Capital to host Japanese anime fest

Taken aback: Movie Sprited Away will be screened at the first Japanese Animation Film Festival in Ha Noi next week. — File Photo

HA NOI — The first ever Japanese Animation Film Festival will be held in Ha Noi on January 12–16, 2011.

Sponsored by the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs (JACA), the festival will include eight outstanding animated films from the past decade.

The opening screening next Wednesday will be the highly acclaimed film, Colourful (2010), director Keiichi Hara's latest film.

"The movie will touch audiences with a story based on the award-winning novel for young adults," said Ikeda Hiroyuki from the Japan Image Council (JAPIC), which is co-organising the festival.

The story involves a spirit, referred to only as boku (me), who has recently died. The spirit is put in the body of a 14-year-old who recently committed suicide.

Colourful was extremely well received when it was released last August in Japan. Director Hara will make a speech at the opening screening.

The other seven films chosen for the festival, including Spirited Away (2001) by director Hayao Miyazaki, and Redline (2010) by director Takeshi Koike, are all distinguished and unique in their own right, and according to the organisers will enable viewers to more fully enjoy and "discover" the diversity of Japanese animation.

Redline is anticipated to be a highlight of the festival. Released in Japan last October, Redline took seven years to make and used approximately 100,000 handmade drawings.

"The whole thing has the feel of a high-speed car chase, and the exquisite attention to detail will be particularly evident to the audience in some of the explosions," said Ikeda Hiroyuki.

Spirited Away follows the adventures of Chihiro, a 10-year-old Japanese girl, as her family moves to a new town in the countryside.

Spirited Away earned tremendous critical acclaim both domestically and abroad, becoming the highest grossing film in Japanese history as well as receiving the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival.

Others films being screened include Millennium Actress, Mind Game, Summer War, Mai Mai Miracle and The Great Adventure of Hutch the Honeybee, and will all be shown at the festival with Vietnamese subtitles.

This event is part of an ongoing Japanese Film Festivals in Asia initiative begun by the JACA in 2004.

The initiative was designed to both deepen understanding and interest in Japanese culture abroad, as well as increase a sense of friendship between Japan and the countries in which they are held.

In addition to the upcoming festival in Ha Noi, a festival held in Seoul, South Korea in November last year screened an entirely different programme of 16 films.

"This is the first such event that has been held in Ha Noi as part of this initiative, and it also marks the first time a film festival devoted entirely to Japanese animation has taken place in Ha Noi," said Takeji Yoshikawa, director of the Japan Foundation Centre for Cultural Exchange.

In connection with these screenings, Mai Mai Miracle's director Katabuchi Sunao, The Great Adventure of Hutch the Honeybee's director Amino Tetsuro and other special guests including popular voice actress Mitsuki Saiga will attend and take part in cultural exchange events with those involved in the animated film industry in Viet Nam.

Saiga is the Japanese voice actress who was awarded the Overseas Fan's Choice Awards at the Seiyu Awards 2010 for voice actor/actress.

A talk and live performance will be given by Saiga and guitarist Kazuya Nishikawa next Friday at the National Cinema Centre, located at 87 Lang Ha Street.

Free tickets for the festival are available now at the Japan Foundation, 27 Quang Trung Street, Ha Noi.

For a detailed screening schedule, please visit the website at www.jpf.org.vn. — VNS

Related Articles

• NA Committee debates Law on Denunciations
• HCMC begins to think about giving up meat
• Gov’t orders check on Guang Lian steel project
• Culture Vulture
• Ethnic minorities, poor to receive free legal aid

Anti-hunting film wins green movie award

HA NOI — A film featuring the illegal hunting of wild animals won a special prize at the fourth Environmental Film Festival held in Ha Noi on Wednesday.

Le Hoai Phuong received VND30 million and the Viet Nam Green Award for his documentary Toi Ac Rung Xanh (Crime in the Forest).

The film depicts hunting activities of wild animals in Binh Thuan Province.

The film's topics and visual effects have left a strong impression on the jury and audiences.

To make the film, Phuong and his staff spent three years following and working with illegal hunters, who agreed to the filming but asked the director to conceal their faces.

"Phuong's work condemns people who destroy forests and hunt wild animals. His film's message calls on people to protect and keep the world and environment safe from disease," said Bui Dinh Hac, veteran film director.

The VND20 million first prize was shared by Vuong Duc for the movie Rung Den (Black Forest), Gia Hung for the documentary Ngu Ngon Thoi Nay (Modern Fable), Trong Hoa for the investigating report Thien Tai va Nhan Tai (Natural Calamities and Man-Made Calamities), and Nguyen Nhan Lap's cartoon Meo Vat (Small Trick).

Ha Noi-skilled director Duc's Rung Den is a quality film that attracted young audiences back to the cinema after its release in 2008. It featured young actors such as Kieu Chinh and Thach Kim Long.

The film described the tragic lives of people who destroy forest land.

Viet Nam Green winner Phuong said that making films featuring environmental problems was not a new experience in Viet Nam.

"Through our work, we hope audiences can learn about saving the natural world and have a visual treat as well," he said.

Organised by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and its partners, the Viet Nam Cinematography Association and Viet Nam Television, this year's national Environment Film Festival attracted 131 entries, including 70 investigating reports, 35 documentaries, 18 science films, four films and four cartoons. — VNS

Related Articles

• Hanoi model wins Miss Vietnam 2010
• Local tour operators honored in Thailand
• HCMC begins to think about giving up meat
• Greenback firmer on signs of rising demand
• Young stars raise profile of Vietnam chess

Teen takes audience choice award

HA NOI — A documentary film entitled Mother and Children, directed by seventeen-year-old Phan Huyen My has won the audience choice award at the Golden Bee student short film festival.

My, who has been a cinema-goer from an early age, joined the Chung Ta Lam Phim (Let's make movies) project organised by the Centre for Assistance and Development of Movie Talents (TPD) in 2009 to fulfil her film-making dream.

"The film is based on true stories of my family's daily life, and centres on the difference between generations. While my mum tries to forbid my younger sister from spending her money, using a mobile phone or dying her hair, my sister continues to assert herself," said My.

The film won praise from the judges and was selected to be shown along with films by People's Artist Dang Nhat Minh, and director Bui Thac Chuyen in the US.

Quang Nghia, another film contestant entrant said: "Mother and Children will set the trend for future movie making through the use of bitter-sweet humour."

My also expressed her thanks to director Chuyen for his great support and help in the production of her movie.

"This award has whetted my appetite to study at the Ha Noi University of Theatre and Cinema," said My.

The film festival's awards ceremony was held at the Kim Dong Theatre on Thursday.

Other awards included the Golden Bee prize for Catching Shellfish, Silver Bee prize for The Gift and the Room, best director for Into the Wild, best cinematography and consolation prize for The Shoeshine boy. — VNS

Related Articles

• Local tour operators honored in Thailand
• Culture Vulture
• PM launches news channel
• Show honours film composer
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels

Norwegian Wood to hit local cinemas

Nostalgia: A scene from Norwegian Wood, directed by Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung. The film is based on the best-selling novel by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. — File Photo

HA NOI — Norwegian Wood directed by Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung, who resides in France, based on the best-selling novel by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, will reach Asian audiences later this month.

The film will first hit screens in Japan on December 11, Chinese Taiwan on December 17, Hong Kong on December 30 and Viet Nam on December 31.

The Viet Nam premiere will be shown at Ha Noi's National Cinema Centre on December 20 with the director's presence.

Hung and producer Shinji Ogawa spent four years trying to win the author's approval to allow the novel to be adapted to the big screen.

Hung, who won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival for his 1995 film Cyclo, said it was never an option to make Norwegian Wood outside Japan or in any other language.

He first wrote the screenplay in French, had it translated into English and eventually Japanese, and relied on help from his producer to communicate with the actors.

"Murakami was very open and said I could adapt it in any language I wanted and in any place in the world," Hung said in a recent interview.

"But I said I wanted to film Japanese faces, because what attracted me in the novel was that it was Japanese," he said.

Adapting a best-selling novel like Norwegian Wood for the cinema can be a tough task for any director, but making the film in a language the director doesn't speak is a challenge in its own right.

That's the challenge Hung faced in bringing the Haruki Murakami story of love and loss to the screen 23 years after the book enchanted millions of Japanese readers and raised the author's profile globally.

The film's score includes the song Norwegian Wood by The Beatles and original music written by Jonny Greenwood. It stars Kenichi Matsuyama, Rinko Kikuchi and Kiko Mizuhara.

Norwegian Wood, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September, is a nostalgic story of loss and sexuality. The story's protagonist and narrator is Toru Watanabe, who looks back on his days as a first year university student in Tokyo.

Through Toru's reminiscences we see him develop relationships with two very different women – the beautiful, yet emotionally troubled Naoko, and the outgoing and lively Midori.

Director Hung was born in 1962 in Viet Nam's central city of Da Nang and emigrated to France when he was 12. He has long been considered at the forefront of the wave of acclaimed overseas Vietnamese cinema for the past two decades.

His films have received international acclaim, and until recently, had all been varied meditations on life in Viet Nam.

He received his first Oscar nomination (for Best Foreign Film) for The Scent of Green Papaya (1993), which also won two top prizes at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, and a second for Cyclo (1995), featuring Hong Kong movie star Tony Leung Chiu Wai, which eventually won a top prize at the Venice International Film Festival. The Vertical Ray of the Sun, released in 2000, was the third film of what many consider his "Viet Nam trilogy".

After a sabbatical, it was officially announced that Hung was back behind the camera with the noir psychological thriller I Come with the Rain (2009), which features a star-studded international cast that includes Josh Hartnett and Elias Koteas. — VNS

Related Articles

• Gov’t provides 335 bln VND for disaster-hit provinces
• Tourist arrivals set to hit five million
• Exposé: $1,000 items auctioned for $2.4 million
• Market drops below 450 points
• Banks scramble for mid-level managers

VN film wins in Stockholm

Through a child's eyes: A scene from Bi, Dung So (Bi, Don't Be Afraid), which won the best first feature award at the Stockholm Film Festival.

HA NOI — Director Phan Dang Di's first movie, Bi, Dung So! (Bi, Don't Be Afraid), has won Best First Feature at the 21st Stockholm International Film Festival.

His senior cameraman, Pham Quang Minh, won the award for best cinematography. Bi, Dung So! also won best screenplay during the Cannes film festival's critics week, as well as the new talent award at the Asia-Hong Kong Film Festival.

The film is scheduled to open at box offices in Viet Nam next month. It will be broadcast on TV network Arte Channel in France and Germany.

The film narrates the story of a young boy called Bi who lives with his mother, father and aunt in a house in Ha Noi. When Bi's grandfather, who has been absent for many years, suddenly reappears, the family are once again reunited. However, his return turns out to be far from auspicious. Bi's father begins to stay out late, to the point where he stops coming home at all in what appears to be a way of coming to turns with his own loneliness when his own father was absent. Meanwhile, Bi's aunt falls in love with a young man whom she meets on a bus, his father falls in love with a masseuse and his mother behaves as if nothing has changed.

The feature is much more than just a family drama. Director Di represents the lost because he has no way to express complex emotions. The photography borders on poetry and the interesting camera angles and the fascinating film locations, combined with realistic dialogue, turn this film into something extraordinary. Ordinary people become remarkable. The life of the child is nothing short of enchanting, and viewers become intimate witnesses of a family struggling to escape loneliness.

Holly Hunter, who starred in The Piano, headed the jury panel, said she was amazed by power of the scenes and thought the film compelling.

Meanwhile, cameraman Minh's photography was described as poetic and dignified in its simplicity and subtle technical perfection.

The 12-day Stockholm Festival, which ended on Sunday, was launched in 1990. It has become one of the leading film events in Europe. The festival takes place every November and typically features about 180 films from more than 50 countries. — VNS

Related Articles

• Vietnam film wins in Stockholm
• Hanoi model wins Miss Vietnam 2010
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels
• HIV Special
• Child abuse cases spur call for State intervention

Stockholm honours Viet Nam film

HA NOI – Bi, Dung So! (Bi, Don't Be Afraid), director Phan Dang Di's first movie, has won Best First Feature at the 21st Stockholm International Film Festival.

His senior cameraman, Pham Quang Minh, won the award for best cinematography.

Bi, Dung So! also won best screenplay during the Cannes film festival's critics week, as well as the new talent award at the Asia-Hong Kong Film Festival.

The film is scheduled to open at box offices in Viet Nam this month. It will be broadcast on TV network Arte Channel in France and Germany.

The film narrates the story of a young boy called Bi who lives with his mother, father and aunt in a house in Ha Noi. When Bi's grandfather, who has been absent for many years, suddenly reappears, the family are once again reunited. However, his return turns out to be far from auspicious. Bi's father begins to stay out late, to the point where he stops coming home at all in what appears to be a way of coming to turns with his own loneliness when his own father was absent. Meanwhile, Bi's aunt falls in love with a young boy whom she meets on a bus, his father falls in love with a masseuse and his mother behaves as if nothing has changed.

The feature is much more than just a family drama. Di represents the lost because he has no way to express complex emotions. The photography borders on poetry and the interesting camera angles and the fascinating film locations, combined with realistic dialogue, turn this film into something extraordinary.

Ordinary people become remarkable. The life of the child is nothing short of enchanting, and viewers become intimate witnesses of a family struggling to escape loneliness.

Holly Hunter, who starred in Piano, headed the jury panel, said she was amazed by power of the scenes and thought the film compelling.

Meanwhile, Minh's photography was described as poetic and dignified in its simplicity and subtle technical perfection.

The 12-day Stockholm Festival, which ended on Sunday, was launched in 1990. It has become one of the leading film events in Europe. The festival takes place every November and typically features about 180 films from more than 50 countries. – VNS

Related Articles

• IFC: Vietnam needs to increase PPP to support economy
• Wildly inaccurate film on Uncle Ho criticized
• Vietnam’s tra fish export to Egypt still down
• Vietnam an Asian miracle, say French experts
• Vietnam Air accepts web check-in for int’l flights

BHD Star Cinema sponsors online film contest

The online competition website for Vietnamese independent short-film makers, www.yxineff.com, announced BHD Co. Ltd as its official partner.

BHD Star Cinema will sponsor five individual awards for the yxineff film festival. In November, YxineFF will screen films at 9 p.m. on Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday. 

Yxine Film Fest started taking short film submissions in May with judging to be decided by the end of the year. The online film festival and forum aims to create a community for independent movie makers to meet and share experience with each other to develop Vietnam cinema. YxineFF‘s creators expect to extend the film festival to Vietnamese around the world and open more categories for the international movies. 

BHD has been a supporter of Vietnamese cinema since it opened in August. The cinema has a special area for Vietnamese film memorabilia and has cooperated with YxineFF to host discussions with cinematographers and introduce movies by young filmmakers.   

YxineFF’s partners Saigon Movies Media, Galaxy Studio and BHD Star Cinema sponsor the Golden Heart award, the Red Heart award and five other individual awards for best director, best screenplay writer, best cinematographer, best editor and best actor. 

YxineFF was created by Marcus Manh Cuong Vu. Vu is a teaching assistant and researcher at Hamburg University in Germany. In December, he won first runner-up of the British Council International Young Screen Entrepreneur award.

Related Articles

• BHD Star Cinema sponsors online film contest
• Millenium English contest enters finals
• Young stars raise profile of Vietnam chess
• Cinemas expect end of year movie madness
• Vietnam Air accepts web check-in for int’l flights

Vietnam wins two prizes at film festival

Johnny Tri Nguyen and Ngo Thanh Van pose for pictures at the closing ceremony of the first Vietnam International Film Festival in Hanoi on October 21, 2010

Photo: Tuoi Tre

The Vietnam International Film Festival wrapped up Thursday night at the National Convention Center in Hanoi, with Vietnamese films winning the Best Documentary and Best Actress prizes.

Nguyen Thi Kim Hai’s “Always Beside You,” the story of a mother who cares for her three-year-old son who has leukemia, was named the Best Documentary.

Nhat Kim Anh was the Best Actress for her performance in “The Fate of a Songstress in Thang Long.”
Australian director and jury member Phillip Noyce described the film as “Extremely beautiful [and] revealed parts of Vietnamese history that we as outsiders were not aware.”

Hong Kong’s Fiona Sit shared the award with Anh for her performance in “Break Up Club.”

Malaysia’s A Niu was named the Best Actor for his role in “Kacang Puppy Love” while.

“Sandcastle” made by first-time Boo Junfeng of Singapore made a huge impact, winning the Best Feature Film, Best Director, and NETPAC Jury Awards.

“Boo’s film doesn’t look like a first film, it is so self-assured,” US entertainment trade publication Hollywood Reporter quoted Venice Film Festival director Marco Mueller as saying at the festival.

The closing ceremony was attended by 2,000 people, including movie stars and filmmakers from Vietnam and abroad.

Lai Van Sinh, the head of the Vietnam Cinema Department and the festival’s chief organizer, said: “The first VNIFF has made a good impression on international audiences. Besides, it has helped bring cinema closer to the public.”

Large audience

Vietnamese films attracted large crowds at the five-day event.

All 14 Vietnamese feature films shown at the Vietnam International Film Festival that concluded Thursday were sellouts despite being screened four times every day, according to the organizers.

“Always Beside You”, “Adrift”, “The Legend Is Alive”, “Living In Fear”, “The Rebel”, “Hanoi- Hanoi”, “The fate of a songstress in Thang Long”, “The Lieutenant”, “Pao’s Story”, “The Buffalo Boy”, “Don’t Burn”, “The White Silk Dress”, “Moon At The Bottom Of The Well” and “Temple Of Literature” were screened at Platinum Cineplex, Megastar cinemas, and the National Screening Center.

To meet the demand, organizers put up 40-70 temporary seats at the venues.

Related Articles

• Two awards for Singapore film
• Hanoi model wins Miss Vietnam 2010
• Tighter co-operation urged with United Arab Emirates
• HCMC to relay grand sale program to November
• Highway dubbed a ‘death trap'

Culture Vulture

Acclaimed Australian filmmaker Phillip Noyce, 60, is in Viet Nam to chair the jury board of the first Viet Nam International Film Festival. He sat down with Culture Vulture on the sidelines of the event.

You came to Viet Nam to film The Quiet American. Now you return as chairman of the jury board of the first Viet Nam International Film Festival. How does that feel?

A decade has passed by since I came to Viet Nam to make The Quiet American. For me, it's a wonderful experience and honour to be here once again. Meeting old friends like director Dang Nhat Minh and actress Do Hai Yen who enthusiastically helped me to produce the film is a privilege, a big present.

During my days in Ha Noi, I will have a chance to get acquainted with other directors and filmmakers to share ideas, exchange experiences and confirm our common passion for the Seventh Art which has the power of a bridge and helps overcome barriers of language and culture. It connects people through the charm of the silver screen.

Viet Nam has two films in the Best Feature Film category, and many new entries which are arranged in Viet Nam Premier Showcase and Viet Nam Cinema Today. Have you been patient enough to watch all of the Vietnamese films screening at the festival?

The jury's screening schedule for official competition is full now, but I promise that I will try to watch Vietnamese films until I collapse.

I'm looking forward to enjoying new Vietnamese films made in 2010, films competing in international film festivals, and current impressive films on at Vietnamese cinemas. Seeing these films will help me realise the changes and development in the Vietnamese movie industry.

I have tried kept a close eye on your cinema over the last decade. I would like to help develop your cinema but have few chances to see it. The only Vietnamese film I've seen is Pao's Story. The other film being promoted in Australia that I saw was Inferno, directed by Vietnamese-born Victor Vu.

I live and work in Australia and the US, where I have only a few opportunities to see Vietnamese films. That's the reason I'm present at this festival. There was a big gap between the movie and audiences when I directed The Quiet American. Now, there are now more and more young directors, and larger audiences, who buy the tickets.

As chairman of the jury board, what can you tell us about the criteria for selecting the best films?

Films geared towards social issues and people will be promising candidates for the top prize. The jury board also highly appreciates films with new, interesting, creative and amazing angles. The members of the jury met each other for the first time at the festival, but it's expected that we will have the same feeling and idea to grant prizes for worthy entries.

I want to tell a story about when I joined the jury at the Sydney International Film Festival in 1994. I remember that among thousands of films presented, there were hundreds nominated, and due to the large amount of films, I paid attention to films made by famous directors. However, I was surprised by Dang Nhat Minh, a Vietnamese director who wasn't famous at the time. His film Tro Ve (The Return) impressed me.

Film festivals are opportunities to discover new talents. I hope that I will find other directors like Minh at this festival.

Southeast Asian cinema is being showcased at this festival. What do you think about the focus on regional films?

It is very interesting to see films and gain a deeper knowledge of movie industries in Southeast Asia. I want to learn about the region's culture, which is expressed by the region's filmmakers, through the film festival.

The movie industries of different nations have different visions of the world. We may ask how the films are made, what the filmmakers' interests are. I think there will be films which reveal their own culture and country's historical stories, although sometimes it isn't easy to understand their messages. But the film's values come from the inside – how do you feel after watching it?

When the festival ends, do you have any other plans in Viet Nam?

I will stay in Ha Noi for two days after the festival to join lectures and seminars with young filmmakers. Then I have another two days working in HCM City. At the seminars, I will share my experience in making films such as Salt and The Quiet American. I'm ready for questions relating to these films. Through the meetings, I expect that I will do something to help Vietnamese filmmakers connect with foreign film industries. I also want to exchange and talk with the younger generation who have a passion for films and willingness to devote themselves to the film industry. Young filmmakers are a very important force for the future of the nation's cinema. — VNS

Related Articles

• PM foresees bright future for co-operation with Africa
• Foreign sea leases deprive locals of living
• Competition serves sustainable agenda
• Party reports come in from provinces
• Giant embroidered picture on display

Japanese features, anime to screen

Toon time: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, one of two animation movies to be shown at the festival. — Photo courtesy Tokikake Film Partners

HA NOI — Japanese director Nobuhiro Doi's latest film Hanamizuki is one of ten films scheduled to show in competition at the first Viet Nam International Film Festival, which runs until Thursday in Ha Noi.

Hanamizuki is a romantic drama which tells the story of high school student Sae Hirasawa, played by Yui Aragaki, who lives a simple life with her mother in a peaceful northern fishing town but dreams of a life overseas.

She meets two special men in her life. One is another high school boy who she falls in love with. They encourage each other to pursue their dreams, even as their dreams pull them apart. The other man is an upperclassman who shares her same dreams.

Doi, with the support of the Japan Foundation Centre for Cultural Exchange, will arrive today to attend the festival and conduct question and answer sessions about the film.

Born April 11, 1964 in Hiroshima Prefecture, Doi began as director for the hit TBS television series Good Luck!! in 2003 and Orange Days in 2004 until striking it big with the US$48 million box office hit Be With You the same year, his directorial film debut.

Hanamizuki was released in Japan in August and is his third feature film.
My Darling Is a Foreigner, the directorial debut by Kazuaki Ue, will also compete for the festival's top prize.

Eatrip by Yuri Nomura, and Mental by Kazuhiro Soda will compete in the documentary and short film categories, respectively. Mental won the Best Documentary Award at the Pusan International Film Festival and the Dubai International Film Festival in 2008.

Japanese animation will also make a showing at the festival with Summer Wars (2009) and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006), both directed by Mamoru Hosoda. Both films have received numerous awards not only in Japan but throughout the world, including the Best Animation Award at the Japan Academy Awards in 2007 (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) and in 2010 (Summer Wars).

Please see the What's On section on page 27 for the festival calendar. — VNS

Related Articles

• Japanese features, anime to screen

Noyce, Wu and Cheung to heat up film festival in Vietnam

(From L to R) Angelina Jolie, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Phillip Noyce at event of Salt - Photo: Reuters

Australian director Phillip Noyce, known for The Quiet American and Salt movies, and Hong Kong movies stars Daniel Wu and Nick Cheung are seen adding glamour to the first Vietnam International Film Festival set for October 17-21 in Hanoi.

Noyce will serve as lead judge in the film festival and during his forthcoming Vietnam visit at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, he will spend some days in Hanoi and HCMC training local film directors and producers.

The two Hong Kong stars Daniel Wu and Nick Cheung will attend the introductions of their new films Triple Tap and Stool Pigeon, which will be screened on Monday and Tuesday at the new Platinum Cineplex in Hanoi. The two will also meet film lovers at the Hanoi Opera House square.

Triple Tap and Stool Pigeon will be screened for the World Cinema On Monday category of the festival.

The festival will draw 68 movies from 23 countries and territories and they will be classified into categories Feature, Documentary/Short film, Documentary, Short Animation Film, World Cinema On Monday, and Country in Focus introducing French movies.

In addition to the awards for the above categories, the organizing committee will present NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) award.

All the movies will be shown in Hanoi with ticket prices ranging from VND10,000 to VND40,000 at Megastar Vincom City Tower, 191 Ba Trieu Street, Hai Ba Trung District; Platinum Cineplex, The Garden, My Dinh; and Vietnam National Convention Center, 57 Pham Hung Boulevard.

Related Articles

• Japanese features, anime to screen
• Vietnam Air accepts web check-in for int’l flights
• Writers’ temple to display bronze drums
• Japan to construct plant for industrial waste in capital
• Giant embroidered picture on display

"Floating Lives" deeply moves Korean audiences

Actress Do Hai Yen (black dress) casting Suong in “Floating Lives” talks with the audience at the Busan International Film Festival from October 7-15 in South Korea

"Canh Dong Bat Tan” (Floating Lives) has brought audiences of the 15th Pusan International Film Festival to tears in a room filled with the weight of human despair and the beauty of resilient emotions.

It competed in the New Currents category at the film festival which wrapped up today in Pusan port city, South Korea.

South Korean audiences saw the film before Vietnamese can do as of October 22. Silence fell in two projection rooms with nearly 800 seats in Lotte movie-theater as the Monochord’s lament came to a halt. The silent sound of tears was only broken by a heavy round of applause.

Adapted from Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tu’s novel, "Boundless Rice Field", the movie directed by Nguyen Phan Quang Binh centers around a family living in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta and a man’s search for romantic redemption.

Father Vo (Dustin Nguyen), daughter Nuong (Lan Ngoc) and son Dien (Vo Thanh Hoa) live nomadically on a boat after the father burned their house down in retaliation for his wife's infidelity.

They drift from one rice field to the next, rearing ducks and doing occasional handy jobs. When Suong (Do Thi Hai Yen), a hooker, joins the family to evade an angry mob, Nuong and Dien welcome her as a surrogate mother and object of pubescent fantasy, while a volatile relationship develops between Vo and her.

Young director Nguyen Phan Quang Binh reaches his audiences most deep-seeded emotions as he digs down through his characters’ cruelty, loss and despair to the most fundamental need and desire for love.

The waterways not only hold and lead the family’s boat, but also symbolize the characters sifting, drifting and endless fluid emotions while also embodying the graceful flow of Binh’s visual storytelling.

The actors deliver an outstanding performance. Nuong conveys not only her suffering but also her strength in containing it and mastering it while living on the edge of that painful abyss seen only through her piercing look. She is able to elicit strong emotions and bring her audiences to earnest tears without long and elaborate dialogues, but with the sheer strength of her acting.

Hai Yen (Suong) surpasses all expectations and proved her critics wrong as she aces a role many had deemed unsuitable for her talent. Her performance makes the onscreen Suong come to life more powerfully than even the carefully described one in the book. Her careful balancing of emotions, with love and compassion on one end and despair on the other, bursts out of the screen with unmatched vigor.

Dustin Nguyen (Vo), plays the most challenging role, as his rage builds up throughout the movie fueled by the pain and shame caused by his wife betrayal.

His is a very articulated acting tale of pain and interior torments ordered through daily acts of cruelty.

The carefully arranged and paired soundtrack talks directly to the audience’s hearts. The sad and lonely sound of the traditional Monochord and the melodies composed by Vietnamese Quoc Trung emerge as direct testimonials from the true soul of the Mekong Delta.

Nguyen Ngoc Tu’s "Boundless Rice Field" was published in the South Korean version in 2007.

All 12 films competing in the New Currents category at Pusan International Film Festival reflect contemporary issues like poverty, war, overpopulation and loss of traditional values. The movies include “The journal of Musan” (South Korea), “Eternity” (Thailand), “Strawberry Cliff” (Hong Kong), My Spectacular (China), The Quarter of Scarecrows (Iraq) and Ways of the Sea (Philippines).

Tickets to “Floating Lives” were sold out one week before the screening, according to organizers.

Related Articles

• Market moves up sharply
• Girls gear up for Vietnam’s Next Top Model
• Credit-Thirsty SMEs Seeking Ways To Survive

Hanoi to host first Vietnam International Film Festival

Anna Mouglalis – who plays Fashion Queen Coco Chanel – will present at VNIFF

Photo: Mongrel Media

68 films from 23 countries will be featured at the first-ever Vietnam International Film Festival (VNIFF) which will be held at Megastar Cinemas, the National Screening Center and the BHD (Vietnam Media Corp.) Cinema Complex in Hanoi October 17-21.

As a country in focus, France’s cinema will be represented by a selection of award-winning features including Pascal Chaumeil’s “Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky” and documentary films “Babies” by Thomas Balmès and “Oceans” by Jacques Cluzaud.

Honored guests Thomas Balmès, Jacques Cluzaud, Pascal Chaumeil and Anna Mouglalis – leading female character of “Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky” will present at the event.

“Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky” tells about the rumored affair between Fashion Queen Coco Chanel and Russian composer and pianist Igor Stravinsky around the time legendary Chanel No. 5 perfume was created. This film was chosen as the closing film at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival in 2009.

Central to the film is the song “The Rite of Spring” symbolizing both Stravinsky’s revolutionary musical ambitions and Chanel’s revolutionary fashion exploits.

Chanel, mesmerized by the musician’s scandalous premiere in 1913, invited him to stay in her Garches villa seven years later when as a penniless émigré (refugee) he retouched “The Rite of Spring” for a Paris revival.

Chinese film also carved itself a nice niche as French director Fabrien Gaillarg’s Chinese film “Lao Wai” will compete in the Best Film category while Chinese female director Hu Mei will introduce the 2010 biographical movie “Confucius” which stirred controversy in China.

Two famous Chinese actors Ngo Ngan To and Truong Gia Huy will also attend this year’s festival on October 19. To co-stars in the action film “Triple Tap”, with Hong Kong actor Co Thien Lac.

Ten feature films from eight countries in the East Asia and Southeast Asia will compete in the In Competition category.

VNIFF chairman Lai Van Sinh, said: “Vietnam is hosting the International Film Festival for the first time, so it will focus on East Asia and Southeast Asia as world cinema’s new potential areas of interest.”

Many films competing in the Feature Film category will be screened in the region, or even the world, for the first time. They include “Sandcastle” by Singaporean Boo Junfeng, “Lao Wai” by French Fabien Gaollard, “Red Shoes” by Philippine Raul Jorolan, “The Dreamer” by Indonesian Riri Riza, “Ice Kaeang Puppy Love” by Japanese Nobuhiro Doi, “Big Boy” by Thailand Monthon Arayangkoon, “Breaking Up Club” by Hong Kong Barbara Wong, and “Long Thanh Cam Gia ca” by Vietnamese Dao Ba Son and “Lieutenant” by Vietnamese Ha Son.

“We want to start out small but steady to make sure to do things at the right pace,” said Ngo Thi Bich Hanh, vice president of sales & acquisitions at Vietnam Media.

The festival – co-organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Vietnam Cinema Department and Vietnam Media Corporation – will showcase films in seven categories: Competition, Shorts and Documentaries, World Cinema Today, Vietnamese Cinema Today, Country in Focus, Surprising, and Tributes.

Eight prizes will be awarded in the following categories: Best Film, Best Documentary, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, the Netpac Prize, and the Media Award and Best Short Film.

Related Articles

• Sea Links City hosts Miss Earth national costume contest
• Hanoi T&T win first V-League after scoreless draw
• Weightlifter grabs Vietnam’s first Olympic gold at Youth Games
• HSBC grants millennium wish to 100 first-graders
• City hosts ports, logistics confab

Vietnamese films screen at Busan Film Festival

HA NOI — Two Vietnamese films are screening at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea this week.

Canh Dong Bat Tan (The Endless Field) by director Nguyen Phan Quang Binh will compete with 12 entries from eight countries and territories in the festival's New Currents category, while Bi, Dung So (Bi, Don't Be Afraid) by director Phan Dang Di will join the Asian Cinema Window programme.

The top two winners in the New Currents category will receive cash prizes of US$30,000 each.

Over 300 films from 67 countries and territories are being screened at the festival, of which over 100 are premieres, including Viet Nam's Canh Dong Bat Tan.

The screenplay of Bi, Dung So won a $10,000 award at the 2007 Busan Film Festival.

Malaysian businesses learn about Vietnamese culture

HCM CITY — Representatives from more than 100 Malaysian businesses celebrated the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi at a meeting held yesterday by the Malaysian Business Chamber (MBC).

The group enjoyed traditional Vietnamese cuisine, including spring rolls, chicken and corn soup and purple sticky rice in bean curd.

The chairwoman of MBC, Shimi Sumathi, who has worked in Viet Nam for 18 years, spoke highly of the country's cuisine as well as its history and people.

She said Malaysian businesses operating or wishing to invest in Viet Nam should learn more about the culture.

Old soldiers depict memories of war in HCM City exhibition

HCM CITY — An exhibition of art and posters painted by a group of 33 veteran soldiers opened on Thursday at HCM City Fine Arts Association.

About 59 recently made paintings using oil paints, water colours and lacquer on canvas, paper and other materials depict the veterans' memories of the war and their impressions of development in the city today.

The exhibition also has several brass sculptures of popular figures of Viet Nam's military like General Vo Nguyen Giap and Major General Tran Dai Nghia.

According to the association, the war veteran artist club has about 100 members, who were witnesses to the country's war for liberation and reunification. Members of the group also keep a lot of other war memorabilia.

The exhibition is at HCM City Fine Arts Association, 218A Pasteur District 3, HCM City.

Beer lovers drink up at HCM City's Oktoberfest

HCM CITY — The Windsor Plaza Hotel in HCM City's District 5 and the German Business Association are celebrating Oktoberfest with a seven-day party that opened at the hotel yesterday.

Also the 200th anniversary of the original beer fest, the bash is being held at the hotel's ballroom with Krombacher draught beer, Schneider Weisse beer, schnapps and typical German food like sausage, sauerkraut, pork knuckle and pretzel.

A German band, Trenkwalder, returns for the third year to play traditional songs.

Guests receive a beer mug as a souvenir and take part in traditional German games and lucky draws.

Admission to the seven-day event – until tomorrow and again from Wednesday to Saturday next week – is only for people aged 18 and over. — VNS

Related Articles

• Writers’ temple to display bronze drums
• Giant embroidered picture on display
• HCMC Oktoberfest offers more than just beer
• Preparations for congress reviewed
• High rice price cuts exports

Hanoi Polish film festival to mark 60 years of ties

Sweet Rush (Polish: Tatarak)

Five films will be screened at a Polish film festival to be held in Hanoi from September 19 to 23 to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Poland.

Among them will be “Sweet Rush” (Polish: Tatarak), directed by the world-renowned auteur Andrzej Wajda, which chronicles the love affair between the neglected wife of a doctor whose two sons died in World War II and a man half her age.

The film won the Alfred-Bauer prize for innovation at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival last year.

The other films to be screened are “How to live,” “Mr Kuka’s advice,” “God’s little village,” and “Time to die.”

Poland has chosen these films to introduce to Vietnamese audiences its people and culture, Lai Van Sinh, head of the Cinematography Department, said.

Polish cinema is considered among the best in Europe and the world, he added.

The films will be screened at the National Cinema Centre where the films’ directors, actors, and producers will hold exchanges with audiences.

Related Articles

• Diamond studded Ao Dai marks 20 years in fashion
• Power plants create opportunities
• Chilean Independence Day marked in Hanoi
• Workshop calls for longer-term plans to audit State entities
• Market moves up sharply

Hanoi Polish film festival to mark 60 years of ties

Sweet Rush (Polish: Tatarak)

Five films will be screened at a Polish film festival to be held in Hanoi from September 19 to 23 to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Poland.

Among them will be “Sweet Rush” (Polish: Tatarak), directed by the world-renowned auteur Andrzej Wajda, which chronicles the love affair between the neglected wife of a doctor whose two sons died in World War II and a man half her age.

The film won the Alfred-Bauer prize for innovation at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival last year.

The other films to be screened are “How to live,” “Mr Kuka’s advice,” “God’s little village,” and “Time to die.”

Poland has chosen these films to introduce to Vietnamese audiences its people and culture, Lai Van Sinh, head of the Cinematography Department, said.

Polish cinema is considered among the best in Europe and the world, he added.

The films will be screened at the National Cinema Centre where the films’ directors, actors, and producers will hold exchanges with audiences.

Related Articles

• Diamond studded Ao Dai marks 20 years in fashion
• Power plants create opportunities
• Chilean Independence Day marked in Hanoi
• Workshop calls for longer-term plans to audit State entities
• Market moves up sharply

Vietnamese films entered at Korean festival

A scene from "Floating Life"

Photo: Tuoi Tre

Vietnamese movies “Floating life” (Canh Dong Bat Tan) and “Bi, Don’t be afraid!” (Bi, dung so!) will be screened at the 15th Pusan International Film Festival in Korea next month.

Listed among 12 movies from 10 countries competing for the US$30,000 New Currents Award is “Floating life,” adapted from a short story by ASEAN Literature Award winner Nguyen Ngoc Tu and directed by Nguyen Phan Quang Binh, a winner of the 2006 Pusan Promotion Plan award.

It depicts the tragic life of farmers in southern Vietnam trying to earn a livelihood. The movie opens in Vietnamese cinemas October 22.

“Bi, don’t be afraid,” directed by Phan Dang Di, will compete in “A window for Asian cinema” category. It is about the life of a family living in Hanoi’s Old Quarter through the eye of a six-year-old boy, Bi.

The movie won the best screenplay prize and a critics’ award at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

This year’s Pusan festival has attracted 308 entries from 67 countries, with more than half of them premiering at the event.

The jury will have leading lights from around the world like Sean Farnet (Canada), Murali Nair (India), Remi Bonhomme (France), and John Cooper (America).

French actress Juliette Binoche, English actress Jane March, Japanese actresses Yoshitaka Yuriko and Miyazaki Aoi, and American director Oliver Stone will attend the festival to be held from October 7 to 15.

Related Articles

• Writers’ temple to display bronze drums
• Visit hell then heaven
• Poor rural children blaze education trail
• Giant embroidered picture on display
• High rice price cuts exports

Vietnam to hold first global film festival

The first ever Vietnamese International Film Festival will take place in Hanoi on October 17

Photo: Tuoi Tre

The first ever Vietnamese International Film Festival will take place in Hanoi on October 17 to mark the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

Le Ngoc Minh, the deputy head of Vietnam’s Cinematography Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, announced the festival Tuesday.

He underlined that the festival will honors Asian movies and promote cultural exchanges and cooperation between international and regional filmmakers by screening the latest films by talented directors from across Southeast Asia.

There will be a total of eight prizes awarded, including best feature film, best short film, best documentary, best director, best actor and actress and a prize of the Network of the Promotion of Asian Cinema, plus a media prize.

During the five-day event, several seminars on the country’s film industry, an exhibition of photos, an open air film screening and a chance to meet with actors and filmmakers will also be held. 

Related Articles

• Hanoi T&T win first V-League after scoreless draw
• Weightlifter grabs Vietnam’s first Olympic gold at Youth Games
• New decree hopes to protect holders of convertible bonds
• Naval forces boost global co-operation
• Thousands await relocation

Tran presents 'Norwegian Wood' at Venice film festival

French film director Tran Anh Hung is pictured arriving for the screening of "Norumei no mori"(Norwegian wood) at the 67th Venice Film Festival, on September 2, at Venice Lido.

Photo: AFP

The pacing, the blowing wind, the music and other atmospherics all helped create the tension in "Norwegian Wood," says Tran Anh Hung, presenting the haunting movie at the Venice film festival.

Based on a best-selling novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami, the story of love, sexuality and loss -- mainly through suicide -- is set in Japan in the volatile 1960s.

"The film is rich in physical variation," the Vietnamese-born Tran told AFP, discussing scenes in which the lead character Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) paces around an apartment with the troubled Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi), and later tries to keep up with her in a green field.

Watanabe falls in love with Naoko despite her imbalance over losing her sister and boyfriend to suicide.

While promising to wait for Naoko until she overcomes the trauma at a special sanatorium, Watanabe gets deeply involved with another woman, Midori (Kiko Mizuhara), tumbling into romantic confusion.

"In the field scene the conversation is very physical, Naoko is talking about not being able to get aroused with her previous boyfriend," Tran said. "In fact it's a confession, which in church you would do sitting down."

Scenes in which blowing wind competes with the dialogue "also adds tension," Tran, 47, said of a story that in book form "has a very intimate relationship with the reader."

The film adaptation "was not just adapting a story... it was also adapting all the poetic ramifications, all the emotional ramifications that the book provokes in you," said Tran, who won the top prize Golden Lion here in 1995 for "Cyclo".

"I had to find a way to unlock this personal side," Tran said.

Even the language gap -- Tran used interpreters to direct the all-Japanese cast -- was a way to "find a different energy," he said.

And while the sexuality of the film, presented on Thursday, is replete with 1960s overtones, Tran sought to minimize visual references to the era, notably in the clothes, all neutral, even prim.

"We eliminated anything too hippy," he said.

Apart from the emblematic Beatles' song of the title, he shunned familiar tunes from the era, preferring to use "less well-known music but with strong emotional power... mostly to avoid the nostalgic side," Tran told reporters earlier.

"The story could otherwise be seen as something softer, nicer," he said. "Instead it's seen as harsher, crueler because of the music."

The many love scenes in the film are for the most part awkward, with the focus on the lovers' faces.

"I wanted to show the impact on Naoko when she made love with Watanabe. The rest could only distract from what is most important in the film," Tran said.

The Paris-based director had several exchanges with Murakami at the start of the project, but eventually, Tran recalled, the author said: "Do the film you have in mind. All that is needed is for you to make the best film possible."

"Norwegian Wood" is one of 24 films vying for the Golden Lion at the festival, which opened Wednesday and runs through September 11.

Related Articles

• Poor rural children blaze education trail
• High rice price cuts exports
• IFC: Vietnam needs to increase PPP to support economy
• Visit hell then heaven
• Writers’ temple to display bronze drums