Get bookish at Hanoi fair

The third Vietnam International Book Fair will be held at the Vietnam Exhibition & Fair Center, 146 Giang Vo Street in Hanoi from September 17-21 as part of activities to mark the 1,000th anniversary of the capital city.

The event, held every two years, will display publications of nearly 80 publishing houses, book distribution companies, book stores and printers across the country.

The fair has been expanded with participation of foreign publishing houses and book distributors. The Frankfurt center for international book fairs and exhibitions will bring 800 books to the fair with plans to present them to the National Library. Meanwhile, the Chinese press and publication general office will bring over 2,000 titles.

Publishing associations from Southeast Asia will also have displays.

A special feature of this year’s fair will be the Thang Long-Hanoi display with maps, carved wood blocks, old books, the full text of King Ly Thai To’s decree to relocate the capital city to Hanoi, many artifacts and about 2,000 publications on Thang Long-Hanoi.

During the event, children can read books at the booths of Kim Dong Publishing House. There will be short talk and seminars with renowned writers such as Tran Dang Khoa, Ma Van Khang, Nguyen Xuan Khanh, Nguyen Nhat Anh, Phan Hon Nhien and Nguyen Vinh Phuc.

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Photo contest focuses on giving milk to poor kids

A photo contest named “Sua voi Tre tho” or Milk for Children aims to raise awareness about the importance of milk for growing kids.

The competition has been organized by “Vuon cao Viet Nam” fund of mik, Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Co. (Vinamilk) and the Vietnam Children Patronage Foundation.

The organizing committee hopes that through the contest the community will join hands to give poor children a healthy chance to drink milk.

The contest is divided into two phases. In the first phase the judging panel will choose the best 40 photos to exhibit for review in November. Then six photographers will be selected for a charity trip with some celebrities and the fund ambassadors to deliver free milk to poor children. The photos of children and milk taken during trip will be judged to find the winner.  

The six finalists will receive certificates and six prizes including a VND15 million special prize with an added prize for the child subject of the picture, VND10 million for the first prize, VND5 million for the second prize and three third prizes worth VND3 million for each. There will be another prize for people whose vote for best photo posted on the official website agrees with the judge’s choice.

Contestants must register on www.vuoncaovietnam.com/Cuoc thi anh or send CD/ USB/ memory card/ photos to the media representative of “Vuon cao Viet Nam” fund in the North: T&A Ogilvy, Level 8, Tien Phong Building, 15 Ho Xuan Huong Street, Hanoi, tel: (04) 3822 3914, or email to Ms. Phan Phuong Linh at PhuongLinh.Phan@ogilvy.com or T&A Ogilvy at 72-74 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 3, HCMC, tel: 08 3821 9529 or email to Ms. Tran Duy Cung My at CungMy.Tran@ogilvy.com.

Deadline for entries is October 16.

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Photo contest focuses on giving milk to poor kids

A photo contest named “Sua voi Tre tho” or Milk for Children aims to raise awareness about the importance of milk for growing kids.

The competition has been organized by “Vuon cao Viet Nam” fund of mik, Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Co. (Vinamilk) and the Vietnam Children Patronage Foundation.

The organizing committee hopes that through the contest the community will join hands to give poor children a healthy chance to drink milk.

The contest is divided into two phases. In the first phase the judging panel will choose the best 40 photos to exhibit for review in November. Then six photographers will be selected for a charity trip with some celebrities and the fund ambassadors to deliver free milk to poor children. The photos of children and milk taken during trip will be judged to find the winner.  

The six finalists will receive certificates and six prizes including a VND15 million special prize with an added prize for the child subject of the picture, VND10 million for the first prize, VND5 million for the second prize and three third prizes worth VND3 million for each. There will be another prize for people whose vote for best photo posted on the official website agrees with the judge’s choice.

Contestants must register on www.vuoncaovietnam.com/Cuoc thi anh or send CD/ USB/ memory card/ photos to the media representative of “Vuon cao Viet Nam” fund in the North: T&A Ogilvy, Level 8, Tien Phong Building, 15 Ho Xuan Huong Street, Hanoi, tel: (04) 3822 3914, or email to Ms. Phan Phuong Linh at PhuongLinh.Phan@ogilvy.com or T&A Ogilvy at 72-74 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 3, HCMC, tel: 08 3821 9529 or email to Ms. Tran Duy Cung My at CungMy.Tran@ogilvy.com.

Deadline for entries is October 16.

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Korean wins piano contest in Hanoi

Contestant Luu Hong Quang performs at the international piano contest in Hanoi - Photo: VietnamPlus

Kim Kyung Hoon from the Republic of Korea collected first prize of US$2,000 in the open category of the International piano contest in Hanoi on Monday, reports VietnamPlus.

The Korean pianist also won a special prize from Vietnamese Music Association.

Vietnam did not bag any first prizes but won three seconds and two thirds at the competition, which was held in Vietnam for the first time from September 5-12. The award ceremony took place at Hanoi Opera House on Monday,

In the category for pianists aged 10-13, Vietnamese Do Hoang Linh Chi and Canada’s Vu Duc Manh Vincent picked up second prizes, each worth US$500.

The first prize in the category worth US1,000  went to Kiroki Ukine from Japan who also won best performance of Chopin music by a Japanese music organization.

Do Hoang Linh Chi also got Dang Thai Son Scholarship worth US$1,000.

In the category for 14-17 year-olds, Tran Viet Bao and Luu Duc Anh of Vietnam and Montesclaros Ma Regina from the Philippines won second prizes, each worth US$800.  Tran Viet Bao earned best Nocturne performance presented by the Vietnamese Musician Association.  Nguyen Le Binh Anh took third prize and was presented with a Dang Thai Son Scholarship.

In the open category, Vietnamese Luu Hong Quang and Shih Wei Chen from Taiwan won third prizes, worth US$800 each. Quang also received a Dang Thai Son Scholarship.

Vietnam puppetry wins golds

Vietnam took away two gold medals out of four in the team section of the second International Puppetry Festival, which wrapped up in Hanoi on September 9, reports the Vietnam News Agency.

The first gold went to the Thang Long Puppetry Theater troupe. Their show about the millennium celebrations in Hanoi had 10 acts featuring the working life of farmers, traditional customs and folk festivals. The second went to the Vietnam Puppetry Theater team for their interpretation of three stories by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, including “The Brave Tin Soldier”, “The Ugly Duckling” and “The Little Mermaid”. It was the first time the theater has brought foreign literature to the water stage.

Singaporean and Indonesian troupes won the other two team gold medals.

The organizing board also presented 12 gold and seven silver prizes to the most outstanding artists and three prizes to the best directors.

The six-day festival, organized by the Department of Performing Arts under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, attracted 12 foreign troupes and five from Vietnam, including the Vietnam Puppetry Theater, the Thang Long Puppetry Theater and the puppetry troupes from Haiphong City, Daklak Province and HCMC.

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Operation Smile, Amway organize surgeries for kids

Doctors conduct checkups and screenings as part of the latest Operation Smile mission in HCMC - Photo: Quoc Hung

Operation Smile Vietnam on Monday started free medical checks for children with hare lips, cleft palate and facial deformities from HCMC and the Mekong Delta.

About 150 children will receive treatment during the NGO’s latest mission in HCMC that has been co-organized with Amway Vietnam and others.

Medical checks and screenings were held on Monday at National Hospital of Odonto – Stomatology (No. 201, Nguyen Tri Phuong St., Dist. 5), while surgeries start on Tuesday till September 17 at My Thien Hospital (No. 275/4/2 Ly Thuong Kiet St., Dist. 11).

This is the third consecutive year Amway Vietnam has participated in Operation Smile’s mission in Vietnam, as part of Amway’s global campaign for children called ‘One by One”. Amway Vietnam is also providing 30 volunteer staff and distributors to assist with the children and families’ transport, guidance and aftercare.

Looe Chee Seng, Amway Vietnam’s general director said, “We are very proud to accompany Operation Smile in the journey to bring smiles to the disadvantaged children. The participation of volunteers in Amway’s One by One activities is a key factor in raising awareness on social responsibility among the corporation and partners.”

In November, Amway Vietnam will continue its partnership role with Operation Smile in a similar surgery mission in Hue.

In Vietnam there are an estimated 13,000 children untreated for the condition because of financial difficulties, plus about 3,000 new cases born every year. According to statistics one in 500 babies born in Vietnam has the condition. The cost for a surgery by local medical specialists is approximately US$150. Following surgery children can speak, eat and drink properly, so they can integrate better into the community and schooling.

Amway Vietnam has contributed VND2.4 billion since 2008 to help 2,200 disadvantaged children in the country. It also partners with Hands of Hope to provide assistance to visually-impaired students at Nguyen Dinh Chieu School, Hanoi, and to poor handicapped children in Northern provinces.

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Asian film center-stage at first Vietnam film fest

File photo of director and AiF ambassador Phillip Noyce, who will act as a judge at Vietnam's first international film festival next month

Photo: AFP

Asian cinema will take center-stage at Vietnam's first international film festival next month, the government says.

The festival, from October 17-21 will feature 30 works by Asian directors in three categories: feature film, documentary and short, said a statement received Tuesday from the Ministry of Culture's cinema department.

The event is being held as part of celebrations to mark Hanoi's 1,000th anniversary.

Entries in the juried festival were produced during the last two years and may have been shown already, but they must not have been broadcast on television or the Internet, the cinema department said.

Among the judges will be Australian Phillip Noyce, who directed "The Quiet American," a 2002 film adaptation of Graham Greene's novel set during Vietnam's war of liberation against France.

The statement said other judges include Vietnamese director Dang Nhat Minh, whose 2009 film "Don't Burn" dealt with the Vietnam War, Venice Film Festival director Marco Muller, and South Korean actress Kang Su-Yeon.

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Cartoon on legendary Hanoi founder to screen

Photo: VNA

A cartoon on a legendary Emperor, who founded Thang Long capital, now Hanoi, is scheduled to air this Friday.

The film, entitled “Dragon’s Son”, is the first long cartoon using 3D technology in Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Hong Ngat, Executive Director of the Cinematography Association Studio said at a press briefing in Hanoi Monday.

The 90-minute footage is about the childhood of King Ly Thai To, or Ly Cong Uan at birth, who founded the 216-year-long Ly Dynasty in 1009.

Painters have animated over 30 characters, designed 20 major scenes and conducted almost 850 acts.

Director Pham Minh Tri said the “Dragon’s Son” is “100 percent Vietnamese”, from sounds to music and costumes. The cartoon is characterized by northern countryside sceneries such as banian trees, ferry stations, pagodas and buffalo boys playing and fishing.

Ly Cong Uan was born at Co Phap Pagoda, in the village of same name, Bac Ninh province, in 974.

At the age of 3, his mother took him to the pagoda for monks there to bring him up. He was named Ly Cong Uan by the monks and became a monk.

Under the protection and support of Ly Van Hanh, also known as Van Hanh monk, who was a respected monk in the holy Anterior Le Dynasty court, Uan came to the capital and took several promotions to the Left Guard-Commander of the Anterior Citadel, a high rank in the army system. In 1009, Le Ngoa Trieu, the last king of the Anterior Le Dynasty died under the wrath of the people because of the ferocity and cruelty brought on them in his time. Dao Cam Moc, a senior official, and Van Hanh monk used their power to enthrone Ly Cong Uan without any debate, beginning the Ly Dynasty.

The then capital Hoa Lu in the northern province of Ninh Binh was a tiny area with craggy geography bounded by mountain ranges, which had been suitable for a turbulent era but was not conducive to peacetime development and growth. Ly Thai To chose to move the capital to a broader area lying in the flat alluvial delta named Dai La, now Hanoi. In 1010, he began the move and while travelling from the former capital to the new land, he saw a Yellow Dragon ascending, so he changed the new land's name from Dai La to Thang Long.

Vietnam is celebrating the millennium anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi on October 10, which is called the Grand Festival.

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