Thu Hoai declines Mrs Universe pageant invitation

The ravishingly beautiful Nguyen Thu Hoai, former Mrs Vietnam Continents for 2012, has refused the invitation to compete in the Mrs Universe pageant, citing health reasons.

One week ago, she flew to Thailand for medical treatment and she has not yet fully recuperated despite doctors declaring her surgery a success.  

Hoai has extended her sincere thanks to friends, colleagues and audiences who have supported her over the past time and for all their thoughts and prayers related to her current health problems.

The Mrs Universe pageant is set to take place in Malaysia from August 22-29. So far, representatives from 46 countries have been invited to participate in the contest.

An Giang preserves Oc Eo cultural relic values

Southern An Giang authorities have paid attention to preserving and promoting values of the Oc Eo special national cultural relic.

The province has hastened to complete infrastructure facilities for the relic, including electricity, clean water and drainage systems while building a showroom for antiques unearthed in the relic, facilitating local people and tourists to learn.

An official ceremony to announce the Prime Minister’s decision to recognise the special national status of the Oc Eo cultural relic will be held on September 26.

The 450ha Oc Eo relic is located in the area of Sap-Ba The Mountain, Thoai Son district, 40km from Long Xuyen city. This is a well-known relic, first excavated by French archaeologist Louis Malleret in 1944, which is believed to have been a prosperous commercial port of the once-powerful Phu Nam kingdom 2,000 years ago.

Artifacts found in this area are clear evidence of an advanced civilisation with developed arts and crafts including jewellery and pottery making.

There were also a system of canals and various temples and tombs built with bricks and stones in this area, which were the combination of ancient civilisations in the region and the local culture.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has assigned the Vietnam Institute for Culture and Arts to make a dossier on Oc Eo-Ba The relic and submit it to UNESCO to seek recognition as the world cultural heritage site.

The Youth Theatre in Hanoi brings Bertolt Brecht’s masterpiece the “Caucasian Chalk Circle” to Hanoi from September 16-19, announced theatre Director Truong Nhuan at a press conference on August 13.

“Audiences will find the novel translation by Vietnamese performers, directed by German Director Dominik Gunther, co-directed by Le Khanh and Sy Tien, with stage design by Painter Doan Bang, highly entertaining” Nhuan said.

The play follows the story of a servant girl who saves the life of an abandoned baby boy in wartime.When the mother returns to claim him, however, their fates lie in the hands of a wily, unpredictable judge. The play soars with humour, romance and unexpected plot twists.

Previously, another famous play by Bertolt Brecht’s “The Good Person of Szechuan” was staged at theatres acrossthe country and was warmly received by Vietnamese audiences.

Eight theatres to join Ha Noi Theatre festival

Eight theatres have registered to join the first Ha Noi Theatre Festival, to be held between September 25 and October 5. The event celebrates the 60th anniversary of Ha Noi's liberation from the French invaders (October 10, 1954).

The theatres will perform 12 plays in different genres of cheo (traditional opera), tuong (classical drama) and cai luong (reformed opera).

The shows will be organised at various cinemas and theatres including Cong Nhan Cinema on Trang Tien Street, Dai Nam Cinema on Hue Street, Hong Ha Cinema on Duong Thanh Street and Tuoi Tre (Youth) Theatre on Ngo Thi Nham Street.

Festival to celebrate khen flute of Mong ethnic group

A festival featuring khen, typical bamboo flutes of the Mong ethnic minority people, will be held in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang for the second time on August 30 and 31.

The Khen Mong Festival in Dong Van District is organised to gather, make use of, conserve and popularise different forms of performances using the musical instrument, such as dancing with khen or khen blowing.

According to the district's People's Committee, the festival gives local artisans the opportunity to exchange and share experience with their counterparts from other areas.

Taking place on the occasion of the Independence Day holiday, September 2, the event aims to attract a large number of tourists to the Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark.

Festival goers will not only enjoy khen performances but also many other folk games: tree and rope climbing, ball beating, pole pushing, arrow shooting, and nightingale fighting.

Traditional costume shows and local specialties will also be featured.

Painting competition marks 130th anniversary of Modigliani's birth

Trinh Cam Nhi, 18, has won the first prize at a painting competition held here recently to celebrate the 130th anniversary of the birth of Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani.

Nhi won the contest with her painting entitled My Friend. Two other competitors got consolation prizes, but no one won the second prize.

The contest was held by the Italian Embassy in Ha Noi. The jury comprised Italian ambassador Lorenzo Angeloni and well-known painter Thanh Chuong. According to Chuong, Amedeo Modigliani has a great influence on Vietnamese painters.

"Each Vietnamese painter is influenced by Modigliani for a certain period," Chuong said. "His special and superior feature is the fact that anyone looking at his paintings finds himself or herself there."

Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (1884-1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is best known for his portraits and nudes painted in a modern style characterised by elongated faces and figures. He died at the age of 35 in Paris of tubercular meningitis.

Series spotlights King-Monk

Director Van Luong (fourth right) and his crew working on the historical television series Phat Hoang Tran Nhan Tong. 

A historical television series on the life of King-Monk Tran Nhan Tong, the founder of Viet Nam Zen Buddhism, will be filmed early next month by the private entertainment group, Viet Nam Tinh Hoa (Viet Ess).

The 45-part series, Phat Hoang Tran Nhan Tong (King-Monk Tran Nhan Tong), is written by a group of 11 scriptwriters and authors knowledgeable about Vietnamese history and Buddhism.

The screenplay was based on nine novels by writers Hoang Quoc Hai, Ha An and Tran Dai Si.

The film's director, Meritorious Artist Van Luong, and his staff spent more than three years preparing for filming.

"My staff and I have worked with dozens of experts in language, costume design, and props to improve our knowledge and understand how all of these fields in the film are important historically, technically, and socially," said Luong.

The series is about the life and attainment of Nirvana of King-Monk Tran Nhan Tong (1258-1308), the third king of the Tran dynasty, who ascended the throne when he was just 21.

The King was famed for defeating Mongol invaders twice during his 15-year reign.

He abdicated the throne when he was 35 and spent the rest of his life on Yen Tu Mountain, located in Quang Ninh Province, practising and propagating Buddhism.

He founded the Truc Lam School of Zen and worked to unify different Vietnamese Buddhism sects into Vietnamese Zen Buddhism.

The Central Committee of the Viet Nam Buddhist Sangha has long observed the day the King attained Nirvana (the first day of the 11th lunar month) as the national anniversary of Vietnamese Buddhism.

"Through the film, we wanted to spotlight King-Monk Tran Nhan Tong's remarkable spirit and work," said Luong, adding that the film is his greatest project.

Luong's film attracted more than 100 actors and stuntmen, who have been trained by film and theatre experts, such as People's Artists Nguyen Dinh Quang, Man Thu, Nhu Quynh and Le Chuc.

The producer Viet Ess has also constructed a 15-hectare studio in Uong Bi City in Quang Ninh Province for filming.

Post-production work on the film Phat Hoang Tran Nhan Tong will be completed in Ha Noi later this year.

San Art calls for participants in ‘Encounter’ program

San Art is looking for 15 participants in Vietnam to take part in workshops with the guest speakers in the program ‘Encounter,’ a series of lectures and workshops that aim to stimulate creative activity in Vietnam, engaging different ideas of contemporary culture.

‘Encounter’ forms part of a larger endeavor called ‘Conscious Realities’ (2013-2016) focusing on the shared histories of South East Asia, South Asia, Latin America and Africa, engaging the divergent reactions to those histories and the lessons to be learned in thinking laterally across these communities. So as a participant, the applicant must be willing to take part in discussions and is expected to undertake small tasks such as writing, drawing, presentation that further investigates their own relationship to the expertise of each speaker.

‘Encounter’ is open to all interdisciplinary thinkers, including artists, architects, social scientists, and writers above the age of 23 who live and work in Vietnam and interested in examining the importance of culture to a global society. They need to have a good command of English, as the majority of guest lecturers will speak in this language (Vietnamese translation will however be provided) and they must understand that attendance at all lectures and workshops is mandatory to the program.

Application deadline is September 6 and the results will be notified by email between September 22 and 27. The application form can be downloaded at http://san-art.org/education/how-to-apply-for-encounter-workshops/.

The board of advisors for the call consists of Dinh Q. Le, co-founder of Vietnam Art Foundation in Los Angeles and chairman of San Art, Nguyen Thanh Son, entrepreneur, lecturer, author, and general director of T&A Ogilvy, and Nguyen Phuong Mai, researcher and lecturer of Cross-Cultural Management at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.

All lectures and workshops will be held in HCMC and conducted in English and Vietnamese.

Vietnam’s waters and islands through Nguyen A’s lens

More than 1,000 images taken by veteran artist Nguyen A in five trips over four years are on display at “Hoang Sa - Truong Sa, Bien dao Viet Nam” (Paracel and Spratly, Vietnam’s islands) photo exhibition at the Youth Cultural House in HCMC’s District 1.

Hoang Sa - Truong Sa, Bien dao Viet Nam is also the name of his photo book which he is selling to raise funds for local disabled children.

At the exhibition, which runs until this Saturday, viewers can see daily activities of naval soldiers and islanders and images of popular professors Nguyen Dinh Dau and Nguyen Nha showing rare documents that prove Vietnam’s sovereignty over waters and islands.

There are images about sea and island conferences and parades of local people on the streets in protest against China’s illegal parking of a giant oil rig inside Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.