A team from the Japanese news and television agency, NDN, led by director Matsumoto Takeaki, has arrived in Vietnam to make a documentary film on the 30th anniversary of South Vietnam 's liberation.

The team has visited the central region and met with Lt. Gen. Phan Van Hoan, former commander of Front 4 in the region and many other leading officers of the Front.

The film makers toured a number of former battle fields Highway 9 and Resistance Base V, sites of glorious victories, with plans to travel south to seek more.

NDN has maintained close relations with Vietnam for more than 60 years. It has made films about the Vietnamese army and people as well as about Vietnamese Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, and the 50th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory.

(Source: SGGP)

The Vietnam Film Company, the largest producer of films in the country, has launched a website to kick off a distribution campaign for their new film, Chien Dich Trai Tim Ben Phai.

This is the first time the Vietnam Film Company (VFC) will distribute a film by itself, and has launched a website to advertise their movie. Chien Dich Trai Tim Ben Phai (The Right Heart Campaign) is a relevant and interesting film for all audiences.

It is about a group of senior high school students in Hanoi and the ins and outs of their romantic lives. Director Dao Duy Phuc collaborated with two young scriptwriters, Hoang Anh Tu and Dao Thuy Trang, to create a film for an audience he thought had long been neglected in Vietnam 's film industry.

Mr Phuc said one of the film's stars, Ho Ngoc Ha, a fashion model who is something of an icon for many teenage girls, would make the film one of the holiday season's bigger hits.

"The film is a comedy with many attractive and romantic scenes," said Phan Dinh Thanh, deputy director of VFC. State-funded films are usually promoted and distributed by the Vietnam Film Distribution Company (Fafilm).

However, facing the upcoming equitisation of the company, the VFC will distribute Chien Dich Trai Tim Ben Phai.

To ensure a wide audience, the VFC is making a three-minute trailer to advertise the film which will be broadcast on Vietnam Television during prime time.

The web site at www.chiendichtraitimbenphai.com hopes to receive many teenager visitors. The film's poster will be plastered in high schools and VFC's staff will visit the schools to offer cheap tickets.

One hurdle the domestic movie may face is that most cinemas in Hanoi and elsewhere in the country are scheduled screen foreign films during the holiday season.

Because of this, the VFC has made strides toward signing a contract with Tre Cinema in the Thanh Xuan District, according to Mr Thanh.

He hopes that by distributing the film by itself the VFC will see more profits. "What we really want is the experience to compete with all of studios when all of us are equitised," Mr Thanh added.

(Source: Viet Nam News) 

The central province of Thua Thien – Hue is preparing a submission to UNESCO for recognition of the Huong River as a world heritage site.

The Huong River.

The Huong River is not only part of the natural landscape in the ancient Hue capital but a natural phenomenon that links all relic sites in the ancient capital.

 

As a result, Thua Thien – Hue Province plans to ask the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to recognise the area surrounding the Huong River as a World Heritage site.

 

According to architect Phung Phu, Director of the Hue Relic Preservation Centre, when UNESCO recognised the relics as a world cultural heritage site in 1993, the Huong River and surrounds in Hue were also defined as providing additional cultural value to the ancient capital.

The 28^th meeting of the World Heritage Committee from June 28 to July 7, 2004 in China issued a decision related to the Hue relic site. The decision recommends application for UNESCO recognition of Hue’s cultural heritage sites to ensure the protection of ancient Hue relics along the Huong River.

UNESCO has requested the application report be completed before May 2005 so that it may be considered at the 29^th meeting of the World Heritage Committee.

Vietnam’s UNESCO-recognised World Heritage sites are the Complex of Hue Monuments (1993); Ha Long Bay (1994); Hoi An Ancient Town (1999); My Son Sanctuary (1999) and Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park (2003).

(Source: The Thao & Van Hoa)

The club will also call on antique collectors to donate precious objects to museums.

The Hanoi UNESCO Club, which researches and preserves national artefacts, opened on December 5 at the Museum of Vietnam History .

After three years of preparation, the club has been established with 28 members, including intellectuals, researchers and cultural activists.

The Club will operate under the principle of the Vietnam Association of UNESCO Clubs, aiming to support the research and preservation of historical and cultural artefacts as well as to disseminate information about the significance and cultural value of these antiques to the community.

In particular, the club will also call on antique collectors to donate precious objects to museums. The club’s director Doan Anh Tuan, to date, has presented around 500 antiques to museums.

Vietnam UNESCO was founded in 1993 and up to now, there have been 2,500 official members and around 100,000 people in 100 UNESCO clubs. These clubs mainly deal with cultural, scientific, education and information issues.

(Source: Nhan Dan)

Eighth-grader Vo Thi Nhu Nga has won a special prize for her Swimming pools for children and teenagers in the waterways region model at an international creativity contest for adolescents in Tokyo, Japan.

Nga is a pupil at Thong Nhat Junior Secondary School in southern Long An Province.

Nga's idea aims to help children learn to swim safely in areas without controlled swimming pools. Her ‘pool’ is essentially a bamboo frame that can be tethered in canals and rivers, inside of which; kids can safely learn to swim.

Nguyen Khanh Anh Hoang, a 12-year-old pupil from HCM City also won a prize for a software programme at the contest.

(Source: Lao Dong, Nguoi Lao Dong)

VietNamNet - Opera Whangjinie, the story of a famous Korean courtesan, will be performed at the Hanoi Opera House on December 8 - 9.

Whangjinie was born in Gaeseong and her given name was 'Jin'. She was a child of a jinsa official and his concubine.

 

When she was 15 year old, she voluntarily became a professional table dancer in grief over a man who died lovesickness for her.

 

Korean people believe her actions helped her establish self-respect and triumph over the structural yoke and limitations of women born out of wedlock. The class-conscious society of the Joseon Dynastry was very unforgiving, according to Nam Ki Man, RoK Embassy's Commercial Counsellor.

 

She named herself Myeongwol (Bright Moon) Whangjinie and combined her outstanding beauty and intelligence with her talent in dancing and singing. With refined cultural tastes and poetic genius she emerged as the finest professional ‘entertainer’ in her field.

 

Whangjinie became associated with several well-know Korean contemporary figures, including Seo Gyeong deok, Jijok Seonsa, Byeeokkesu, and Lee Sa-jong, sometimes even matching their scholarly and religious attainments. She would not bind herself to anyone, though, dying alone at the age of 38.

 

The opera Whangjinie took eight years to prepare, and was performed for the first time in April, 1999. It is the first original Korean opera to be based on a true story.

 

The opera will be performed at the Hanoi Opera House on December 8 - 9. Limited invitations are available at the Republic of Korea Embassy , Daeha Business Centre, 360 Kim Ma. Tel: 04-8315111

 

Hoang Dan

Vietnam and Thailand once again dominated this year’s photo competition held by the Asian Productivity Organisation ( APO ).

An ancient grave was discovered in Ha Tay Province on November 24 thought to date back to the years before the tenth century, between 1,000 to 2,000 years old.

The National Archaeological Institute is to make further archeological surveys on the grave.

History Prof Tran Quoc Vuong visited the grave November 26, saying the pattern seen on the grave’s brick identified the grave could date back 1,800 years. The bricks at the gravesite are the same those at the most ancient graves discovered in Vietnam .

Of note is that the grave was set up by putting bricks together, not by construction, but lasted for centuries.

The discovery has the potential of being one of the oldest graves ever discovered in Vietnam .

(Source: Tien Phong)

The Vietnam Ethnology Museum is preparing to launch a collection of cultural items from Southeast Asian and East Asian nations.

The exhibition building, designed in the shape of a kite, will have a preservation system and preservation storage space so as to enable the museum to exhibit a large number of items on different topics.

Construction will start at the end of the year and be complete by 2005.

In the near future, the museum will co-operate with partners from regional countries to have them display their collection in the museum.

According to the museum's director Nguyen Van Huy, it would take Vietnam 20 years to establish a selective and comprehensive collection of its own.

A Japanese professor, who has number of collections from various cultures all over the world, has promised to present the museum with a collection of roughly 300 items from Southeast Asian nations. It will be the first displayed on the inauguration day of the Southeast Asian building.

(Source: VNS)

There are currently 867 ancient homes over 100 years of age in a state of disrepair in Thua Thien - Hue.

The Nord-Pas de Calais Council of France has recently signed an accord to donate EUR100,000 to restore 20 ancient houses in Hue City , Thua Thien - Hue central province.

This is part of the project to restore 237 old houses in the city, beginning early next year.

In Thua Thien - Hue Province, there are currently 867 ancient homes over 100 years of age in a state of disrepair. These houses are listed for the preservation and restoration by authorities in Hue .

(Source: Nhan Dan)

The Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation on December 1 issued a set of stamps featuring Hoi An township.

The Hoi An - World Cultural Heritage set was produced by painter Hoang Thuy Lieu. It includes images of Chua Cau (bridge pagoda) and Hoi Quan Phuc Kien (the Phuc Kien club-house).

Chua Cau and Hoi Quan Phuc Kien are two icons in Hoi An, which was a bustling port in the 16th century and thus was influenced greatly by European, Japanese and Chinese culture.

A three-day philatelic exhibition on the central region and Central Highlands opened on the same day on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) recognition of Hoi An as a world cultural heritage site (December 4, 1999).

(Source: Tuoi Tre)

The Indian Consulate General in HCM City on Wednesday launched the English version a book on India-Vietnam ties from the 1st to the 21st century.

The Vietnamese version of the book is expected to hit bookshelves in March or April next year.

The book author, Geetesh Sharma, born in 1931, has actively contributed to fostering friendship and cooperation between India and Vietnam .

Sharma, who currently serves as President of the Indo-Vietnam Solidarity Committee founded in 1948, said that he did not consider himself a writer or a researcher but a collector and editor of historical documents.

The author spent almost 10 years studying the relationship between India and Vietnam . The 12-chapter book contains many photos and quotes of historical significance. Milestones in the two countries' traditional ties, their folk literatures, and renowned figures such as poet Tagore, late Prime Minister Mahatma Gandhi, and late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India and late President HCM of Vietnam are also mentioned in the book.

He has been presented with the Medal for the Cause of Peace and Friendship among the Nations by the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations.

(Source: VNA)

After 12 years travelling Vietnam on a motorcycle, Japanese photographer Toyama Hitomi has opened three photo exhibitions on landscapes, people and the daily life in the Vietnam .

Photographer Toyama Hitomi in HCM City.

First, she went to Da Lat. On the way there, she shot the red soil, the rubber plantations in the southeast, the misty mountains of the central provinces , and the Cuu Long ( Mekong ) river in the wet season.

She snapped the swirling clouds of the mountains in Sa Pa. In Tokyo , she said, people just think about money, so they don’t have a dream. She also added that it’s Vietnam that she now has a dream of travelling and lives with her passion.

And after two years travelling she opened her first exhibition ‘Dream of Vietnam’ in 1995 in Tokyo . Then held her first photo exhibition in Vietnam in 1997 in HCM City .

Recently, she opened a new exhibition, Wind and Light Source of Vietnam for the Vietnam – Japan Tourism and Culture festival.

She has also published three books on Vietnam in Japanese, filled with stories from her travels.

She said she is now collecting information on the culture of Cham ethnic people, a theme that she has spent years studying. She plans to publish a book on the subject in both Vietnamese and Japanese. She also promised to organise another exhibition.

(Source: Nguoi Lao Dong)

VietNamNet – To celebrate the 12^th year of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Republic of Korea, a Korean cultural and economic week will be held in Hanoi from December 6 – 14.

The event, organised by Republic of Korea Embassy and Vietnam – Korea Friendship Association, will take place at Giang Vo Exhibition Centre.

 

It receives support from the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Investment and Planning.

The week will include an exhibition of products from 16 top companies of Korea including Daewoo Hanel, GM Daewoo Vidamco, S-Fone, Happy Cook, LG-Vina Cosmetics.

Korean traditional cultural performances, such as traditional monastic drum, fan and vessel performances, recognised as Korea ’s oral and intangible culture by Science and Culture Organisation (UNESCO), and a famous Korean opera will be performed in the Hanoi Opera House and in the Giang Vo centre.

There will also be an exhibition of photographs of  important events in the two nations' history, including the recent state visit to Vietnam by Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.

According to Nam Ki Man, RoK Embassy's Commercial Counsellor, organisers aim to ‘show the success of the Vietnam – RoK co-operation, and to thank Vietnamese customers for using our products’.

Hoang Huong

VietNamNet - Laurel Kendall, an anthropologist and novelist who penned Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit received the Vietnam Friendship Award yesterday, November 5.

Ms Kendall has more than ten years of research into Vietnamese culture.

As an anthropologist with the American Museum of Natural History, Laurel Kendall developed the exhibition Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit March 15, 2003 to March 7, 2004 in the US.

 

Out of this, she compiled the novel Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit and has received the award at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology (VME) yesterday.

Ms Kendall first came to Vietnam in 1991, and began work on cultural research from the late 1990s. She and officials of the VME have been researching the spirit life of culture heritages, a programme to preserve folk culture at the museum.

Her exhibition, the collaboration of Vietnam Museum of Ethnology and the American Museum of Natural History exhibit cultural life: Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit garnered special attention in America, since it was the first presentation of Vietnamese culture and the first major cultural statement about Vietnam since 1975.

Nguyen Van Huy, director of the VME said "Exhibition Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit gave American people a new look to Vietnam. Many Americans know Vietnam as a country of war, poverty and backwardness. Through the exhibition, viewers could sense the change in Vietnam during peacetime, “providing a realistic view of Vietnam.”

In summer 2005, the exhibition will be brought to Glenbow Museum in Ottawa, Canada.

Ms Kendall grew up on the West Coast. As she said, she decided to become an anthropologist studying East Asia when she was a junior in college and had a chance to study in Hong Kong. When finishing school, she joined the Peace Corps in Korea, where she furthered her studies and research on China and Japan.

She is now the curator of the American Museum of Natural History, Adjunct Professor of the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University, and a member of the doctoral faculty in Anthropology at The Graduate School and University Center, City University in New York.  Ms Kendall received her PhD in anthropology from Columbia University.

Her recent books include Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit (2003), Under Construction: The Gendering of Modernity, Class, and Construction in the Republic of Korea (2001), Getting Married in Korea: Of Gender, Morality, and Modernity (1996), The Life and Hard Times of a Korean Shaman: Tales and the Telling of Tales (1988), and Shamans, Housewives, and Other Restless Spirits: Women in Korean Ritual Life (1985).

Hoang Huong