HCM CITY — Four movie distributors are bringing the latest Hollywood blockbusters to people in outlying provinces and districts and disadvantaged children in shelters or orphanages for free.
Called Movies for Everyone, the programme is co-ordinated by Megastar, Sai Gon Movies Media, Cinebox and Ha Noi Movie Company from now until the end of the year.
Avatar in 3D, Alice in Wonderland and How to Train your Dragon are the first flicks to be shown at public venues like cultural houses or children's houses in these districts.
During the month, the films will be shown in suburbs of big cities like HCM City, Ha Noi, Bien Hoa, Hai Phong and Da Nang where there are no cinemas and audiences have little access to big movies.
Orphaned and underprivileged children will be invited to cineplexes owned by movie distributors across the country to watch the latest animated movies like Toy Story 3 and have fun during the full-moon festival which falls at the end of September.
Viet Nam presents brews at Berlin Beer Festival
BERLIN — Viet Nam's Ha Noi Beer and Sai Gon Beer have been chosen as the festival beers of 2010 at the 14th International Berlin Beer Festival which opened on Karl Marx Boulevard in the centre of Berlin, Germany, on Friday.
That Viet Nam is selected as non-European regional representative at the beer-mile emphasised the significance of the celebration of the 35th anniversary of Viet Nam-Germany diplomatic ties as well as Viet Nam Year in Germany.
On this occasion, Vietnamese artists presented special cultural items which left a deep impression on international friends.
This is the 10th time Viet Nam has attended the festival.
The festival attracted 300 breweries from 86 countries around the world, offering around 2,000 kinds of beer on 2.2km of the street. It is considered the world's biggest beer-mile, attracting around 800,000 visitors during the three-day festival.
Ha Noi focuses on preserving traditional craft villages
HA NOI — The Ha Noi Craft Week 2010 themed Thousand Years of Quintessence, which will run until today, is expected to be a channel that promotes the traditional cultural values of craft villages and boosts the export of their products. Speaking at a seminar entitled, Ha Noi Craft Villages – Potential for Tourism Development held in Ha Noi last week, director of Ha Noi University's Tourism Culture Department Duong Van Sau said that developing tours to craft villages is one way to preserve their cultural values as it offers economic and cultural exchange opportunities for the villages.
Jewellery artisan Le Ba Trung said, the material values of the craft villages' products may no longer be suitable to modern life but their cultural values will exist forever.
Ha Noi boasts the largest number of craft villages in the country. According to the municipal Department of Industry and Trade, the city now has 1,264 craft villages, attracting nearly 1 million workers.
However, Ha Noi 's traditional craft villages have been losing because young generations are not well trained, leading to lower quality of the products. In addition, there are fewer people who want to learn and spend a lifetime with traditional crafts.
To maintain their operations, many craft villages have expanded their production to new fields in order to meet market demand. — VNS