Southern beach city to hold second kite fest    

The southern resort city of Vung Tau will organize the second International Kite Festival from March 24-29, organizers said Sunday.

Tran Tuan Viet, deputy head of the event’s organizing board, said kite troupes from 26 countries and territories will present their traditional and modern kites on the city’s beaches during the event.

The festival, titled “Legend – Millennium”, will also feature an event in which local kite builders fly a thousand kites to celebrate Hanoi’s 1,000th anniversary this year, Viet said.

Vung Tau Town held the first kite festival in March last year. Three to four hundred kites were took part in the three-day event.

Northwest ethnic groups to hold cultural festival 

Around 10 provinces will attend the 7th Culture, Sports and Tourism Festival for Ethnic Groups in the Northwestern Region to be held in the northern province of Phu Tho from April 14-17.

This year’s festival is aimed at boosting solidarity among ethnic people and promoting tourist destinations in the region.

Major festival events will take place at the Hung Kings’ Temple with incense offering ceremonies and a parade.

Competitions of sports and folk games of the ethnic people in the region and exhibitions of their culture and artworks will also be held.

"Adrift" wins prize at int’l festival in Russia 

Choi voi (Adrift), directed by Bui Thac Chuyen won the Bronze Taiga at the 8th international film festival in Khanty-Mansiysk city, Russia.

The film was singled out for the resonance of its thematic material and the performances of its actors.

A total of 112 films from 17 countries were screened during the festival Spirit of Fire.

Earlier, “Choi voi” won the Fipresci International Critics’ Prize at the 66th Venice Film Festival and the Best Sound Effects award at the 2009 Asia-Pacific Film Festival in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.

Concert commemorates Chopin’s 200th birthday

A special concert in commemoration of the 200th birthday of talented Polish composer Federich Chopin will start at 8pm on March 12 in the Hanoi Opera House.

The event, organised by the Vietnam National Conservatoire, will draw the participation of master of art Joanna Lawrynowicz from Poland.

She will perform well-known pieces of music marking the brilliant successes of musician Chopin, such as Fantaisie Impromptu Op.66 Cis moll, Valse No.2 b-minor Op.69, Grande Valse Brillante Es-dur Op.18, Polonaise g-moll, Op.posh, Polonaise B-flat, Op.posh, Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise E flat major, Op.22.

L’Oreal donates series for Women’s Day

L’Oreal Corporate Foundation has donated 150 copies of “100,000 Years of Beauty”, a five-volume series that features the human quest for beauty throughout the ages, to mark this year’s International Women’s Day.

The volumes were donated to universities of fine arts and cultural sciences, museums, libraries and cultural institutes around the country.

The books, compiled in English with 1,500 pages in all, were commissioned by L’Oreal on the occasion of its 100 th anniversary and published by France ’s Gallimard Publishing House.

They contain contributions by 300 writers from 35 countries including historians, archaeologists, artists, art critics, philosophers, psychologists and anthropologists.

PV