“Vietnam Culture Month in Lorient” leaves a good impression

“Vietnam Culture Month in Lorient” was held in France on May 5-29, providing the local people with an opportunity to learn more about Vietnamese culture through various activities.

As proposed by the L’Appel organisation, Lorient city, in co-ordination with Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, chose May as “Vietnam Culture Month”.

L’Appel President Gildas Tregulier said the event focused on healthcare activities as well as culture, economics and literature.

It was also a chance to strengthen traditional cooperative ties among localities in Vietnam and the Bretagne region, he noted.

During the month, the people of Lorient attended seminars introducing Vietnam’s history, culture and tourism potential, a photography exhibition of the country’s landscape and people, films, cultural exchanges and a cooking festival.

Most notably, 120 examples of traditional long dresses (ao dai), symbolizing the beauty of Vietnamese women in the north, central and southern regions. The ao dai, designed by well-known Trong Nguyen, Viet Lien and Minh Hanh, impressed the French people.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the Vietnam Culture Month, Vietnamese ambassador to France Le Kinh Tai expressed his gratitude towards the organising board, especially L’Appel.

He said he believes the event will open up new opportunities for Vietnam and France to strengthen ties in the future.

Dance contest picks up pace, model crashes out

Model Vu Thu Phuong and her partner Tihomir Gavrilov were the fourth couple to exit this season’s “Dancing with the Stars” reality show on Vietnam Television’s VTV3 after finishing last in the slow foxtrot and pase doble challenge last night.

Phuong’s slow foxtrot was deemed “disappointing” and involving “too many unnecessary lifting” by Chi Anh, one of the judges.

“The music and their steps did not even match,” was his harsh verdict.

The model has stood out with her flamboyant and revealing outfits but failed to convince the judges and audiences with her dancing talent.

In the last three weeks she had fallen to the bottom two of the competition, and finally went out after getting only 32 points for her latest routines.

At the other end of the scale was singer Thu Minh who did justice to her four-year dance academy training with a passionate and compelling pasa doble routine.

Inspired from the movie “The mask of Zorro”, Minh’s performance earned her 38 points with two perfect 10’s.

Second was Thanh Thuy, the actress who, in the slow foxtrot routine, played the role of a blind girl based on a moving love story.

Her 37 points only reiterated the fact that she is Minh’s biggest rival for the title. Since the first night, the two have taken turns to lead the competition.

The rest of the contestants, singers Anh Khoa, Nguyen Vu, and Thuy Tien, and actor Dai Nghia were joint third with 34 points each.

Tien and her partner Petyo Stoyanov were voted the most favorite couple for a second time by nationwide audience.

Khoa, the rock star who was only saved from elimination by audience votes last week, returned with a pase doble routine that was praised “powerful and convincing”.

The show is getting increasingly closer and seems set for a rousing finish.

Ho Chi Minh City set for French Music Festival

It’s Time“Fete de la Musique” (French Music Festival), a free music show organized around the world by the French government, will be held at the Institute of Cultural Exchange with France, or IDECAF, in Ho Chi Minh City June 17.

It will feature singers like Leu Phuong Anh and Tran Lan Nha, the band It’s Time, and dance troupe BigSouth, and bands from Thailand like Dreamers, Omega and Scooter.

Students from a French school in District 9, Marguerite Duras, will also perform at the show which welcomes all participants, amateur or professional.

Launched in 1982 by the French Ministry for Culture, “Fête de la Musique” has been organized in numerous countries, offering free music of all genres.

Dogs to take part in beauty pageant

The third annual Ho Chi Minh City “beauty contest” for dogs will be held at the Phu Tho Stadium June 3.

Competing animals will wear costumes, accessories, and make-up in the first round to show off their beauty.

The second round will see them parading their talents by running through obstacles and pipes.

The winner will get VND2 million (US$ 100).

The contest is organized by the HCMC Ornamental Creature Association – Kennel Club to provide dog breeders an opportunity to compare notes.

In related news, the ridgeback, a breed indigenous to Phu Quoc Island, will take part in the 2011 World Dog Show in Paris to be held by the Belgium-based Fédération Cynologique Internationale from July 7 to 10.

Phillip Noyce gives tips on film making in HCMC

On the occasion of the launch of his new book Backroads to Hollywood by Ingo Petzke about Noyce’s journey in Hollywood as an outsider, Australian director Phillip Noyce visited Vietnam for the forth time to promote the book, meet old cast and share tips on movie-making.

Landed in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday, Noyce joined the event Cinema Dinner and met the cast from his movie about Vietnam War, The Quiet American, in Continental Hotel, where a scene of the film was shot. He also represented Saigon Media and awarded a scholarship worth VND30 million(US$1500) to independent film maker Tran Ly Tri Tan.

On Saturday morning, Noyce held a workshop in Lotus University on the influence and importance of production and marketing team to a success or failure of a movie. He also gave his evaluations to winning works in the TVCreate competition organized by Lotus University and presented an award to a student who made his favorite poster in the design competition “Phillip Noyce and Vietnam.”

Later in the afternoon, Noyce met local film makers, shared tips on how to find capital to make a movie and his experience as a Hollywood director in Dist 10’s BHD Star Cinema.

Noyce will attend the launch of the second version of YxineFF, a film festival featuring real online short films made by local amateur and professional film directors before flying to Hanoi next week.

Born in 1950 in New South Wales, Phillip Noyce made his first short “Better to Reign in Hell” at the age of 18. The Quiet American got rave reviews and appeared in more than 20 top ten lists in 2002, including those of the US National Board of Review and the American Film Institute.

Kim Dong Publishers offer children big discounts

The Kim Dong Publishing House is giving children in Hanoi a special discount of up to 50% on books from May 28- June 1 to celebrate International Children’s Day.

Books available under the programme include thousands of newly published and reprinted titles in a various genres such as novels, comic books and reference books.

The promotion, the largest of its kind, is being held at four bookshops in Hanoi: 55 Quang Trung, 62 Ba Trieu, 126 Nam Cao and 15 Dinh Le Streets.