US directors to make film about Vietnam

Ken Burns, a famous US director, plans to cooperate with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to produce a multi-episode documentary on the Vietnamese resistant war against the US aggressors.

The 10-12 hour documentary will focus on the military and political aspects of the war, as well as the cultural, social and human effects.

It will illustrate individual experiences during the war through stories told by both American and Vietnamese people who suffered from the war.

PSB said that the documentary will depict the greatest demonstration in US history, which attracted a million citizens to protest the war.

Director Burns has produced a number of popular documentaries on the US Civil War and the World War 2. His film on the war in Vietnam is scheduled to air in 2016.

Local film projects win foreign financial backing

Two film projects by high-profile Vietnamese directors Bui Thac Chuyen and Phan Dang Di have just won awards at the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF).

HAF, which is part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, awarded Chuyen’s “Dream State” its top prize of HK$ 150,000 while Di’s “Big father, Small father and Other Stories” won the HK$ 54,000 Paris Project prize.

Di was also invited to take part in the Paris International Film Festival to be held this July to continue marketing his project to other investors.

Di plans to shoot his film in Ho Chi Minh City and several Mekong Delta provinces by the end of this year.

HAF, considered the most important film-financing platform in Asia, connects Asian filmmakers who have projects with major film financiers, producers, bankers and distributors around the world.

This year, 28 film projects were selected to take part in the three-day event which gathered 1,000 filmmakers and financiers from 35 countries and regions.

Music website does its bit for Japan victims

Music website nhacvietplus.com will organize another music show in Hanoi following the two others it held this month to raise funds for victims of the Japan earthquake and tsunami.

“The Rising Sun” on April 5 will see top singers like Thanh Lam, Quang Ha, and Khanh Linh perform for free.

There will also be an auction of various objects donated by Vietnamese artists.

Money from ticket sales and the auction will be sent to the Japanese embassy in Hanoi after the show.

The show will take place at 8 pm at the Hanoi Pupils-Students Cultural House, 37 Tran Binh Trong.

Tickets costing VND 100,000 are now available.

New wedding dress breaks record

A 99-meter-long wedding dress has just been recognized as the longest of its kind by the Vietnam Records Book, breaking the record of a 42-meter-long dress.

Made of white voiles and glossy fabric, the new record holder evokes a peacock’s tail with 999 red voiles roses stitched on its 10 layers.

It took 14 days of hard work by 20 designers and tailors from Hai Loc Joint Stock Company to sew the dress.

The former record holder, the 42-meter-long dress came from Anh Linh Wedding Services Company.

French DJ to perform in Vietnam

French disc jockey and producer Alex Millan, who has released many works around the world, will perform in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday and Hanoi two days later.

Millan is one of the top DJs of French electronic music. His initiation as a producer came in 2004 with the album “Maria Rosa” which sealed his reputation in electronic music.

His records are now very popular with DJs and he has contracts with big record labels around the world like Kompakt and Craft Music (German), DJ Center (France), and Renaissance Recordings (the UK).

In HCMC on March 31 the show will be held at the Institute for Cultural Exchange with France, 31 Thai Van Lung Street, and in Hanoi on April 2 at the French Cultural Centre, 24 Trang Tien.

His performance at the “Hanoi Sound Stuff” show a year ago was a big hit with fans of electronic music.

Activities held to promote 13th National Assembly elections

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has organised a number of activities to promote the 13th National Assembly (NA) and People’s Council elections for the 2011-2016 tenure which are slated for May this year.

A contest to create propaganda posters was lauched on September 2010 and will close with an exhibition of the winning entries in May, 2011. A mobile national festival will take place in the northern mountainous provinces in the second quarter of 2011 to mark the People’s Council elections and celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Vietnamese NA general elections.

The ministry will also publish documents on the elections including four poster samples, and CDs of propaganda posters, as well as slogans, a coat of arms and portrait of Uncle Ho.

Travelling advisory groups have worked with radio stations in election locations to provide local residents with information about the NA national elections.

As part of the activities, an exhibition entitled ‘President Ho Chi Minh and the National Assembly and People’s Council Elections’ will be organised at the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi at the end of April, followed by a display of large format propaganda posters on the NA election in the north, central and southern regions in May, when the elections will take place.

Art performances and film screenings will also be launched to promote the elections on the islands and in mountainous, remote, ethnic, and border areas.

Popular French musician Muraro to wow Hanoi fans

Famed musician Roger Muraro will perform at the Hanoi Opera House on April 23.

Muraro, one of the most popular French musicians in the world, will execute famous works by renowned song-writers like Chopin, Berlioz-Liszt and Hector Berlioz.

Born in 1959 in Lyon, Muraro started studying the saxophone at 11 and then the piano. He has won numerous international musical contests and has cooperated with a lot of famous conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Marek Janowski and Myung-Whun Chung, and he’s performed with prestigious orchestras like the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

His piano performances are highly appreciated by critics thanks to his colorful and elite music that moves people’s souls.

Tickets are available at L’Espace, 24 Trang Tien Street in Hanoi and priced at VND100,000, VND150,000 and VND200,000 per person for the concert at 1 Trang Tien Street. The performance will begin at 8 p.m.

* Hanoi Sound Stuff is using the environment as the theme of its fourth annual festival in Van Ho Exhibition Center on April 15 and 16.

‘Green Connections’ will see organizers try to raise awareness in young people the importance of protecting our planet from global warming. Fans will be entertained by musical and visual performances, with one of the highlights coming from experimental short films in different sound spaces by the Future Shorts Hanoi.

Hanoi Sound Stuff has signed up Vietnamese artists Tri Minh, Giang Noise, DJ Kruise, Luong Hue city Trinh, Trinh Minh Hien and Tung Duong as well as international crowd-pullers Silvouplay (France), Timeart Ensemble (Germany), Space 360 and Horn (Thailand) and Raysoo (Malaysia).

Last year the event attracted 500 local and international artists. Tickets are priced at VND50,000 and are available at the Goethe Institute, 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street or at the French Cultural Center, 24 Trang Tien Street, Hanoi.