Line-up: Cyclos in the Old Streets, a film from the Viet Nam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies, will be presented during the free film week. — File Photo

HA NOI — A series of films reflecting various modern life cultural and social issues will be screened as part of the UNESCO Culture and Development Week.

The showings will be jointly organised by the Viet Nam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies (VICAS) and UNESCO's office in the capital.

The film Night Market, directed by Cao Trung Vinh and Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa, will kick off proceedings tonight.

It was shot at the Dich Vong wholesale night market, the largest in the capital.

Directed by Truong Thi Thuy Ha, Cyclos in the Old Streets tells of cyclo riders and their daily routine of transporting anyone from tourists to couples in love.

The two films were produced within the framework of the Visual Anthropology Initiatives (VAI), structured as an institutional collaboration between the VICAS and the Centre for the Study of Vietnamese Philosophy, Culture and Society at Temple University in the US alongside financial support from the Ford Foundation, said VICAS representative Nguyen Thi Hien.

 

Schedule March 9 19.00: Night Market (33 mins) 19:30: Cyclos in the Old Streets (30 mins) March 10 19.00: Eyes Open, Section Number Eight, At Water's Edge (30 mins) March 11 19.00: Tham Hu Yzang, thiet thoong qua (Dancing Festival at Tham Ve Village) (40 mins) March 12 19.00: Because We Were Born (90 mins) March 13 19.00: In the Garden of Sounds (85 mins) March 14 19.00: Shooting with Mursi (57 mins) March 15 19.00: There Once Was an Island: Te Henua e Nnoho (80 mins)

The VAI has trained researchers, lecturers, curators and cultural managers in the theories of visual anthropology and the production of materials under the guidance of a team of local and international anthropologists and film makers with experience in visual media production and community collaboration.

"We've wanted to show our films for a long time, but not until the UNESCO Culture and Development Week, have we had a chance," Hien said.

"Together with foreign films picked up from the Margaret Mead Film Festival, all screenings will include views and opinions on diversified cultures and current social problems," she added.

The Ha Noi Goethe Institute's Documentary Filmmaking and Video Art Centre (Ha Noi Doclab) will present a film about life along the Hong (Red) River and Long Bien Bridge called Eyes Open, Section Number Eight and a Water's Edge.

Four local filmmakers worked on the film to produce profound observations on life and culture in contemporary urban Viet Nam.

The film Tham Hu Yzang, Thiet Thoong Qua (Dancing Festival at Tham Ve Village), presented by the Viet Nam Museum of Ethnology, will focus on traditional customs of the Dao group.

Because We Were Born, In the Garden of Sounds, Shooting with Mursi and There Once Was an Island: Te Henua e Nnoho were selected from the Margaret Mead Film Festival and encompassed a broad spectrum of work, from indigenous community media to experimental non-fiction.

The film week will run from today until March 15 at Ha Noi Cinematheque, 22A Hai Ba Trung Street, free of charge.

All the films will be in English or have English subtitles. Audiences can borrow headphones for Vietnamese translations. — VNS