Photos displayed at a festival focusing on Asean countries and people held by Ministry of Information and Communications in 2010. — Photo coutersy of organisation board

HA NOI (VNS) — More than 1,600 works, including photos, reportages and documentaries from seven ASEAN countries are sent to a festival launched by Viet Nam.

The Photos, Reportages and Documentaries Festival is being held by the Ministry of Information and Communications to celebrate the ASEAN Economic Community establishment in December.

The works from Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines and Viet Nam were made by artists, many of them from remote and mountainous areas.

"The festival is being held to honour the contributions of individuals, agencies, and organisations in ASEAN countries to the community," said the ministry's Deputy Minister, Truong Minh Tuan, at the festival opening in Ha Noi.

Focusing on ethnics in ASEAN, Viet Nam's festival is an important milestone marking the existing images, as well as the achievements of ethnic peoples in culture, economy, society, and religious pursuits.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Tuan said that the purpose of the festival was to promote the 2020 ASEAN outlook, with the establishment of an awareness about history, heritages and cultural communities intertwined by a common regional identity.

The works reflect life, agricultural production, customs, cultural traditions, and ethnic costumes, especially portraying ethnic groups in ASEAN countries.

A judges' panel, including two Japanese representatives, will review the works from December 1 to 7 and present award to those outstanding works.

The event is a continuation of the festival on ethnic peoples in the ASEAN community held in Viet Nam in 2010, as well as the festival on protecting the environment and climate change in the ASEAN community sponsored by Viet Nam in 2013.

Finalists will be invited to the awards ceremony in December. — VNS