Art & Entertainment News In Brief French wine, food festival kicks off The Beaujolais Nouveau celebration featuring French wine and food will take place on Thursday Ha Noi. This typically French tradition, taking place every year, marks the end of the annual grape harvest and the release of the popular "Beaujolais" red wine. The event, held for the first time in Viet Nam, seeks to share French culture and strengthen the friendship between Viet Nam and France. Visitors will have the opportunity to taste the exclusive Beaujolais Nouveau 2015 wine imported directly from France and enjoy a culinary experience through carefully tasting French specialties. Two bands, Puzzle and Domino, will perform at the event which will be held at Pullman Hotel Ha Noi. Tickets, including two glasses of wine and three food items, can be purchased beforehand at VND450,000 (US$20) or at the door for VND600,000 ($27).  Cultural week shows beauty of Mekong Images, destinations, tourism potential and the special delights of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces are on display in Ha Noi. The exhibition is among the activities of the ongoing Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta Culture and Tourism Week at the Viet Nam Exhibition Centre for Culture and Arts (No 2 Hoa Lu Street). In response to the National Tourism Year held in Kien Giang Province next year, Viet Nam's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in co-operation with the Mekong Delta's localities and People's Committee of Ha Noi organised the event. The cultural week was officially opened yesterday with an art performance featuring traditional singing and dancing originating from the Mekong Delta provinces. It aims to promote tourism potentials, honour the delta's typical cultural values, contribute to investment attraction and socio-economic development of localities in the region. This is also an opportunity for localities to strengthen co-operation and experience exchanges with the organisations of culture and tourism. This event attracts visitors with a variety of activities such as the exhibition "Colours of Culture and Tourism of the Mekong Delta" with a display area for the cultural space of the region (agricultural tools, living supplies, boats, clothes, musical instruments) and an area introducing cultural identity, historical relics, landscapes, heritage sites of localities through photos, artifacts, art models and traditional art performances. In the framework of the event, there are also other attractive activities including a food festival and a workshop on "Preserving Cultural Heritage and Tourism of the Mekong Delta". Next year, various cultural, tourism and sports activities will be held to promote tourism in Phu Quoc (Kien Giang Province) and Mekong Delta provinces. New tours will be kicked off such as Three Nations – One Destination connecting Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia, Ha Tien-Kep (Cambodia) and Phu Quoc-Singapore. Kien Giang receives approximately three million tourists every year, according to Tran Chi Dung, director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It's expected that the National Tourism Year event would help the number of tourists increase 20 per cent next year, he said.  VLOG contest The Hanoian launched A Vlog contest titled Nguoi Ha Noi (The Hanoian) has been launched by the Ha Noi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The Vlog contest, a kind of blog in which the postings are primarily in video form, has been mobilised to create opportunities to citizens of the capital to share their viewpoint over cultural etiquette of people living specifically in Ha Noi, and generally in Viet Nam. Contestants are encouraged to share their viewpoint over particular cultural topics such as behaviour in traffic participation, eating and drinking activities, schools and office environment, and attitudes toward the virtual world, in addition to public cultural heritage. One need to register to mention the two criteria, showing the emerging problems and the vloggers' solutions for each circumstances. The contest, which began on October 8, will conclude on December 6, and comprise three rounds. Registries are also posted on hanoidep.vn website so viewers can post their votes. First, second and third prizes will consist of prize money of VND55 million, VND54 million and VND52 millions. Entries can be sent to the department's Ha Noi cultural fund, 47, Hang Dau Street, Hoan Kiem District, or e-mail nguoihanoi.hchv@gmail.com.  Indian community celebrates Diwali in Vietnam Over 1,000 Indians and their local and foreign friends have joined an event at GEM Center in Ho Chi Minh City to celebrate Diwali, or the Festival of Lights, which is the biggest Indian fest of the year. Among the participants were more than 300 Vietnamese and Western friends who like exploring and enjoying India’s cultural features, including food and costumes, governmental departments, diplomatic missions, and an association of reputed corporate and business houses in the city, according to a member of the organizing board. During the 3-hour event, Abhijeet Sawant, the winner of the Indian Idol show in 2005, and Desi Swagg duo Danielle Rebello and Silvina Fernandes provided a night to remember along with other Indian and Vietnamese dancers. Abhijeet Sawant, the winner of the Indian Idol show in 2005, electrifies the audience at Diwali 2015, organized by Indian Business Chamber in Vietnam, in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City on November 14, 2015. “Diwali is the biggest festival of the Indian community in Vietnam that celebrates it with a lot of fun and festivities as we have done in the last 15 years,” Ashok Sen, a member of the governing board and head of the culture-sports committee of the Indian Business Chamber in Vietnam, which is the main organizer, told Tuoi Tre News. “We are happy the Indian community has become more integrated into Vietnamese society, and help spread our unique culture in your country.” The organizing board will set aside VND100 million (US$4,500) collected via ticket sales and other donations for charity, Sen said. This festival will continue being organized in the coming years, he added. Susan Ragsdale, who came from the US, told Tuoi Tre News that she was happy to have joined Diwali for the first time. “I love Indian culture, including food, costumes, and Bollywood movies,” she said, adding that what Diwali offered her was genuine Indian characteristics she had found in many other places worldwide. Luong Thi Oanh, a Vietnamese guest, told Tuoi Tre News she was excited to enjoy Indian culture, and this was the third time she had joined the event. Indian and Vietnamese dancers kick off Diwali 2015, organized by the Indian Business Chamber in Vietnam, in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City on November 14, 2015. Photo:  Diwali, or the Festival of Lights, symbolizes the victory of the good over the evil, the spirit of kindness and the joy of sharing. Considered one of the biggest Indian festivals, Diwali was celebrated with great enthusiasm and happiness across India for five days, from November 9 to 13 this year, with the main celebrations held on the third day. On the special day, there were fireworks shows and diya ceremonies, during which people lit up cotton string wicks inserted into small pots filled with oil. People also lit candles all around their houses as a symbol of victory of the good over the evil within an individual. They also offered prayers to Goddess Lakshmi – The Goddess of Wealth – and sought blessings from her, then wore new clothes and exchanged gifts.hoai Tran/Tuoi Tre New Michelin stared chef Jean-Francois Rouquette comes to Park Hyatt Saigon This November, Park Hyatt Saigon presents series of exquisite dinners crafted by Michelin star Chef Jean-François Rouquette from Pur' restaurant, Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme. Coming from Aveyron in southern France and earning his stripes in the kitchens of several Michelin starred restaurants such as Taillevent, Le Crillon, La Cantine des Gourmets and most recently Les Muses, Chef Jean-François's cuisine is recognisable with his creative use of flowers and the inspiration he draws from his travel.  He presents a grand cuisine based on the seasons with flowers mixed with herbs in his spring creations, and game, mushrooms and winter vegetables matched with elegance and refinement in his autumn cuisine. He himself says: "The enemy of taste is boredom", and that's why he is perpetually reinventing himself.  Fine-dining lovers can treat themselves with exquisite dinner menu from Chef Jean-François Rouquette, exclusively at Square One from November 23 to 26 and on November 28, 2015.  Photographic Contest-Heritage Journey 2015 final   Hosted by the Heritage Magazine, the “Heritage Photo Tour 2015” as part of the Photographic Contest – Heritage Journey 2015 finds out the best photos to grant prizes at its fifth qualification round and the final result. At the fifth qualification round, photographer Pham Anh received the highest award his set of Rice straw Buffalo and Cow festival in the north of Vietnam. The two sets of photographer Le Viet Khanh with Bac Son landscapes and Vo Rin with Hoi An titled roof are listed in the Top 3 award to attend the final qualification. Till now the third Photographic Contest 2015 launched by Vietnam Airlines’ Heritage magazine attracted hundreds of high quality photos depicting the beauties of Vietnamese people and landscapes. There will be a special photo exhibition displaying all the awarded photos as well as all photos captured during two photo tours. The exbibition is held at Vietnam Fine Arts Museum (66 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hanoi) from December 15 – 21, 2015. Ninth-grade boy wins UNFPA-organised writing contest on grandparents Dang Duc Anh, a ninth-grade student of the Hanoi-Amsterdam School claimed the top prize of the writing competition “My grandparents and I” co-organised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and HelpAge International. Duc Anh impressed the examination board with a touching story about his deceased grandfather. Sharing feelings at the awards ceremony in Hanoi on November 16, Anh said that he would like to dedicate his award to his beloved late grandfather, who inspired him to take part in the contest as well as led him to the overall prize. The competition was open from September 29 to October 20 in response to the 25th International Day of Older Persons (October 1) and the 2015 Action Month for Vietnamese Elderly. One month after the launch, the contest had received enthusiastic responses from hundreds of students representing four schools in Hanoi: Hanoi-Amsterdam School, Phan Dinh Phung High School, the British Vietnamese International School and the UN International School, with over 400 essays, in both English and Vietnamese, submitted to the organising committee. Two second prizes were presented to Nguyen Hanh Trang, a ninth grade girl from the Hanoi-Amsterdam School, and Nguyen Tuong Vy Linh, a 12th grade student of the Phan Dinh Phung High School. The organisers also awarded third prizes to four students and consolation prizes to 18 others. Addressing the ceremony on Monday, Ritsu Nacken, Acting Chief Representative of UNFPA in Vietnam, expressed her happiness at the large number of essays submitted by students from the four schools, which, she said, are not only inspiring but also reflective of the respect and love that grandchildren have for their grandparents. She said she wished to work with the Vietnamese government, development partners, civil society organisations and private sectors, and most importantly, the younger generation of Vietnam, to seeks ways to prepare Vietnam for an aged population and to ensure that people can live well up to and throughout old age. In her remarks, Tran Bich Thuy, Director of HelpAge International, congratulated the awardees and thanked them for the touching essays that awakened people and raised awareness of love and respect for grandparents in particular, and for the elderly as a whole. Vietnam has officially been in the “aging phase” since 2011 and is among the most rapidly aging countries in the world. In 2014, the number of older people accounted for 10.5% of the country’s total population and is predicted to be doubled by 2040. The average life span of Vietnamese people increased from 40 years old in 1960 to 73 in 2014. As the world is building a new development agenda and pledging to reach sustainable development goals, including the elderly, Vietnam needs to have a perspective to the population aging model and economic growth, as well as protection of the rights of older people, so that nobody will be left behind. The writing contest aimed to change social norms and stereotypes about the elderly, but also to inform Vietnam’s younger generations to be more aware of the reality of an aging society and to express their love and respect to their grandparents and older persons. 20th World Police Band Concert closes in HCM City The performances of classical and contemporary music by police bands from Japan, the US, Singapore and Vietnam closed the two-day 20th World Police Band Concert in Ho Chi Minh City on November 15. The concert featured three performances including a traditional Japanese piece “Lullaby of Itsuki” by the Japanese Osaka Police Band while the New York Police Band played some melodies familiar to Vietnamese audience including “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours” of Stevie Wonder and “All you need is love” of John Lennon. The audience also applauded the “Hello Vietnam” performed by the Singaporean Police Band and the “Nhip xoe tinh ban” (the friendship dance), which was based on a Tay Bac (Northwestern) folk song by the Vietnamese band. Five police bands from Japan, the US, Singapore and Vietnam attended in this year’s festival, held for the second time in Vietnam. The event was jointly organised by the Japanese Mainichi newspaper and the Vietnam Ministry of Public Security. The event was held for the first time in Hanoi in 2011. Established in 1996, the annual festival has been held in countries and territories including the US, the UK, Netherlands, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Spain and Singapore. Two Japan festivals in town attract large crowds Droves of locals and expats visited two large Japanese fairs -- the 3rd Japan Festival in Vietnam and the “Feel Japan with Kilala 2015” -- in downtown HCMC over the weekend. The Japan Festival in Vietnam featured 66 businesses with 90 booths and lured around 120,000 visitors to activities like education fair, food fair and charity bazaar. The 2014 edition attracted over 100,000 visitors. According to Tat Thanh Cang, vice chairman of HCMC, the city currently has 800 Japanese businesses in operation and Japanese tourists to the city account for a large proportion. The “Feel Japan with Kilala 2015” festival, hosted by the HCMC-based Kilala magazine and Japan’s non-no magazine, attracted a lot of young people to three main areas -- a shopping fair of 24 popular and new brands, and a non-no fashion collection of 2015 featuring latest casual-wear collections performed by two Japanese models of non-no magazine, Haru Izumi và Yuuna Suzuki, and Vietnamese models, and a music performance. There was also a Japanese cooking seminar endorsed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) of Japan to feature two invited food experts from Japan, including Makiko Fujino and Miwako Watanabe, who cooked some simple Japanese food and introduced the Japanese culture of bento (home-packed meal). Local museum presents Oriental tea culture An exhibition on items related to tea drinking culture in Oriental countries is on at the Museum of Vietnamese History in HCMC, Tuoi Tre newspaper reports. This is the first time the city has held an exhibition of items which Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese people have used for drinking tea. On display are 267 artifacts from the Museum of Vietnamese History in HCMC, and the HCMC Museum of Fine Arts, and collections of individuals in the city and neighboring provinces. Visitors and researchers can take a close look at Chinese tea pots, trays, tins and bowls which date back the 18th and 19th centuries, Japanese tea sets which were actually made in northern Vietnam in the 16th and 17th centuries and exported to Japan, and old products of the Vietnamese from different parts of the country. The exhibition lasts until May next year. The Museum of Vietnamese History in HCMC is located at 2 Nguyen Binh Khiem Street, District 1. Photos strengthen confidence of Mong girls Wearing her most beautiful dress, Vu Thi Vu smiles broadly as she shows to her friends one of her photos which are on display at the Can Chu Phin secondary school in Meo Vac district of northernmost Ha Giang Province. Her photo portrays a man holding a hammer to smash the stones on a large land. "It's my brother. He will build a new house. Because the soil here is full of stones, he has to smash them to smooth the surface," she proudly explains the photo to her friends standing nearby. The 18-year-old Mong ethnic girl living in the mountainous remote district of the poorest province of the country had never held a camera before. Only six months ago, she only held a camera to take a picture for the first time. Now, she knows how to take a good picture, and how to tell stories behind the pictures to other people. The young girl is happy to discover a new artistic world. Vu took part in the PhotoVoice project with 34 other Mong ethnic young people, aged from 13 to 18 years old, most of them girls, living in Can Chu Phin commune. Half of them are students at the Can Chu Phin secondary school. The remaining members already quit school or never went to school. The project which started in May, has been organised by the Institute for Studies of Society, Economy and Environment (iSEE) and Plan International with local authorities in Meo Vac District. This exhibition "I Love the Stone Plateau" was part of the Action for Mong Children series of events and shows how children perceive and reflect the world with their own eyes. They were given a camera for six months and took pictures of everything they wanted to tell other people about the daily life of Mong people in their commune. The eighty photos on display at the school have been touching as it's the first time the children are willing to share their sincere thoughts to the public which were, for a long time, kept secret in their minds. The photo, taken by Vu Thi Dinh, a Mong girl taking part in the Photovoice project, features her friends looking at her camera. Becoming much more open to other people, the children were ready to talk about their inner thoughts and dreams to the community. The difficult lives of the Mong people in the commune were clearly featured in the photos. Since their land is full of stones, local inhabitants can only grow corn on the fields, and breed goats. Sung Mi Cha, deputy Chairman of the people's committee of the Can Chu Phin commune says that the commune houses 1,030 households, of which 48,6 per cent are poor households. Most families plant corn and grass to feed cows. Only 10 per cent of households have gotten out of poverty thanks to the breeding and trading of cows. Thanks to the State's support, children have better conditions to go to school. However, some can not go to school and many in the commune can not attend high school. The young people expressed their simple dreams. Many dream of going or coming back to school. Many children here had to quit school after they finished the ninth grade because the high school is too far away from their house. Moreover, as they become the major labour force at home, they have to stay at home to help their parents work in the field, at home and look after the younger brothers and sisters. They dream that the family could have a motorbike to carry heavy loads of grass to feed cows, so that their mothers can stop carrying them on their backs for a long distance. They dream that each household has a water tank, so that they do not have to travel a long distance to find stream water or wait for the rain water to bath with. They wish that their daily meals can be improved and they can eat meat and fish more often. Now every day, they can only eat men men (cooked corn powder), vegetables and chilli. They can only eat meat when their families welcome invitees. They can only eat meat once a month. They also want to have more clothes and toys. Vu Thi Sung, 13 year old, another girl whose photos are on display, said with joy: "I showed the pictures I took to my parents and they said they were beautiful. At first I found it very difficult to take pictures. I did not believe that I could use a camera. But now I know that I can do it," Sung says with an innocent smile. "Taking part in this programme makes me feel more confident and happy," she said. Shy girls, Vu and other girls were often hiding their faces with their hands when they met strangers. They also refused to talk to strangers and ran away when a stranger wanted to take a photo of them. Now they have become open, smiling, and say hello to their teachers when they see them from a distance. At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, they performed at ease on stage after learning how to dance from a video found on the internet. To help those young teenagers, a group of Mong students from Meo Vac District who have studied at different universities in Ha Noi come back to the commune to train them in the art of taking photos and making radio communications. Vu Phuong Thao, deputy director of iSEE explains that the group has contributed largely to boost the confidence of the young. "When those children and teenagers meet with those students of their community who have gained some success in their studies and life, they have admired them. And they think that they will be able to do many things like them," Thao says. "It has been proved that the best help comes from the community itself," she adds. Giang Thi Minh, one of the volunteer Mong students in the group said that she was surprised to see how the young girls had become. "They are at ease when they sing, dance and take pictures. I remember the first time when I met them and said hello to them, they were very shy and moved quickly to another place. I was worried that it would be difficult to work with them. But after some months working with them, I was nicely surprised that they have become much more open. Now when seeing me, they run towards me and talk with me like good friends, or members of the family." "The most important thing is that they become much more confident and believed that they could take good photos if they got training," Minh says. Being touched to see the dreams of going to school of the children which were expressed through photos, Hoang Thanh Hai, headmaster of the Can Chu Phin secondary school says his school has thought of a programme to eradicate illiteracy to help young people who can not afford school. "I understand more the dreams of the children with their photos. I am touched to see their energy and their fondness of learning. We will help them," he said. While setting fire to light up the little wooden house located at the foot of a mountain at nighttime when the lights went out, Vu says she hopes one day she can also attend university like some Mong students they met. "One day I hope that our dreams will become true. I will continue to work hard, study hard and one day I hope we can see our life improved," she said with her eyes brightening with hope. VNS/SGGP/ND/TT/SGT