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.

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Huong picked to compete at Miss Earth

Miss Vietnam World 2010 Luu Thi Diem Huong in the moment of triumph at Vinpearl Land Nha Trang on August 21 - Photo: Quoc Huy

The organizing committee of the Miss Earth 2010 pageant announced on Saturday Miss Vietnam World 2010 Luu Thi Diem Huong had been chosen to represent Vietnam at the forthcoming Miss Earth 2010 competition.

The event will take place at Vinpearl Land Nha Trang on Hon Tre Island, around three kilometers off the coast of Nha Trang City, from November 4 to December 4, reports Tuoi Tre newspaper.

The 20-year-old is 171 centimeters tall and her vital statistics are 84-61-92.

Huong appeared on Saturday morning together with Miss Earth 2009 Larissa Ramos, Miss Earth 2008 Karla Henry and Miss Earth Philippines 2010 Psyche Resus to brief the press on upcoming events.

Two-day talks on the environment and environmental protection activities in Phan Thiet began on Sunday. The other events will take place in Nha Trang on October 18 and 19, Phu Yen on October 20 and 21, and HCMC on October 22.

Miss Earth 2010, the tenth edition of the pageant, is being organized by Thanh Nien newspaper, Thanh Nien Media Corp. and Carousel Production Inc. Around 90 contestants are expected to come to Vietnam for the competition.

Vietnam will be hosting the pageant in even years between 2010 and 2020.

The contest comes with the theme “Beauties For a Cause”, which means not just admiring beauty but raising awareness of environmental protection as well.

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Two win Vietnam Supermodel 2010

Pham Thi Ngoc Thach (L) and Truong Ngoc Tinh pose with the golden cups as they win the Vietnam Supermodel 2010 - Photo: Ly Vo Phu Hung

Pham Thi Ngoc Thach and Truong Ngoc Tinh defeated 40 other contestants at the final round of the Vietnam Supermodel 2010 pageant on Sunday, reports VietnamPlus.

Silver prizes went to Phan Thi Thuy Linh and Hoang Gia Ngoc while Pham Anh Thu and Le Nguyen Khoi gained bronzes.

The 12 most outstanding faces were selected for the Q & A session and conversation with MCs and audiences and the results were combined with those in the previous rounds, such as outdoor or in-studio postures, bikini performances and talent demonstrations to decide the winners of the contest.

In the Vietnam Supermodel 2009 competition last year, Pham Thi Ngoc Thach, a 19-year-old resident of the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang, was in the top 10 but she was forced to leave the competition due to underage.

This year, she demonstrated spectacular performances after hoarding much experience and success on local catwalks.

Truong Ngoc Tinh, seen as not far more remarkable than other male candidates such as Truong Nam Thanh, Nguyen Van Kien and Hoang Ngoc Gia, put a strong impression on the jury and audiences in the final round.

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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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