Vietnam named Environmental Photographer of the Year 2015

An image of Vietnamese photographer Ly Hoang Long left a good impression at the finals of the Environmental Photographer of the Year 2015 Award.

It is one of 111 shortlisted images which has been chosen from more than 10,000 entries by amateur and professional photographers of all ages across 60 countries.

The photos dealing with issues from sustainable development to poverty, climate change and human rights are scheduled to show at The Royal Geographical Society Exhibitionin London, UK from June 22 to July 10.

The winner of the £5,000 award, which was set up in 2007 by the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM), will be announced on June 25.

HCM City to host 19th Vietnam Film Festival

The 19th Vietnam Film Festival will be held in Ho Chi Minh City from November 30- December 5, reported the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism.

The film fest aims to honor local cinematographic works containing traditional characteristics, humanity and creativity; and pay tribute movie makers and artists who have made outstanding contributions to the national movie industry for recent two years.

This year’s event themed “Vietnamese movie- Nation, humanity, creativity, integration” will include highlights, such as presenting entries in various categories such as movies, videos, documentaries, science and cartoons, panoramic screenings, seminars and workshops.

The organization board will offer titles, including “Golden Lotus Award”, “Silver Lotus Award”, “The jury award”, “Best director”, “Best cameraman”, “Best actor”, “Best actress”, “Best designer” to winners in every category.

Designer Chung to judge Atlantic City pageant

The organizing board has announced well known designer Vo Viet Chung has been selected to serve as head judge for the 2015 Miss Coastal Vietnam Global contest.

The pageant is set to transpire June 29-July 4 at the Circus Maximus Theatre at Caesars Atlantic City in New Jersey.

Other members of the judge’s panel will include Don Guardian, the mayor of Atlantic City and Kevin Ortzman, CEO of Caesars Atlantic City, along with Vietnamese singers Le Quyen, Ho Ngoc Ha and Uyen Linh.

RoK ensemble to tune up for HCM City

The well-known Eine Flute Ensemble of the Republic of Korea will perform at a chamber music concert at the HCM City Opera House at 8 pm on June 9.

The 13-member group will be accompanied by leading artists of the HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera, including Dao Nhat Quang (clarinet), Tang Thanh Nam (violin), Nguyen Tan Anh (cello), Bui Anh Son (viola) and Joo Sun Young (piano).

The concert will feature traditional Korean songs and famous works composers of the Romantic period, including Frederic Chopin, Camille Saint-Saens, Leroy Anderson, Antonin Dvorak, Henryk Wieniawski, Gabriel Faure and others.

Founded in 1997, the ensemble, often known as TOP FIVE, often works with guest artists who play musical instruments not featured in the group.

Tickets, available at the venue, range from VND200,000-550,000. Student tickets are VND80,000.

When contemporary dance meets Vietnamese folk music

The French Institute of Ho Chi Minh City will present “Nón,” a contemporary dance show featuring Vietnamese traditional music, on June 13.

“Nón” (conical hat) is a project from two artists, Vu Ngoc Khai and Ngo Hong Quang.

They first met in Ho Chi Minh City in May last year and discovered that they had both been trained in the Netherlands. They then started their project in January this year in Amsterdam.

The project has been inspired by elements of Vietnamese culture, such as the conical hat, sticky rice cakes, and traditional musical instruments. The combination of contemporary dance and folk music not only creates a visual display of Vietnamese culture but illustrates Vietnamese musicality.

Khai is a dancer and choreographer who has studied and worked in Vietnam and Europe. In 2006, he gained a scholarship from the Consulate of Holland to study at the Rotterdam Dance Academy. Since then, he has worked for a number of dance companies and theaters in Vietnam and Europe.

Quang learned various types of Vietnamese traditional instruments at Vietnam's National Academy of Music and in different mountainous areas around the country. He also studied music at Den Haag Royal Conservatory in the Netherlands

“Nón” will have its local premiere at 8 pm on June 13 at IDECAF, 28 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Tickets are VND200,000, and VND150,000 for students.

Mountainous Lang Son moves to preserve festivals

The northern mountainous province of Lang Son, home to seven ethnic groups, is looking to preserve its traditional festivals in order to promote cultural and tourism potential.

The locality now has more than 300 festivals organised throughout the year. However, according to Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Hoang Van Pao, commercialisation and wastefulness have been reported at many of them.

Therefore, Lang Son will continue intensifying the implementation of a campaign to build a cultural lifestyle in residential areas in order to ensure the pure nature of festivals, while diversifying cultural and tourism products to serve locals and visitors.

It will tighten coordination between local authorities and offices to ensure social order and safety and environmental sanitation, and arrange service shops appropriately at relic sites during the festivals.

Inspections will be also strengthened to detect any organisations and individuals who take advantage of festivals to increase prices for tourists or seek profit from relic site conservation.

Annual Monkey Festival at Lao Island

Thousands packed picturesque Lao Island located 18 kilometres off the northeast coast of Nha Trang on June 7 for the 2015 Monkey Festival extravaganza.

This year's festival featured an all you can eat grand banquet at the centre of the island for the hilarious animals as a way of thanking them for drawing visitors to the island.

Along with a street parade, the day featured a bevy of cultural activities including handicrafts, folk games, a photo exhibition, fishing competitions, boat races and volleyball tournaments.

Japan organises film-making contest for students

Vietnamese secondary and high school students are being encouraged to take part in a film contest organised by the Japanese Embassy and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.

Contestants can submit films of three minutes in length with subtitles in Vietnamese or Japanese.

With the theme "When You Feel Happy", the contest will run until August 1. It aims to help students to learn to express their opinions, nurture their dreams and try to make them come true.

The top entries will be sent to the international film making contest for Asian children held in Japan in November.

Vietnam attends immigrant festival in Belgium

The Overseas Vietnamese community in Belgium recently participated in the “New European Days” festival held at the Esplanade of the European Parliamentary in Brussels.

The event, organised by the New European Business Confederation, aims to honour the contributions and diverse cultures that the immigrants, or new Europeans, have brought to Europe.

The Vietnamese participants displayed in their pavilion books and images of their home country, highlighting famous tourism sites, including Ha Long Bay, Phong Nha-Ke Bang cave, the ancient town of Hoi An, and Hue Imperial Citadel.

They also staged an art performance and cooked traditional dishes to offer visitors, which helped draw a big crowd.

Currently, there are about 13,000 overseas Vietnamese living and working in Belgium.