Art & Entertainment News 15/4 Viet Film Fest to kick off with ‘Huong Ga’ The Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association (VAALA) will hold its eighth annual Viet Film Fest on April 16-19, 2015 at the UltraLuxe Cinemas in Anaheim, California.   This year’s festival will kick off with a special screening of the award winning film Huong Ga directed by Nguyen Vo Nguyen Minh. The film based on a fiction novel by Nguyen Dinh Tu, Huong Ga tells the story of a young female Vietnamese gang leader in Saigon. Thirty-one films, including 10 movies and 21 short films, from Vietnam, Australia, Canada, Japan, Brazil and the US will be screened at the Viet Film Fest 2015. Queen Mother’s rickshaw to be displayed in Hue A rickshaw used by Queen Mother Tu Minh, mother of King Thanh Thai (1879-1954) will be display at Dien Tho Palace in Hue royal citadel, Thua Thien-Hue province, on April 22, together with some other royal artefacts. The Hue Monuments Conservation Centre bought the rickshaw an auction held in Paris. The vehicle, which was in France for more than 100 years, was bought for 45,000 EUR, excluding a 24 percent fees (1.5 billion VND, or 71,400 USD), the centre's Director Phan Thanh Hai said. According to experts, the rickshaw is a valuable piece of fine art. It was made by a group of artisans from the north, and inlaid with delicate decorations of mother-of-pearl. "The rickshaw was a gift from King Thanh Thai to his mother," Hai said. "After the king was dethroned by the French as he acted against the French invaders, the rickshaw was sold in the market. A Frenchman, who was the head of the royal guardian team, bought the rickshaw. After 100 years, the rickshaw appeared again in an auction in Paris on June 13 last year." Hai further said the centre would display to the public the historic value of the royal object, and that its purchase was the first step in bringing back several missing valuable objects. At the same auction, a bed used by King Thanh Thai was bought by one of the king's descendants Ta Van Quang, who is living overseas and will transport it to Vietnam soon. The bed was bought for 3 billion VND. Hai hopes to ask overseas Vietnamese people to help buy missing antiques to bring them back home. Watercolours paint a picture "Watercolour is a language, an instrument. It is the way to share what I feel about life," said internationally known American artist Stan Miller at the first large-scale watercolour exhibition held in Hanoi by the Vietnam International Watercolour Society (IWS). The show, which opened on April 11 at Hang Da Galleria in Hoan Kiem district, attracted 51 painters from 22 countries around the world. Vietnam had 15 entrants, including Bui Duy Khanh, whose specialty is the sea. A total of 90 paintings are on display. Visitors, earlier, were treated to displays by four outstanding painters – China's Liu Yi, the US's Stan Miller, Turkish-Canadian and IWS founder Atanur Dogan, and Thailand's Direk Kingnok. The viewers, mostly students from local art universities and colleges, gathered in silent groups to observe each painter. Sometimes, when the artists paused to mix their paints, they answered questions from the audience. Miller, who is an award winner from the American Watercolour Society, quickly produced a black and white image of a young boy and then started adding colours. "I never use the same brush. Different brushes are used for every painting. You have to learn to control the brush, as it is liked riding a motorcycle," he told one of the students. The exhibition will run until April 15. IWS is a Turkish-based non-profit watercolour society established in 2012. Vietnam became a member in May, 2014. HCM City to host 2nd Vietnam Book Day next week The 2nd Vietnam Book Day in Ho Chi Minh City will take place on Nguyen Van Binh Street near Central Post Office in District 1, from April 18-21. This year’s festival themed “Saigon book street- Ho Chi Minh City” aims to mark the 40th Anniversary of the South liberation and national reunification. (April 30). Many activities will be held during the event, such as workshops and talk shows, introduction of national anniversary-themed books, historical and cultural books as well as rare ancient and valuable publications. The event is to encourage and promote reading habit in the community and raise awareness of using books as a tool for critical thinking. It will also celebrate appreciation for readers, writers, publishers, distributors, and other affiliates of the publishing industry. The festival was approved in February by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. It will occur every year on April 21. Ceremony worships Deities of Earth and Crop in Hue Many residents of Hue city braved the rain to attend the Xa Tac ritual to worship the Deities of Xa (Earth) and Tac (Crop) on April 12. Staged on the Xa Tac esplanade in Thuan Hoa ward, the ceremony featured an array of traditional rituals following a strict order, including hand-washing, incense offerings, wine offerings, sermons, a procession of the deities, thanksgiving and seeing off the deities, among others. The Xa Tac ritual is conducted every second lunar month to honour the country’s agriculture and pray for favourable weather, healthy crops, prosperity, peace and happiness. It was first resurrected in 2008 during the Hue Festival 2008. The reenactment of the rite, conducted by the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre, aims to raise people’s understanding about its meaning and sequence while contributing to preserving and upholding intangible cultural values of Hue imperial city in the context of modern life. Hoi An to host 4th int’l choir contest The authorities of Hoi An City will cooperate with German organization Interkultur, the world’s leading organizer of international choir competitions and festivals, to hold the 4th Vietnam International Choir Competition in the central ancient town from April 29 to May 3, according to an announcement on Interkultur’s website. Choirs from around the world will again have the opportunity to discover the beauty of the country, combined with an international choral event, said the announcement. They can register for competition or just perform outdoors during the choir festival, according to Quang Nam’s government portal. As for competition, they can choose different categories including mixed choir, male choir, female choir, chamber choir, children’s and youth choir, sacred choral music, and folklore. In addition, the choirs will sing in mutual concerts and performances in the World Heritage-listed town of Hoi An and other public places like churches, libraries and parks. According to the report, which cites information from the Center for Culture and Sports of Hoi An City, the event is expected to gather nearly 1,500 artists from 15 countries and territories including Australia, Finland, Germany, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The competition will take place at the Hoi An Beach resort. In March 2011, Interkultur organized the first International Choir Competition in Vietnam in Hoi An. After the second Vietnam International Choir Competition was held in Hue City in December 2012, the event came back to Hoi An in 2013. Vietnamese beauty featured at art exhibition in Norway Outstanding pieces of art painted by renowned Vietnamese and Norwegian artists are being displayed in Norway’s Baerum city. The works, which celebrate the beauty of Vietnam, form an exhibition that will run from April 11 through to May 3. The show has been co-organised by the Baerum Kistforening Art Association and Vietnamese-born architect Le Tan Sitek, who has worked determinedly to strengthen art exchanges between the two countries. Speaking at the event, the Baerum Council’s Morten Skauge said the exhibition presents an opportunity to bring Vietnamese art and beauty closer to Norwegians, thus consolidating the friendship and cooperative ties between the two nations. The Vietnamese Ambassador to Norway, Le Thi Tuyet Mai, remarked that the event coincides with the official visit of Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg to Vietnam, as well as the 40th anniversary of Vietnam’s National Reunification (April 30, 1975). Vietnam and Norway established diplomatic ties on November 25, 1971. In late 2014, Vietnam offered visa exemptions to Norwegian visitors so that they are allowed to enter and stay in Vietnam for up to 15 days without visas, regardless of passport type and purpose of visit. Local performers join celebration of Khmer culture Over 500 art performers, including musicians and athletes, from Khmer ethnic minority groups in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, gathered for the April 12 opening night of this year’s Khmer cultural days festival. Thousands of local people from Kinh, Hoa, Cham and Khmer ethnic groups made appearances during the night. A traditional costume show, Khmer food fair, folk game arena and a photo exhibition were held, all celebrated the Khmer people, while other events marked the 40 years since Vietnam’s reunification and the 125th birth anniversary of late President Ho Chi Minh. The cultural event was staged to promote the allure of the unique Khmer culture during their New Year Chol Chnam Thmay festival. It is expected to foster the growth of the local tourism sector and boost socio-economic development. This is the 10th edition of Khmer culture days, which take place every two years. It will run until April 14. Documentary series marks Reunification Day The Military Cinema Studio produced a new documentary celebrating the nation's unification in 1975. Colonel Le Thi directed the documentary, 30/4 – Ngay Thong Nhat (April 30 - Reunification Day). It consists of two episodes, Dan Toc Viet Nam Vuot Qua Gian Kho (Vietnamese People Overcome Hardships) and Dat Nuoc Thong Nhat (Reunified Country). Thi based the series on a screenplay by Colonel Pham Minh Loi that analysed global security at the time and offered lessons on battle strategies. Loi also brought in the opinions of politicians, historians and overseas Vietnamese. "The documentary reflects on the country's renovation and the fates of people on all sides who witnessed that historic day," Thi said. The documentary offers a fresh look on the war – "a clearer vision on history" – said Major general Nguyen Phuong Dien of the General Politics Department. The studio has already made three documentaries on the topic, but this one offers a fresh look at the end of the war. "Various issues on the war were approached objectively and from various angles," he said. The documentary begins with modern-day shots of Nhieu Loc, Thi Nghe Canal and other landmarks in HCM City. Later on, former Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky admits in a present-day interview that, in fact, both sides wanted to reunify the people. "Our people are a single body," Viet Nam Republic General Nguyen Huu Hanh, a former mayor of Sai Gon, recalled in the documentary. Scenes on the 1963 murders of Sai Gon leaders Ngo Dinh Diem and Ngo Dinh Nhu end with images of two gravestones, implying that the "republic" died when they did, Thi said. The documentary also explores issues of today, like Viet Nam's mission to protect its sovereignty, Thi said. Researcher Nguyen Dinh Dau shows in an interview that he owns 2,000 ancient maps, 200 of which say the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes belonged to Viet Nam. Thi also made the documentaries Ha Noi Ban Hung Ca (Ha Noi-Heroic Song), Duong Truong Son (Truong Son Trail) and Duong Mon Tren Bien Dong (Secret Route on the East Sea). Ha Noi Ban Hung Ca (Ha Noi-Heroic Song) examines the 12-day US bomb strike in Ha Noi, which won first prize at a socialist military film festival in Vetprem, Hungrary in 1975 and the Golden Lotus Prize at the Viet Nam Film Festival in the same year. Ha Noi to host ‘Day of Vietnamese Book' The "Day of Vietnamese Book" will commence on Friday night, April 17, in Thong Nhat Park in Ha Noi. Jointly organised by the Information and Communications Ministry; the Publishing, Printing and Distribution Department, and several publishing houses across the country, the week-long event will feature several booths presenting newly published books as well as old publications that will be sold at special rates. Along with the distribution of books among poor children, the event will include discussions and workshops related to book publishing and books' topics. The "Day of Vietnamese Book" is being organised to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Reunification Day that falls on April 30, and the 125th birth anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh on May 19. The first "Day of Vietnamese Book" last year drew thousands of visitors, who purchased several books. Source: VNS/VNA/VOV/SGT/SGGP