Art & Entertainment News 23/4 Ecopark hosts hot air balloon festival A hot air balloon festival will take place at an urban township development Ecopark in Hanoi from April 30- May 2 during the National Reunification Day and May Day holidays. The event will run from 6:30am-9:00am and 3:00pm-6:30 pm. Balloons will fly at a height of 40-50 meters, providing an unique and interesting experience for visitors who are flying enthusiasts. Additionally, a wide range of activities will also be held, including a food festival, camping, art performances, and folk games. Thanh Hoa opens additional display house of Ho Dynasty Citadel An additional display house of the Ho Dynasty Citadel was opened in Vinh Loc district of central Thanh Hoa province on April 21. It introduced the beauty of eight world heritages in Vietnam together with 12 heritage sites in the world to public and international friends. The event offered a chance to promote the unique values of the Ho Dynasty Citadel, a UNESCO recognised World Cultural Heritage Site while intensifying linkages and tourism development between the local site and other world heritage sites in Vietnam. A club activity themed “em yeu lich su” (I love history) with participating students from Vinh Phuc secondary school, Vinh Loc district was also held during the event.- Vietnam attends itn’l bonsai and tea festival in Slovakia A Vietnamese delegation has attended the 18 th international bonsai and tea festival in Nitra, Slovakia. A Vietnamese booth showcased video clips about the country’s tea drinking way, coffee production and bonsai trees and presented many beautiful pictures of the country’s landscape and people. Addressing the event which took place from April 16-19 Vietnamese Commercial Counselor Nguyen Thanh Long briefed festival-goers on Vietnam’s tea and coffee industry and their import-export situation. The organising board allowed the Vietnamese Embassy to Slovakia to put on a special “Vietnamese Day” on April 19 at the main stage of the festival, attracting thousands of visitors, drawn by traditional games, an ao dai fashion show and a Vietnamese cuisine show. This was the third time the embassy participated to the annual event, which aims to bolster economic and cultural ties between nations. This year marks the 65 th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Hung Yen moves to revive Pho Hien relic complex The Red River Delta province of Hung Yen has plans afoot to revive the historic Hien Street, which will be officially recognised as a special national relic site at the end of April. The area is home to more than 100 cultural and historical relics, including communal houses, pagodas and temples. Eighteen of them have received national recognition. The province has now instructed relevant bodies and localities to prepare for local traditional festivals this year that will celebrate and bring alive the history, spirituality and culture of the street. Traditional rituals will be conducted in all Pho Hien relic sites, including Hien Pagoda, Mau (Goddess) Temple, May (Cloud) Temple and Chuong Pagoda. Exhibitions displaying antique objects, historical documents, bonsai trees and traditional dishes will also be held. A number of traditional sports, such as flute-kite flying contests, cock-fighting, chess playing and boat racing will also be organised across the relic sites, bringing back memories of when the site was a bustling commercial port on the Red River. In its heyday between the 17th -18th century, Pho Hien was second to the Imperial Capital city of Thang Long as a trading point. It was well-known among foreign traders, especially those from China, Japan and the Netherlands. Pho Hien relic complex is located in between Dang Chau village (Lam Son district) and Ne Chau village (Hong Chau district) in Hien City. Restoration progress accelerated to welcome Hung Temple festival Restoration progress on the Hung Kings Temple Relic Site in the northern midland province of Phu Tho has been pushed forward to welcome the national festival taking place on April 28, said director of the Site Luu Quang Huy. The repairs are focused on the Thien Quang pagoda and the landscape around Den Ha (Lower Temple), costing over 67 billion VND (3.1 million USD). A road to the temples in the sacred Nghia Linh Mountain was inaugurated to facilitate visitors to the relic site. In addition, numerous facilities have been built to ensure the cultural space in the site such as a pond, yard and parking lot. Huy said that the Hung Kings Temple Relic Complex has become more magnificent than a decade ago thanks to the prioritised restoration investment. He highlighted that from 2010, over 700 billion VND (32.6 million USD) has been allocated to the embellishment projects in the relic site. Numerous celebratory activities will be held in the province from April 23-28 to commemorate the Hung Kings, the legendary founders of Van Lang – the first State in Vietnam’s history. A ceremony marking the Hung Kings’ death anniversary will be organised on April 28, or the 10 th day of the third lunar month, known as the national commemorative day. Before that, other ceremonies will be held to celebrate the death anniversary of the Hung Kings’ father Lac Long Quan and pay tribute to their mother Au Co on April 24. Phu Tho authorities have assured that they have employed comprehensive measures to ensure security, order and safety for the festival, which expects to welcome 6-7 million visitors. Vietnamese legend has it that Lac Long Quan, son of Kinh Duong Vuong, married Au Co, daughter of King De Lai. Au Co gave birth to a sack containing 100 eggs from which 100 children were born. The couple then decided to separate in order to populate the land and propagate the race, so half the children followed their mother to the highlands and the remaining went with their father to the sea. The first child went with mother Au Co to Phong Chau, now Phu Tho province. He then became King Hung and founded the first nation in the history of Vietnam, called Van Lang. Ruling the country over 18 generations, the Hung Kings taught the people how to grow wet rice. They chose Nghia Linh Mountain, the highest in the region, to perform rituals devoted to rice and sun deities to pray for lush crops. To honour the great contributions of the Hung Kings, a complex of temples dedicated to them was built on Nghia Linh Mountain, and the tenth day of the third lunar month serves as the national commemorative anniversary. The worshipping rituals of the Hung Kings are closely related to the ancestral worshipping tradition of most Vietnamese families which forms an important part of people's spiritual lives. It was recognised as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012. Art exhibition marks 40 years of national reunification An exhibition themed “40-year impression” opened in Ho Chi Minh City on April 21 as part of activities to mark the 40th anniversary of the liberation of the South and national reunification (April 30, 1975 - 2015). The exhibition features roughly 200 pieces of artwork themed “Study and follow the late President Ho Chi Minh’s moral example”, new-style rural building, and sea and island sovereignty protection. It aims to present national pride in building and protecting the country through the artwork including oil and lacquer paintings, sculptures, digital and pastel drawings. The event will run until May in the city’s Fine Art Museum.- VN culture shines at Slovakia fest Viet Nam participated in the 2015 Bonsai and Tea Festival, which took place in the exhibition area Agrokomplex in Nitra, Slovakia, from April 16 to 19. Viet Nam's coffee and tea booth was more spacious than last year's and decorated with a wide array of pictures of the country. The booth also showed a video clip about Vietnamese tea ceremonies, coffee production and bonsai trees. Visiting the event Ho Dac Minh Nguyet, the Vietnamese ambassador in Slovakia, gave a talk on the nation's tea culture, the benefits of drinking coffee and tea, and the proper ways to prepare the drinks. Nguyen Thanh Long, Vietnamese commerce counselor, also spoke about the country's tea and coffee production and trade. The festival organising board decided to call Sunday Viet Nam Day. The Vietnamese embassy celebrated it on the main stage. The organisers, the Vietnamese Trade Bureau in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the agent of Trung Nguyen Coffee in the Czech Republic and Vietnamese expats in Slovakia, held various activities, including bamboo pole dancing, national dress performances and cooking traditional food. Viet Nam's booth and Viet Nam Day attracted thousands of visitors during the four-day festival. Viet Nam's third time participating in the Slovakia International Tea and Bonsai Festival is expected to enhance the two nations' cultural and economic co-operation as they celebrate 65 years of diplomatic relations in 2015. The Slovakia Tea and Bonsai Festival is an annual international festival that showcases the national characteristics of the participants. Experts discuss role of e-books in digital era Experts gathered yesterday to discuss e-books and the changes it has and will inspire in the reading habits of Vietnamese at a seminar organised at the National Assembly Office of Viet Nam in Ha Noi. The event is one of many ongoing activities commemorating Viet Nam Book Day, April 21, and World Book and Copyright Day, April 23. At the seminar, representatives of the National Assembly library (a co-organiser of the event), publishing companies and several e-book distributing companies discussed the advantages of e-books – their convenience, entertainment value, accessibility and reduction of printing and publishing costs. Despite the intriguing arguments for e-book libraries, there have been several challenges to designing the e-book online libraries and teaching readers on how to use digital book resources. Music show to mark Reunification Day A music show to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the nation's reunification will be organised by the Heritage Association and Mekong Artist at the Hoa Binh Theatre in HCM City on April 30. Sac Am Hoa Nhip Hung Ca (Harmony of Colours & Sounds) will feature iconic patriotic songs. The audience can also meet with some witnesses of the final moments of war on April 30, 1975. They include artist Pham Thanh Tam, who sketched the picture of the first tank entering Independence Palace, and photojournalist Hoang Van Cuong, who took the unforgettable picture of a tank entering the Palace. Annual int'l kite festival opens in Vung Tau   Việt Nam's annual International Kite Festival opens today in Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu Province's southern beach city of Vũng Tàu. This year's week-long festival, themed "Bay Cao Cùng Việt Nam" (Flying with Việt Nam), has attracted about 100 kite artisans and connoisseurs from Germany, France, Italy, New Zealand, Australia and Việt Nam. Kites include a traditional six-sided Japanese fighter kite called Rokkaku, a Vietnamese kite with bamboo flutes, huge kites with shapes of human figures, and sport kites. There will be competitions in kite making and kite flying. A special night kite performance with sound and lights will also be held from 7 pm to 10 pm on April 25 at the Paradise Golf Club. Besides the kite festival, the province will host a Food Festival from April 23 – 26 at the Trưng Trắc – Trưng Nhị Park with the participation of 34 local restaurants, hotels and handicraft villages. The event will highlight specialties from different regions of Việt Nam, especially seafood. Authentic dishes from countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Ukraine will also be offered. The organiser will hold music and dance performances presented by troupes from the province, and performers from An Giang and Binh Thuận provinces will entertain visitors during the festival. Two films re-edited by Thi to be screened Two films, entitled Song to the Front and Viet Nam the Movie, by Nguyen Trinh Thi will be screened tonight at Ha Noi Goethe Institute, 56-58, Nguyen Thai Hoc Street. Song to the Front is the first found-footage film by Thi. It was re-edited from a 1973 motion picture by the Viet Nam Feature Film Studio. The second film, Viet Nam the Movie, was finished only earlier this year. The film is the filmmaker's definition of a nation and its place on the world map, by seeing how the characters in movies and popular media referred to Viet Nam during the past 50 years. The Ha Noi-based independent filmmaker and video artist founded Hanoi Doclab, a centre for documentary filmmaking and video art in Ha Noi in 2009. She has been the main instructor for film-making courses at Doclab for the last three years. Her works have been screened at international festivals and art exhibitions, such as the Oberhausen International Film Festival, Bangkok Experimental Film Festival and DEN FRIE Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen. The 70 minute-screening will commence at 7pm, with English and Vietnamese subtitles. There will be an interaction with the filmmaker after the screening. This is part of Hanoi DocLab's bi-weekly "Creative Documentary Film Series" programme. Film festival shines light on Vietnamese war European cinema-lovers have been gathering in Italy since March 31 to enjoy a festival of 31 films made by foreign film-makers featuring Vietnam in both war and peace time. The month-long event was held as part of a programme celebrating the 40th anniversary of Vietnam’s national reunification. The event is the initiative of Giandomendico Curi, a leading Italian film critic, who has studied and collected films about the Vietnam War for a long time. The work of directors hailing from France, the Netherlands, the US, Cuba and Italy has been on show, while on April 21 six Vietnamese films were also screened. They were: “Co giao Hanh” (Teacher Hanh), “Du kich Cu Chi” (Cu Chi Guerillas), “Tong tan cong Tet Mau Than” (The General Offensive and Uprising of Mau Than Spring), “Duong ra tran” (Road to the Front), “Nhung nguoi dan que toi” (People in my Homeland) and “Em be Hanoi” (Girl from Hanoi). The event will finish on April 30, the 40 th anniversary of the liberation of South Vietnam. VNS/VOV/VNA