Australian director ‘keeps eye’ on Vietnam cinema

Local fans welcome Australian director Phillip Noyce when arrives at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi on October 16, 2010

Photo: Tuoi Tre

Phillip Noyce, director of “The Quiet American” is in Vietnam for a second time, eight years after he was first here to direct the film, to head the jury at the inaugural Vietnam International Film Festival from October 17 to 21.

He spoke to Tuoi Tre as soon as he landed at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi.

As the head of the feature film jury, what is your main goal?

I would like to honor true values and new cinema talents, and have a chance to watch films at the VNIFF.

What do you think about the first VNIFF’s aim of showcasing Southeast Asian cinema which is not well known globally?

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

Movie industry of different nations have different visions of the world. We may ask that how the films are made, what the filmmakers’ interest is. I think there will be films which reveal their own culture and country’s historical stories though sometimes it not easy to understand their messages. However, the film’s values come from the inside – how do you feel after watching it?

What is your expectation for Vietnamese films?

I am waiting to see Vietnamese films made in 2010, films competing in international film festivals, and current impressive films on Vietnamese cinemas.

Seeing these films will help me realize the changes and development in Vietnamese movie industry. I always keep a close eye on your cinema for the last eight years. I would like to help develop your cinema but I 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 is the reason I am present at the festival. Besides seeing and judging films at the festival, I’ll give two lectures at the Vietnam Cinema Association on October 22 and 23 before coming to Ho Chi Minh City. I hope I can connect Vietnamese filmmakers with foreign ones.

There was a big gap between the movie and the audiences when I directed “The Quiet American.” However, there are now more and more young directors, and even audiences, who buy tickets.

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8,000-year-old human remains found in northern cave

Tools made from stone and animal bone discovered in cave Tham Choong in the northern province of Tuyen Quang, thought to have housed primitive humans some 8,000 years ago

Photo: VNA

A cave in Na Hang district in the northern province of Tuyen Quang is thought to have housed primitive humans during the Neolithic Era (7,000-8,000 years ago) after many tools made from stone and animal bone have recently been discovered.

Tuyen Quang Museum's director Quan Van Dung said that experts from the museum and the Vietnam Archaeology Institute discovered primitive human artifacts in the cave, which is known as Tham Choong Cave to the locals.

They include more than 1,000 stone objects, including tools for cutting, chopping and grinding. The tools were handmade with stones that had been retrieved from a riverbed.

The tools bore Hoa Binh cultural features (thousands of years ago and lasted till 2,000BC), he added.

At the site, archaeologists also found a narrow tool with a sharp point, which is assumed that it was likely used to stitch clothing that was made from tree bark.

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“Floating Lives” fails to win award at Pusan

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An act in the film "Bleak Night". It wins prize for the New Currents category at the 15th Pusan International Film Festival which wrapped up in South Korea on October 15, 2010

Vietnam’s “Floating Lives” film directed by Nguyen Phan Quang Binh failed to win award at the 15th Pusan International Film Festival, which wrapped up yesterday although it has touched hears of the audiences during screening there.

Two South Korean productions won the major awards at the Asia’s top film festival Friday, lauded for their richly evocative reflections of modern Korean society.

Park Jung-Bum’s "The Journals of Musan" and Yoon Sung-Hyun’s "Bleak Night" took two leading prizes for the New Currents category, each worth US$30,000 in cash prize.

Park was a double winner, also picking up the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) award for his film, which follows the problems faced by a North Korean defector when he moves to the south.

"Independent films are always very personal so I am very happy that my film was able to find an audience here in Pusan," AFP quoted him as saying.

This year’s New Currents award attracted 13 entries, from South Korea, Hong Kong, China, the Philippines, Iraq, India, Vietnam and Thailand.

PIFF’s other main award is the Flash Forward prize of $20,000 and is open to non-Asian directors.

This year it was won by Swedish director Lisa Langseth’s gripping production "Pure", which follows the tale of a young woman whose life is changed forever after she witnesses a performance of Mozart’s "Requiem".

In all, a total of 306 films will have been screened over the festival’s 10 days, with 101 of them being world premieres. A total of 182,046 people visited the event, according to organizers.

The New Currents awards were to be officially presented at the festival's closing ceremony at the Haeundae Yachting Center on Friday night.

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Daklak produces precious civet coffee

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Palm civet likes eating ripe coffee cherries at night. A large civet of 6 kilograms can eat up to 3 kg of coffee cherries and begin eliminating them one hour later

Photo: Tuoi Tre

World’s tastiest and most expensive, palm civet coffee, obtained from the droppings of the palm civet, has recently been produced for purely local consumption at civet farms throughout the central highland province of Daklak, Vietnam.

The palm civet is a mammal-sized omnivorous nocturnal raccoon-like animal. It has a sweet tooth for sweet red coffee cherries containing the coffee bean. The beans are digested whole after fermenting in the stomach hence acquiring the signature taste of palm civet coffee.

A large civet, which can weight up to 6 kg, can eat up to 3 kg of coffee cherries and begin eliminating them one hour later.

To make civet coffee, the coffee grains are extracted from the droppings of farm-raised palm civets and sun-dried. This procedure ensures the coffee grains their notorious fragrance.

Many people in Daklak raise palm civets to produce civet coffee as a personal hobby with the hope it will one day regain its former gourmet status.

Nguyen Quoc Khanh in Krong Buk commune, Krong Bach district is raising over 100 civets while Hoang Manh Cuong in the central highland city of Buon Me Thuot is raising 40.

“Our civet coffee is yet to be a commodity. Sometimes, we dry the beans for gifts,” said the owners of civet coffee farms Khanh and Cuong.

“Our civet farms are licensed by the city’s authorities and caged palm civets are successfully bred,” said Cuong.

In 2007, Cuong had his civet coffee analyzed by a laboratory at Hanoi Polytechnic University. Results showed a higher glucose content than in normal coffee (61.43 percent instead of 54.55 percent), hence sweeter.

He also indicated that around 600 kg of palm civet coffee cherries are currently stored in their storehouse while the current world supply of civet coffee is just 200 kilos/year. So, the coffee is a rarity and the most expensive in the market, according to Highland Coffee’s website.

It is rumored that thanks to its popularity palm civet coffee can be sold for as much as tens of million of Vietnam dongs per kilogram (VND10 million equals roughly US$500) while a freshly brewed cup of civet coffee can sell for around $9 to $11.

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Friendship Association issues book about Ho Chi Minh

HCM CITY — The book Russians Talk about Ho Chi Minh was introduced at a meeting organised by the Russia-Viet Nam Friendship Association in HCM City this week.

The 160-page book written in Russian is a collection of stories and memoirs of 16 Russian writers, journalists and diplomats, who met President Ho Chi Minh from the 1920s to 1967.

In Russia, the book's debut was made at a ceremony to celebrate the 120th birthday of President Ho Chi Minh and to open the Ho Chi Minh Institute in Saint Petersburg on May 19.

"We're proud and happy that today the book is introduced to Vietnamese readers in the city named after Ho Chi Minh," the President of the Russia-Viet Nam Friendship Association, Vladimir Buiyanov, said.

"In Russia, the book helps readers better understand about President Ho's works and life, " he said.

The book also includes a number of photos of the President during various periods of his life.

Hong Kong all-male choir to perform fund-raiser in City

HCM CITY — The Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir will return to HCM City for a special charity event Songs for a Brighter Future at the Caravelle Hotel today.

The choir will perform folk songs of Wales, following appearances from the Chamber Music Group of Tieng Duong Cam Company and a fashion show.

Founded in 1978 by a small group of expatriates in Hong Kong, the all-male choir has 70 amateur singers. Many of its performances are for charity fund-raising purposes.

In 2004 and 2008, the group performed in London's Royal Albert Hall, and in 2009, the choir sang from the Great Wall of China.

The choir performed for the first time in HCM City two years ago.

The charity event is organised by Sai Gon Children's Charity to raise funds for education of disadvantaged children.

The funds will be raised through both entrance ticket sales and sponsors. Tickets are VND1.5 million (US$75) per person.

Letter writing contest gets under way in Da Nang

DA NANG — A ceremony was held in the central city of Da Nang on Friday to mark the 136th World Post Day and to launch the 2011 Universal Postal Union International Letter Writing Contest.

The annual contest for children up to 15 years old aims to develop children's creative writing skills and help to strengthen friendships among nations, while giving young people an understanding of the postal sector's role in social development.

The contest has the theme, "imagine you are a tree in a forest, then write a letter explaining why it is important to protect forests" in response to the 2011 International Year of Forest.

The contest has been held in Vietnam 21 times since 1987, with eight school children winning prizes, including a first prize awarded to Ho Thi Hieu Hien from the Tay Son Secondary School in Da Nang's Hai Chau this year.

Hien received a certificate of merit and awards from the UPU, MoET, the Health Ministry and the HCMCYU. — VNS

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Chung Thuc Quyen represents Vietnam at Miss International

Chung Thuc Quyen in a bikini photo shoot - Photo: Courtesy of Elite Entertainment Group

The Department of Performing Arts under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism approved model Chung Thuc Quyen to compete at Miss International 2010 in Chengdu, China from October 21. The crowning night will take place at Sichuan Province Gymnasium in the night of November 7.

The 23-year-old is working with designers to make her wardrobe for the event. All her evening gowns will be sponsored by designer Quynh Paris and her national costumes will be designed by Thuan Viet who created her winning national costume outfit at Miss Supernational pageant in 2009.

Chung Thuc Quyen and ladies from 80 countries and territories will take part in training courses and charity activities in China.

This year the beauty contest marks its 50th anniversary. The winner will become the Ambassador of Peace and Beauty.

Miss International began in 1960 in Long Beach, California, where it was staged until 1967, before moving to Japan from 1968-1970 to commemorate the Osaka World Expo.

Part of the pageant asks entrants to participate in regional exchange activities such as the Miss International Forum, charity events and environmental campaigns.

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"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.

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