Art & Entertainment News 5/8 Obon Festival to kick off in Hanoi this week Obon Festival, one of Japan’s most well-known traditional festivals, will take place at Hanoi’s Times City urban area on August 9 and 10, Vietnamplus reports. The festival will highlight Bon Odori and Yosakoi performances together with other traditional Japanese dances, Japanese martial arts like Kendo, Aikido and Judo among others. Many animated activities will be staged during the festival including lantern, fashion shows, film screenings on Japanese culture and culinary arts of both nations. A fire offering ceremony and a lantern street will be staged to express gratitude and piety to the forefathers. Therefore, this festival has a similar meaning to Vu Lan Festival in Vietnam. The Obon Festival, organized by the Japanese Culture Club, Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted and Yotsuba Vietnam-Japan Culture Centre for Connecting Community, will help visitors get an insight into the culture and people of Japan. Admission is free. Artists get ready for Autumn Galleria A group of artists Le Hoang Bich Phuong, Le Phi Long, Nguyen Thai Tuan, Nguyen Van Du, Phan Quang and Phan Thao Nguyen will join forces in an exhibition called “Autumn Galleria” slated to open on August 9. The exhibition will take visitors to stages of history and a fictional school of Alexandre d’Rhodes, the French Jesuit missionary who created Vietnam’s written script, to see the students whose vision is tested with blindfold and the arts in Nguyen’s world, where history is created through fragments by careful gestures of oil on photographic film. Large-scale canvases by Tuan remind visitors of a war-torn history that left in fragments. Viewers will see a cast-iron gate depicting the French-colonial time or a doorway into a Vietnam that is left deliberately in a melancholic space. Du continues with the feeling of ambiguity inspired from a visit to a local abattoir in the city that left an indelible mark on this artists’ representation of violence. Visitors may be scared with the images of a dead and bleeding animal lying in the frame, a leg strapped to a nearby wooden pole and its guts pouring onto a dimly lit interior. Quang’s “TV Time” works are about a family who lives under a bamboo cage, through which the artist refers to a scenario that human can be detained in cages by their own limits and society’s principles. Phuong thinks about the mechanisms that people used to maneuver their desires in society. In ‘The Man I have Met’ featuring an image of a man posing with a sharp pointed beak of a bird, the artist asks whether such ‘masks’ can transform our true selves into better beings or is it all just a lie. Such a border between nature and culture, also perhaps between nature and technology is found in the art of Long. In his ink drawings of dismembered tree limbs of Con Gio Forest, Long heals these wounds of nature with metal struts that he paints using silver leaf. Flower Street 2015 to be held on Ham Nghi Street The annual Flower Street 2015 and Book Street Festival will be held on Ham Nghi Street, announced the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee of People. This year, the festival has to move to Ham Nghi Street in stead of Nguyen Hue Street due to the construction of Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line No.1 and Nguyen Hue walking street. The event is aimed to highlight of Tet culture in Ho Chi Minh City and has been held for 11 consecutive years, attracted more than one million visitors each year. Saigontourist Travel Service One Member Company will organize these festivities. Festival honours piano talents Five young pianists received first prize for their respective age groups at a piano festival on Sunday. More than 200 students aged between 6 and 18 competed in three rounds. Ngo Tue Anh and Truong Quang Dieu shared the prize in the 6-7 years old category while Dang Chau Anh won the prize for 8-9 years old. Nguyen Trung Duc and Nguyen Linh Chi won for the 10-11 and 12-14 age groups. The annual festival has been held by the Viet Nam National Academy of Music since 2011. Film to tell Zone 9 story An independent filmmaking team is raising funds to make a documentary on Zone 9, a defunct arts and entertainment hub in downtown Ha Noi. Zone 9 operated for six months last year and became a hub for artists and young people before a fire led to the death of six construction workers and authorities shut it down, citing safety concerns. Located inside an abandoned pharmaceuticals plant at 9 Tran Thanh Tong Street, facing the French colonial era Pasteur Park, the complex included five buildings dating back to the 1960s. The team, which consists of director Nguyen Anh Thu, producer Gabriel Hernandez and editor Bui Thac Chuyen, hopes to collect around US$5,000 by August 25. Literature temple to be restored Mao Dien Literature Temple will receive about VND19 billion (US$850,000) from northern Hai Duong province's budget for a two-year restoration project. The temple is the second largest Literature Temple in Viet Nam, after the temple in Ha Noi. The restoration aims to improve the site for hosting spiritual ceremonies and festivals. Infrastructure including the management board's office, roads, parking lots and the drainage system will be upgraded and a stone embankment will be built. Over more than 500 years, worshippers have come to pay homage to Confucius as well as 600 doctors from Hai Duong Province. Outstanding Confucian scholars were also honoured there. Tuan Chau marina sets Vietnam Record The Tuan Chau cruise ship terminal in the northern province of Quang Ninh has been recognised as the nation’s biggest artificial marina by the Vietnam Record Organisation. A ceremony was held on August 4 in Ha Long city to mark the recognition. Covering an area of over 1.7 million square metres, the marina is able to accommodate more than 2,000 ships. With favourable natural conditions and proximity to Ha Long Bay – a world natural heritage, the wharf is an ideal destination for tourists both at home and abroad. The marina’s investor - Tuan Chau Group - and the Vietnam Record Organisation plan to seek Asian and world records for the marina, which will help further promote the brand of Ha Long Bay globally.- Int’l festival looks to encourage martial arts preservation An international martial arts festival has contributed to popularising Vietnamese traditional martial arts both at home and abroad since it took place in the birthplace of this practice, the central province of Binh Dinh. The event, from August 1-4, was the fifth and largest of its kind. It drew more than 120 teams from 23 countries and territories, said Deputy Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Mai Thanh Thang, head of the organising board. A highlight of the festival was the recognition for the local martial arts as a National Culture Heritage. Meanwhile, 97 teams were merited with gold medals for their outstanding performances. Master Laaabi Hatim from Morocco said though he has joined the event for the first time, Vietnam martial arts has been popular for the past 30 years in his country. The festival welcomed thousands of domestic and foreign spectators.     Thailand Cuisine Festival opens in Da Nang Deputy General Director of Furama Resort Da Nang, Nguyen Duc Quynh said Furama launched the 2nd Thailand Cuisine Festival on August 1, aiming to introduce Thailand’s traditional dishes to Vietnamese people, international visitors and Thailand people who are living or working in Da Nang. Over 40 Thai dishes including Tom Yam, Somtam, Pad Thai, chili fried meat, fresh fishes…and dozens of various sauces will be cooked and served to visitors during festival. Following the huge success of Thailand cuisine week and the cultural activities organized last year in Furama, we hope the 2nd Thailand Cuisine Festival will continue to attract as many as local and international visitors, added Mr. Duc Quynh. The festival will last from August 1 to 7. Arts programme celebrates Vu Lan Buddhist holiday An arts programme celebrating Vu Lan, a Buddhist holiday held annually on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month to express gratitude to mothers, took place at Hanoi Opera House on August 4. The event was held by the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) to call on people to preserve and uphold the traditional ethnic values of Vietnamese people, particularly piousness, in modern society. The event featured songs and dances praising the merits of mothers and the importance of Vu Lan festival in Vietnamese spiritual life. The organising board presented a saving book worth VND 10 million (US$470) to Phung Thi Ngoc from Ho Chi Minh City, who has conscientiously cared for her mother and mother-in law despite their illnesses and her own difficulty situation. Donators who have provided financial support for VBS’s charity activities also received certificates of merit at the event. Vietnam, France cooperate to develop cinema industry The French Embassy in Vietnam expresses their aim to increase the number of French-made movies to be screened at local theaters. In 2013, there were four French movies released in Vietnam. It is expected that there are around 6 to 8 movies this year. The embassy also hopes that the number will be increased in the upcoming years. According to the embassy, they will offer financial support for film distributors and invite distributors to join in film festivals in France to help promote films within their networks. There will be a new modern movie screening room at the L’Espace in Hanoi to help audiences approach more good movies. The embassy also wants to strengthen cooperation between French and Vietnamese film makers. There are movie projects that have been sponsored by the French government. A film festival in Saint-Malo in earlier July was the event to wrap up the Vietnam Year in France and was among important activities. Previously, local producers also brought Vietnam’s films to join in film festivals Vesoul and Créteil among others. Especially, the embassy also shakes hands with HCMC-based BHD Studio to release “Le Petit Nicolas” (Little Nicolas) today at nationwide theaters. L’Espace also hosts a photo-book exhibition themed “Le Petit Nicolas”. Reality show on stories of poor kids comes on air The first episode of the reality show ‘Cung xay tuong lai’ (Building the future together) will be aired at 11 a.m. on August 3 on HTV7 channel, giving viewers a glimpse on the hardships and dreams of underprivileged children in rural areas. The program has been launched by HCMC Television and DongTay Promotion with the sponsorship of Prudential Vietnam. This year, the program themed “Xay truong moi – Chap canh uoc mo cho tre em ngheo” (Building new schools – offering dreams for poor children) will target old and downgraded kindergartens and primary schools in six provinces, including Quang Tri, Quang Binh, Tra Vinh, Hau Giang, Kien Giang and Ca Mau. The program will include 32 episodes of 25 minutes each. The first one of the soap opera aims to introduce the project which is dedicated to promote education and devotion for children. The rest of 31 episodes will feature characters, sceneries, crafts and local cultures in localities where the program seeks to help poor students. The crew will visit rural areas to find out the real conditions of schools, circumstances of families, requests of teachers and dreams of students to decide what the program has to help them properly. The process of building new schools and inauguration ceremonies will be also broadcasted. The program will be touching stories of poor students who suffer from deprivation, diseases and difficulties but always desire to go to schools for a better future. Emcee Quyen Linh will be the host of the soap opera. Last year, the program had a test-implementation with two schools being built in Dong Nai and Quang Ngai provinces. The program will be conducted with collaboration of Plan Vietnam and Saigon Children’s Charity organizations. Episodes will be broadcasted at 11 a.m. on every Sunday on HTV7. Source: VNS/VOV/ND/SGT/SGGP