanoi to host cultural festival conveying message of peace

A 'Peace Culture Festival' will be held at Ly Thai To flower garden, Hanoi on October 12 aiming to promote the cultural values of the capital city, according to Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The event is among the activities scheduled to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day and 15th anniversary Hanoi being recognised as 'The City for Peace' by UNESCO.

As many as 2,000 people including 1,000 representatives from international organisations and embassies in Hanoi will attend the festival taking place from 7am to 10pm, October 12.

The highlight of the event is an exhibition space showcasing images, objects and documentary films on the scenes and people in Hanoi under the themes 'the city for peace'; equality in the community; urban construction; living environment protection; promotion of culture and education development; and caring and educating the younger generations.

In addition, about 1,000 students and youth will join a walk for peace on the day of the festival. A 'peace wing' picture measuring 3mx4m will be installed on which children can write their wishes.

Many other activities will be held during the event including street art performances, a painting contest themed 'I Love Hanoi - City for Peace', traditional martial arts performances, balloon release, and a pigeon release among others.

Mother-of-pear inlay portrait of Uncle Ho set Vietnamese record

A mother-of-pearl inlay picture featuring Uncle Ho reading the Declaration of Independence has recently been listed in the Vietnam Book of Records as the largest inlaid portrait of President Ho.

The picture, measuring 1.93 metres long and 1.28 metres, was made by artist Nguyen Dinh Vinh from Tien Du district, Bac Ninh province, who is famous for pearl inlay.

Vinh came up with the idea of making a mother-of-pear inlay picture of Uncle Ho 20 years ago, originating from his love and respect from the great national leader.

A great deal of time and effort was spent to find suitable materials for the work, including bronze, shell of snail, and pearl. According to Vinh, the shades of the materials must be in harmony with each other to create a perfect overall composition for the picture.

As a wood block was inlaid with mother-of-pearl, Vinh found it difficult to process the wood to firmly glue the materials onto the surface and prevent them from peeling off with time and in various weather conditions.

Vinh completed the picture in September 2012. His endeavour has been awarded and the picture was highly appreciated by experts for successfully reflecting Uncle Ho’s manner and spirit at the sacred moment of reading the Declaration of Independence at Ba Dinh square in Hanoi in September 2, 1945.