Art & Entertainment News 29/8 Peter Rabbit books translated into Vietnamese   The Kim Dong Publishing House, a publisher of children's books, has released a book collection featuring the world's most famous rabbit, Peter Rabbit. A fictional anthropomorphic character in various children's stories written by English author and illustrator Beatrix Potter, Peter Rabbit first appeared in The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1902 and then in five more books between 1904 and 1912. The newly-released Vietnamese translation, A Very Naughty Rabbit: Tales of Mayhem and Mischief, has 11 of the 23 classic Peter Rabbit stories written by Potter. Each tale is followed by humorous letters written by the author in the style of the characters. The publishing house has also released The Christmas Tale of Peter Rabbit and The Further Tale of Peter Rabbit by Oscar-winning screenwriter and actress Emma Thompson. While The Further Tale of Peter Rabbit (2012) featured in the New York Times Bestseller list twice, The Christmas Tale of Peter Rabbit (2013) is heart-warming, funny and exciting. Khanh Ly organisers to pay VND250 million in copyright fees The organiser of the two liveshows of overseas singer Khanh Ly  has agreed to pay music copyright fees of VND250 million after ministerial authorities got involved. After several controversies over music copyright fees between Khanh Ly's show organiser and the Vietnam Centre for Protection of Music Copyright (VCPMC), the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism requested that the ministry’s Inspectorate act as an arbitrator. Vu Xuanh Thanh, the ministry’s chief inspector, said that the two sides have agreed  on terms which would require the shows' organisers to pay a combined VND275 million in copyright fees and taxes. “After long and tense negotiations, the organisers agreed to pay VND250 million copyright fees for Khanh Ly’s live-shows organised in Hanoi and Danang Cities in August,” Thanh confirmed. According to him, the two sides have reached an agreement that the fees would be paid within a week from the day the agreement was signed, August 27. He explained that the fee is in accordance with the government decision on royalties and is based on mutual agreement. “We’ve already set up a legal framework on copyright, but the final decision should also be made based on the agreement of the concerned parties. The ministry would propose taking the case to the court if an agreement isn't reached," he said. The Dong Dao Company organised two Khanh Ly’s shows in Hanoi and Danang earlier this month, but did not pay copyright fees for the use of Trinh Cong Son songs. The situation prompted the VCPMC’s representative, musician Pho Duc Phuong, to go to Danang and negotiate. The two sides agreed on a copyright fees of VND170 million for the show in Hanoi. The show’s organiser promised to pay the fee by August 4, but they did not do so, causing a delay to another show scheduled in Binh Duong Province. Mountain festival features foreign performers Several foreign art troupes will join an annual street festival held in the northern mountainous province of Tuyen Quang next week. During the three-day event, from September 5 to 9, performers from South Korea, Laos, Belarus and China, together with local artists, will present a colourful repertoire. As the event will coincide with the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival - which falls on September 8 this year - the festival will include a lantern parade featuring nearly 100 big-size lanterns. Created by local artisans, the lanterns are inspired by Vietnamese folk tales. The event will also feature a gastronomy festival presenting Tuyen Quang's specialities. The festival will also host the finale of the Miss Tuyen Quang 2014 pageant, local sport competitions and cultural exchanges. The festival aims to introduce and promote the cultural values of the ethnic groups living in Tuyen Quang as well as the historical value of the province's Tan Trao National Relic. The site was once President Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary base against the French. Swedish chef serves bun cha in style The Embassy of Sweden in Ha Noi will host a special lunch today prepared by famous Swedish chef Tareq Taylor. With more than 25 years of experience as a master chef, Taylor is a frequent guest on Swedish television, demonstrating his culinary skills. At the Ha Noi lunch, the chef will prepare a Swedish version of bun cha (grilled pork served with fresh noodles), the most popular food in Ha Noi. Two hundred portions will be served for a very reasonable VND25,000 each. Lunch tables will be set up outside the embassy, where the pavements will turn into a street cafe. The special lunch [200 servings, first come - first served] will be served from 11.30am to 1.30pm. Positive Mass bike ride planned in capital All people are invited to participate in the monthly night-time bike ride Dap Cho Suong (Positive Mass) that will start at 8pm tomorrow. The ride is the Ha Noi version of the Critical Mass bike rides that have spread to 300 cities in the world. The free bike rides will start at St Joseph's Cathedral on Nha Tho Street. Photo exhibition highlights Tri An Lake Photographer Le Nguyen Duy Phuong will present his work, inspired by the magical landscape of Tri An Lake in the southern Dong Nai province, in an exhibition in L'Espace. Entry to the exhibition is free. It will run from September 4 till the end of the month. Entitled Cuon Theo Dong Nuoc (Gone with the Flow), the exhibition is the result of the several visits Phuong made to the lake, where the scenery mesmerised him. Phuong met the local people whose life is closely linked to the lake. Once he integrated with the local life, he discovered many untold stories about the people that he then translated into the language of photography. Toy ships drop anchor in Bookworm Bookworm is hosting an exhibition of tin toys made of scrap metal which are usually sold on streets during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Fewer people living in Ha Noi's suburban craft villages are making the toys now, thanks to increasing urbanisation. Only one family is keeping up their tradition, and has even turned toy-making into a profitable business. This year, tin ships that can chuff along under their own steam are on sale in Ha Noi. A limited edition of the top-of-the-line models can be bought at Bookworm. Saigon Art Retreats holds watercolor workshop in city There is a watercolor postcard workshop held by Saigon Art Retreats this Saturday at Cat Dang Café. Beginners to advanced artists are welcome as all materials and instructions are provided. Saigon Art Retreats is an art society formed in 2012 by artist Lindsay Erdman and artist Todd Wall, who are currently living in Saigon. The society is a way to encourage people to learn about art and to provide a common creative experience for locals, expatriates and visitors in Saigon. With a strong passion for art and painting, the two hope to meet people who share the same interests via Saigon Art Retreats’ workshops. This time, Saigon Art Retreats’ workshop is named “From Saigon, with Love”. The workshop will focus on teaching guests the art form of watercolor and ink painting. Guests will have a chance to create four watercolor postcards featuring their favorite images of culture and life of this city. Artist Lindsay Erdman will be available to comment on guests’ art pieces. The workshop is held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m at Cat Dang Café, a garden café located at 905 Tran Hung Dao Street in District 5, HCMC. Quartet Faycal Salhi to perform at Idecaf The French Institute in Vietnam and Idecaf will hold a concert of Quartet Faycal Salhi on Idecaf’s stage at 8p.m on September 12. At the concert, audiences will have the chance to enjoy the beautiful sound of the famous Middle Eastern instrument Oud played by Faycal Salhi himself. Faycal Salhi, the band’s founder, and his friends created a different kind of music by combining the traditional Oud with the modern Western musical instruments such as saxophone and contrabass to freshen the modern Jazz with a new flavor of Arab-Andalusian rural melodies. As a composer and Oud player, Faycal Salhi has successfully performed his unique music worldwide. He was born and raised in Algeria, then moved to France at the age of 11. When Faycal Salhi was 18, he started to learn music on his own and used to play guitar before switching to Oud and oriental flute. After his two first albums “Sur les routes de l’Orient” (On the Routes of the Orient) and “Timgad” (released by Dam Music), Faycal Salhi recorded the album Elwène with his quartet and published it on March 2011. The album is regarded as an intimate tourist guidebook from East to West regardless of any physical barriers. In addition, Faycal Salhi is also the music composer of the movie “Maison Jaune” (The Yellow House), winning several awards at Mostra, Valencia and the Kerala film festival. For any further information, please visit the website: www.fsalhi.info. Entrance tickets are priced at VND160,000 each (50% discount for students) Tickets are on sale at the Idecaf, located at 28 Le Thanh Ton in HCMC’s District 1. Free film screening at Idecaf on Saturday *The movie Les Contes de la Nuit (a late night fairy tale) by director Michel Ocelot will be screened for free at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Idecaf in HCMC’s District 1. The film tells a story about friendship, love as well as the death. There are a girl, a boy and an old engineer who meet every night at a small and oblivious cinema to paint their face and play roles in their fairy tales. The movie has Vietnamese subtitle. Tickets which are priced at VND30,000 per person can be purchased at 28 Le Thanh Ton Street in HCMC’s District 1. Free entrance for Idecaf’s students and teachers. Local film sent to Venice Vietnamese movie Dap canh giua khong trung (Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere) has been chosen for screening at the 71st Venice Film International Festival in Italy from on August 27 to September 6. “Joining the international festival is always a dream of filmmakers so we are so honored to present the country to promote local cinematography,” director Nguyen Hoang Diep said in a statement, adding that the film will be an inspiration for local filmmakers to take local films abroad. The movie will be screened for journalists on September 1 and for the public on September 2 and 3 at the festival. The director and two main casts Tran Bao Son and Nguyen Thuy Anh will attend the event for a press conference with international journalists and film critics on September 2. The film will compete with seven other movies from France, Italy, China, Palestine, Perisa and Germany for the Lion of The Future award at the festival’s International Critics’ Week.  The International Film Critics’ Week is aimed to honor independent movies as well as new directors from many places around the world. Films in this category will be voted by the public. The film will also join the ‘Luigi De Laurentiis’ Award worth US$100,000 and public choice award RaroVideo worth 5,000 euro. The 98-minute movie has been made in five years and has got sponsorship from the World Cinema Fund of Berlin Film Festival, Denmark-Vietnam Cultural Development and Exchange Fund (CDEF), and the World Cinema Support Cannes Film Festival among others. Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere tells a story about a young woman named Huyen, who is desperately trying to find money for an abortion. Ironically, the only man who is willing to give money to her has a fetish for pregnant women. This movie has had some disgraceful scenes and rude dialogues removed before it is sent to Venice as they are deemed as culturally and morally unacceptable by the Vietnam Department of Cinema’s council of movie assessment. Previously, two other Vietnamese films Khi Toi 20 (When I’m 20) by Phan Dang Di and Choi Voi (Adrift ) by Bui Thac Chuyen were screened at the Venice Film Festival’s Short Film section in 2008 and Orizzonti in 2009. Gia Lai Province receives antiques of Dong Son culture The UNESCO Center for Antiques Preservation and Research of Vietnam has donated 110 antiques of Dong Son culture to the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai at their “Gia Lai antiques” exhibition’s opening last Saturday, Vietnam Plus reports. Those 110 Dong Son culture’s precious artifacts include working utensils, fishing tools, and objects used in ancient daily life such as bronze bowls, ceramic jars, and bronze gongs dating back to 2,000- 2,300 years ago. The highlight of the UNESCO center’s contribution to the exhibition is the map of Vietnam made of 250 ancient coins dating back to the 17th -18th century, completed by the center’s members. The exhibition features about 200 artifacts and antiques, divided into two sections. One displays Dong Son culture’s artifacts donated by the UNESCO Center and the other exhibits “Gia Lai antiques” collected by members of the Gia Lai club of antiquarians. The exhibition will open until next Saturday. Moc Chau cultural tourism festival to open Moc Chau district People’s Committee, in Son La province will host the 2014 Culture – Tourism Festival from August 31 to September 2. A series of activities, including folk games, dances and traditional performances of local people in Moc Chau district, is scheduled to be held during the festival. The festival will offer visitors a chance to discover the culture, cuisine, customs, handicraft and agricultural products of ethnic minority groups in the province through cultural camps. On the occasion, some tourism destinations, such as Doi cave, Dai Yem waterfall, Ang mountain village’s forest and Mooc Ly military post, built by the French, are also ready to welcome festival visitors. The event aims to promote tourism and the beautiful landscape, as well as the cultural identity, of Son La province and the northwest region. Located in the valley of the Da and Ma rivers, about 300km north-west of Ha Noi, the northeastern province has a picturesque landscape created by mountain ranges, primeval forests and a valley. The Moc Chau Plateau in Son La is famous for its cool climate, as well as its vast tea and flower farms. There are also 50,000 cattle in the area. Eco-tourism and farm tourism seem to be ideal models for the plateau, as the number of visitors increases every year. Rich culture created by different ethnic groups, including Thai, Muong, Mong, Dao, Kho Mu, Tay and La Ha, also contributes to cultural and community tourism in Son La. Bookworm is at 44 Chau Long Street. Filipino band jams at Hard Rock Cafe Hard Rock Cafe HCM City will present the six-member PowerJam Live Band from the Philippines from Tuesday to Sunday, beginning on September 2. The group, which won "The Battle of the Band" in the Philippines in 1996 and was the first runner up of a songwriting contest for MTV Asia, has toured throughout Asia, including Singapore, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Thailand and Viet Nam. Its versatile repertoire includes dance hit numbers, classic rock tunes, contemporary pop music, rhythm and blues, funk, soul, popular Latino music, acid jazz and ballads. Formed in 1996 in Manila, the band includes Patrick Querubin (band leader/drummer), Joey Cuenca (lead guitarist), Denice Camille P. Prado (lead vocalist), Jesmar Sioteco Bognot (lead vocalist), Reymund Carlos Mabbayad (bass guitarist) and Jay-o Orduda (keyboardist). The band's sets begin at 8:30pm on weekdays and 9pm on the weekend. The cafe is at 39 Le Duan Street in District 1. Entrance is free. Four French films screened at IDECAF The Institute of Cultural Exchange with France (IDECAF) will present four movies during its monthly film screening in September. The films are Bouble and Bill, Comme un Lion (Like a Lion), La Strategie De La Poussette (The Stroller Strategy), and Jappeloup. They will be screened with Vietnamese subtitles at 3pm every Saturday. The institute is at 28 Le Thanh Ton Street in District 1. Tickets are VND30,000. Water puppetry to make a splash in Japan Vietnamese puppeteers will take the stage for the first time at the Vietnam Festival in Japan which will be held in Tokyo on September 13-14 following the success of the previous year. The traditional puppetry art, the only in the world, is associated with Vietnam ’s wet rice civilisation, reflecting the pure Vietnamese soul through music, costumes, rituals and farm work. Themed “Hand in Hand”, the festival will house 98 pavilions showcasing Vietnamese cuisine and handicraft items. Visitors will also have a chance to enjoy music performances and cultural exchanges. The festival is always a popular event for Japanese citizens and Vietnamese people living in Japan , said Veteran Senator Matsuda Iwao, co-head of the organising board. According to Matsuda Iwao, the Vietnam festivals have contributed to close links between the government and people of both countries. The festival, the seventh of its kind, is expected to draw 150,000 visitors, 20,000 higher than the last year’s event.- Golden Spoon cooking contest starts in Red River Delta Seven teams of chefs are competing in the qualifying round for the Red River Delta of the Chiec Thia Vang 2014 (Golden Spoon) contest being held on August 27 in the northern province of Quang Ninh. The cooking contest, the second of its kind is an opportunity for the players to show off their cooking talents, to honour the traditional dishes and specialities of Vietnam, as well as to promote tourism, Vu Huy Sang, deputy head of the organising board, said. The qualifying round is being held in ten difference locations, starting in Can Tho on May 21 then moving on to Kien Giang, Binh Duong, Khanh Hoa, Lam Dong, Da Nang, Quang Ninh, Lao Cai, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The semi-final round is slated to be held in Hanoi and HCM City, while the final is scheduled to take place in December in the southern province of Binh Duong. Cash prizes and awards worth 3 billion VND (142,850 USD) are up for grabs, with the champion team to get 1 billion VND (47,600 USD). The first Golden Spoon contest attracted the participation of a total of 140 teams of chefs working in restaurants around Vietnam. Fifteen outstanding teams comprising three chefs each competed in the final round in January and a team from Intercontinental Da Nang Sun Peninsula Resort won first prize. The contest is supported by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry who are seeking to build a Vietnam "cuisine map".- Ice Bucket Challenge reaches Vietnam Many Vietnamese, including celebrities, have been taking on the Ice Bucket Challenge to help raise awareness and funds to fight amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease. The Ice Bucket Challenge started in 2013 and went viral within a year. The origin of the challenge is unclear, but requires those challenged to dump cold water on their heads. Participants regularly have sponsors who donate and, in turn, challenge three others to do the same. Many well-known figures in Vietnam, such as Ho Ngoc Ha and Dam Vinh Hung, and even younger stars like Diem My and Ho Vinh Khoa have accepted the challenge. After filming of the series X-Factor Vietnam, Ho Ngoc Ha and Dam Vinh Hung both accepted to have buckets of ice water poured over them on-set. Singer Dinh Huong surprised the public when she challenged three others, including songwriter Phuong Uyen, singer Ho Quynh Huong and then the Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang. Singer Minh Quan, however, has stated that he thinks the Ice Bucket Challenge is no longer a fundraising phenomenon, but simply a game. He said, "Accidents have happened. No one really contributes to the fund, they only dump the water on their heads and post the videos on Youtube." When asked about this phenomenon, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho Anh Tuan said, "It's great if it's for charity. But people, especially elderly people, should keep their own health in mind before taking on this challenge. There are a lot of ways to do charity work that does not involve pouring freezing water on your head." Traditional rite of passage and singing of Dao people acknowledged Cap Sac’ ceremony, a traditional rite of passage, and ‘Pao Dung’ folk singing of Dao ethnic people in Tuyen Quang province have been named as national intangible cultural heritages. The Cap Sac ceremony is one of the most unique features of the Dao people’s cultural and spiritual life. To every Dao man, it is an indispensable proceeding, as it is a step towards winning community recognition of being a man. He is then allowed to join the community’s major activities. The ceremony is usually held annually in the first, eleventh or twelfth month. During the rite of passage, young Dao men are educated about their traditional moral principles through the teachings of their ancestors. Pao Dung is a folklore melody of Dao people. The singing holds significant value in their life, as the lyrics remind people of their origin and homeland. The songs also touch upon relationships in families, love and community. Pao Dung tunes are varied among different Dao communities in various districts in Tuyen Quang province. The two heritages have increased the number of recognised national intangible cultural heritages in Tuyen Quang province into four, together with Then folk singing and Long Tong (Going to the Field) festival. Photo exhibition highlights Vietnam-Cuba ties The Vietnamese embassy in Cuba in collaboration with the Asia House Museum on August 27 kicked off a photo exhibition hailing the warm friendship between Vietnam and Cuba at differing periods of time. The event is part of activities marking the 69th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day (September 2) of Vietnam. At the ceremony, Ambassador Duong Minh noted the significance of the exhibition, saying it has helped Cuban people learn more about the Vietnamese struggle for national independence, construction and development, especially the nation’s achievements during the Doi Moi (Renewal) process. Through the event, Cuban residents can learn more about friendship and solidarity between the two nations, especially the photos of Cuban President Fidel Castro when he went to newly-liberated Quang Tri province in 1973 to encourage the fighting spirit of Vietnamese soldiers. The diplomat expressed his belief that the ongoing socio-economic update which has been carried out by the Cuban Party, Government and people, will reap a greater success in the interests of Cuban people towards a prosperous and wealthy socialist nation. For his part, former Cuban Ambassador to Vietnam Aise Sotolongo spoke highly of the resilient tradition of Vietnamese people since the success of the August 1945 Revolution under the leadership of late President Ho Chi Minh. He emphasised that the event will help Cuban people not only understand the glorious period but also discover more about Vietnam’s important achievements in national construction and development.  Source: VNS/VNA/VOV/SGT/Dantri/ND