Day: March 23, 2024

HCM City: The 4th Ho Chi Minh City Youth Fest 2024 opened on March 22 evening with the message ‘ New generation – Adaptation – Connection and Sharing’.

The three-day event, organised within the framework of Youth Month to celebrate the 93rd founding anniversary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (March 26, 1931 – 2024), is expected to attract about 50,000 visitors with exchange activities in different spaces, including culture and arts, technology, sports, social skills improvement, and start-up.

Five international youth delegations from Russia, Laos, and Malaysia visited the city on this occasion to work and exchange with local youth.

Notably, festival goers can enjoy street art playgrounds, alongside a ‘Light Route’ space, exhibitions of traditional cultural products, shows of ‘ao dai’ (traditional long dress) and ancient costumes of Vietnam, and the traditional costumes of other Southeast Asian countries, and cultural exchange activities between Vietnamese youth and international ones at the ‘Youn
g Culture and International Exchanges’ space.

Meanwhile, at the ‘Reading Culture’ space, people can read and buy books at preferential prices, and meet with famous authors.

The ‘Culinary Culture’ space offers visitors an opportunity to enjoy typical dishes and learn about the culinary quintessence of regions across Vietnam. At the ‘Youth Start-up’ space, visitors can buy products from businesses run by young people or agricultural products under the ‘One Commune – One Product’ (OCOP) programme.

The “Music – Connection” space features traditional, contemporary, street, and roller skating art performances; an exchange programme for art teams; and a dance group festival titled ‘Dance for Youth’.

At the event, experts and successful young entrepreneurs are invited to share start-up knowledge and experience with young people. A start-up contest named “Startup Wheel” was launched at the event, seeking for startup ideas.

This year, the youth festival promotes new technology experience activities for young peopl
e with the “Technology Bus” space introducing many new technology tools and solutions to serve their learning and working./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: Vietnamese drama and romance movie Mai has been released in international markets since March 22.

The production by film producer and director Tran Thanh is currently available in theatres in the US.

The film will be later screened in Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, and the UK.

Mai features a story about a massage therapist named Mai, who faces misfortunes in life. After moving into an old apartment, she meets Duong, a rich young man who wants to experience a normal life. Both quickly fall in love.

The work features Phuong Anh Dao, Tuan Tran, Uyen An, and veteran actors People’s Artists Viet Anh and Ngoc Giau.

It was released in Vietnam on February 10, or the first day of the Lunar New Year.

After 41 days in theatres, Mai raked in 520 billion VND (20.9 million USD) and sold around 6.5 million tickets, becoming the highest-grossing Vietnamese film of all time.

Thanh is known for producing the high-grossing movies in Vietnam.

He rose to fame as a producer wi
th his debut movie and smash hit Bo Gia (Dad, I’m Sorry) in 2021, directed by Vu Ngoc Dang, which broke box-office records for a Vietnamese film by earning 400 billion VND (16.1 million USD).

The film was also sold to Malaysia, Singapore, the US, and Australia.

It won the Silver Lotus Award for Best Feature Film and for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Screenplay at the annual Vietnam Film Festival.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism chose the film as the Vietnamese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Category at the 2022 Oscar Awards.

Following the success of Bo Gia, Thanh released his directorial debut Nha Ba Nu (The House of No Man) in 2023.

The film broke his own record by earning 475 billion VND (19.2 million USD), selling 5.8 million tickets.

It was screened in the US, Singapore, Canada and New Zealand./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vientiane: The northern province of Son La and Laos’ Houaphanh province jointly held a tourism and cultural festival in Houaphanh on March 21-23 to promote their popular destinations and the cultures of ethnic groups in the two provinces.

The event helped connect and promote tourism development links between Son La, Houaphanh, and other Vietnamese localities. It offered a chance for the two provinces to together develop unique and attractive tourism products, create jobs, and increase income for their people, especially those in ethnic minority and border areas.

Festival goers enjoyed art exchange programmes, typical products of the two provinces, and learn about their cultural features, including folk games and cuisine.

The festival took place at a time when the Lao people are preparing to celebrate their traditional New Year Bunpimay, which is held annually in mid-April./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Tokyo: The Japan-Vietnam Support Association on March 22 organised a musical programme ‘Que Huong’ (Homeland) Programme 2024 in Higashi Osaka city, Kansai region, attracting about 1,000 Vietnamese and Japanese people.

Singers from Vietnam and Vietnamese people living in Kansai performed at the event. Notably, Vietnamese singers sang a popular Vietnamese song ‘Diem xua’ by famous composer Trinh Cong Son in Japanese and a well-known Japanese song titled ‘Sukiyaki’.

Speaking at the event, Mayor of Higashi Osaka city Noda Yoshikazu said that cultural exchange activities between Vietnam and Japan like the music programme can help tighten the friendship between the two countries. He hoped that more Vietnamese people will come to live and work in the city.

Consul General of Vietnam in Osaka Nguyen Minh Son said that the event is of great significance to the Vietnamese community in the Kansai region because few major cultural events have been held for the Vietnamese community in the region.

Son expressed his than
ks to the event organisers and sponsors for their efforts to bring a spiritual gift to Vietnamese people living far from home and create an opportunity to unite the community.

The second edition of the event is slated for January next year, making it an annual event to tighten the friendship between Vietnamese and Japanese people in the Kansai region./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Azerbaijani fighters will test their strength at the International Masters Bremen 2024 tournament to be held in Bremen, Germany on March 24.

Azerbaijan’s hopes will be pinned on 20 judokas at the competition.

Source: Azerbaijan State News Agency

Hoa Binh: Over 2,200 runners from 38 countries and territories joined the Vietnam Ultra Marathon (VUM) 2024, which was organised for the first time on March 23 in Mai Chau district, the northern province of Hoa Binh.

Athletes took part in running at five distances, from 5km, to 10km, 25km, 50km and 70km ultramarathon with a total increase in altitude of up to 3,300 metres.

Runners Cush Kathryn from Australia secured the first place in the women’s 70km run while John Ray Onifa from Philippines was the winner in the men’s category. Meanwhile, Vanja Cnops of Belgium and Iurii Shtankov from Russia came in first in the women’s and men’s 50km events, respectively.

Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Ngoc Anh won the women’s 25km event and Randolf Gonzales from the Philippines took the first place at the men’s 25km event.

Kiera Bailey from United Kingdom and Vietnam’s Nong Van Chuyen finished first in the women’s and men’s 10km events, respectively.

Bui Thi Lan and Nguyen Ngoc Anh from Vietnam were the winners in the women’s
and men’s 5km category.

According to organisers, the running track was uniquely designed, bringing participants a new feel of Mai Chau that not many people have experienced. From the romantic Mai Chau valley with villages of Thai ethnic people, the race took runners through a variety of landscapes, from dense primitive forests to terraced fields, passing many long slopes and majestic landscapes.

The event is expected to be held annually in Mai Chau district in the following years, offering Hoa Binh province an opportunity to introduce to domestic and international tourists Mai Chau’s potential and advantages that need to be tapped to promote the development of the locality./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Azerbaijani gymnasts have grabbed gold medals at the international tumbling tournament in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The team of Azerbaijani gymnasts, comprised of Huseyn Abdullayev, Aleksey Karatashov, Ughur Jafarli and Sanan Rzazada clinched the gold medal medal in the group exercises.

While in the individual program, Aleksey Karatashov and Sanan Rzazada won gold, Khatai Humbatov, Nazim Naghi silver, Huseyn Asadullayev bronze medals.

Source: Azerbaijan State News Agency