Jury for Vietnam Film Festival announced | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update

Jury for Vietnam Film Festival announced

December 16, 2011 about Uncategorized

LookAtVietnam - The ongoing 17th Vietnam Film Festival in Tuy Hoa city, Phu Yen province, has revealed the jury for the feature film category.

Director Luu Trong Ninh.

Headed by famous director Luu Trong Ninh, the panel members include renowned actress Tra Giang, director Bui Thac Chuyen, screenwriter Trinh Thanh Nha, and cinematographer Dinh Anh Dung.
Director Ninh is known for war-related movies and recently “Thang Long Aspiration”, a historical drama representing Vietnam which will compete in the Oscar’s Best Foreign Film category.
Chuyen is widely known for “Adrift,” which was well-received at the 2009 Venice Film Festival.
Although the festival looks for the best of various film genres, from documentaries to animated works, its feature film category has traditionally been the center of both public anticipation and media attention.
The judges said they had watched the 17 nominated movies and arrived in Phu Yen on December 14 to start their work.
To Van Dong, a senior official at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the main organizer of the festival, said that besides 17 feature films, it has received 91 other entries, including 62 documentaries, 8 scientific documentaries, and 16 cartoons.
Each category will have its own experienced judging panel, he said, adding that 999 local artists, filmmakers, producers and other professionals would join the event, which opens on December 15 at Sao Mai Theatre.

Director Bui Thac Chuyen.

The Golden Lotus award will be given to the best sound for all categories after a two-year interruption. The Vietnam Cinematography Association will also honor the best young director under the age of 30 for the first time.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the first festival held in Hanoi in 1970. The festival’s opening and closing ceremony will be broadcast live on VTV1 and VTV2, tonight, December 15 and Saturday.
Festival highlights

Senior actress Tra Giang.

December 15: The exhibition Four Decades of Viet Nam Film Festival will take place at Dien Hong Park and April 1st Square; and opening ceremony, Sao Mai Theatre, 8pm.
December 16: Meetings between actors and fan clubs; discussion on cinema development policy at the Cendelux Hotel and outdoor movie screen at April 1st Square.
December 17: Discussion entitled Vietnamese Cinema – Situation and Measure; closing ceremony at Sao Mai Theatre, 8pm, and press conference.

One-ton-plus shark caught off central Vietnam | Look At Vietnam

One-ton-plus shark caught off central Vietnam

February 7, 2010 about News, Social

A fisherman caught a white shark weighing over one ton while he was fishing in inshore waters off the coast of Phu Yen Province in the central region on Thursday.

Sixty-year-old Nguyen Trong from Xuan Hai Commune said he found the giant fish, which was five meters long, stuck in his seine at around 6 a.m. when he was some ten meters fromthe coast.

He and his two sons then tried to catch it with all the netting they had, but as the fish was too strong, they called others for help.

The shark, whose jaw was estimated to be some 0.65 meters wide, was finally electrocuted, Trong said.

Experts said it was very rare that a shark was caught inshore in Xuan Hai Commune.

Vo Si Tuan, deputy head of the Nha Trang-based Institute of Oceanography, said the fish was identified as a Carcharodon carcharias, commonly known as great white shark, which had been involved in a significant number of fatal unprovoked attacks on humans.

The shark, listed as an endangered species by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, must have been very weak when it was trapped, as it was caught inshore by fishermen inexperienced in coping with sharks without specific devices, Tuan said.

“Not to mention that it would be impossible for the fishermen and their boat to survive (a tussle with) the shark of such a large size, if it remained strong,� he noted.

Tuan said he had suggested that the fisherman donates the shark for research purposes, but Trong wanted VND50 million (US$2,707).

In the evening the same day, Trong moved the fish to the Ham Tu Fish Port in adjacent Binh Dinh Province’s Quy Nhon Town, where it would be frozen before it was cut for sale.

Yet, local newspaper Tuoi Tre on Sunday quoted Trong’s wife, Nguyen Thi Nu, as saying that they buried the shark at Friday night, because after cutting it they couldn’t make a deal with anyone to sell it due to rumors that it was a whale.

Vietnamese fishermen, especially those from the central coast, often worship whales as God of the sea.

Experts and officials in neighboring Binh Dinh province, meanwhile, denied suspicions that the shark was the one which had attacked ten people since last July off the coast of Quy Nhon, some ten kilometers from Xuan Hai.

The shark’s jaw was much larger than the unidentified fish in Quy Nhon whose bite was 20 centimeters-plus in diameter at the largest, they said, adding that fish was reported to weigh between 20 and 30 kilograms by the victims.

The Binh Dinh Seafood Resources Exploitation and Protection Agency is still cooperating with Quy Nhon fishermen in hunting for the fish, they said.

Reported by Dinh Phu

Endangered sea turtle released in central Vietnam

about News, Social

A 120-kilogram endangered turtle was released into the sea on Thursday in the central province of Phu Yen.

The green turtle (Chelonia mydas), whose shell is 140 centimeters long and 100 centimeters broad, was caught on September 10 by fishermen in Hoa Hiep Trung Commune.

Local resident Nguyen Ngoc Son bought the turtle from the fishermen and began raising it on his own.

But he then decided to ask the Phu Yen Aquatic Resources Protection Department to release it, as the turtle was in its reproductive period

The department had previously released a 50-kilogram-plus turtle caught by local fishermen in Xuan Hai Commune.

The turtle is classified as endangered by International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources’ Red List of Threatened Species. Researchers estimate that the sea turtle’s population size has been reduced by more than 50 percent over the past decade.

Several human practices have cut down the species’ numbers, including hunting them for their flesh and their eggs, which can be served as a delicacy.

Reported by Minh Nguyet

Southeast Asia’s premier destination

ot on the heels of Thailand and Malaysia, Vietnam is positioning itself as the next big must visit destination in Southeast Asia, according to the UK’s “Independent” newspaper.

The article “Property abroad: Vietnam” on June 3 wrote about the opportunities for investment in Vietnam’s luxury beachfront resorts – a sound decision for foreigners who want to buy property in Vietnam.

The article wrote: “Vietnam's stunning coastline, historic sites and bustling cities attract around four million visitors annually. Many tourists opt to stay in luxury coastal resorts in areas such as Hoi An and Nha Trang.”

It said that Vietnam has seen unprecedented growth in tourism and investment in the past decade and investment opportunities have been expanded after the government relaxed its law on foreign property ownership.

According to the newspaper, there are a great number of foreign investors eyeing up luxury beachfront resorts. International names like Hyatt Regency, Banyan Tree and Six Senses all have projects in the planning stages, which will offer residential units alongside spas, bars and tennis courts.

The newspaper quoted Rudy van Bork of La Perla International Living, which is developing Bai Tram, a luxury beachfront resort in Phu Yen, as saying that the first units have already been reserved and have had a lot of interest from overseas buyers.

“Compared to other prime destinations, such as Bali in Indonesia, Vietnamese properties are not expensive,” he said.

CEO Brett Ashton of Savills said that Vietnam is only showing the tip of its potential. "Pricing is still significantly lower than in more mature residential resort locations such as Phuket or Bali," he said, "but coastal properties have a limited supply and prices should rise over the short to medium term." Savills is already selling luxury villas in Vietnam’s luxury resorts.

VietNamNet/VNA

Discovering charming Phu Yen

Phu Yen is naturally endowed with a nearly 200km coastline and a great many gulfs, lagoons, beaches and islets. The province also has rivers, mountains, lakes, hot spa areas and valuable tangible and intangible cultural heritage sites.
Da Bia Mountain, a tourist site in Phu Yen Province.
These are ideal conditions for the province’s tourism industry to take off. Coming to the province, visitors will have a chance to get close to nature and discover the distinctive culture of the people of Phu Yen.
With its enormous potential, Phu Yen has become the first option for many domestic and foreign investors. The province has thus far attracted many big tourism investment projects.
Since 2005, the Phu Yen province People’s Committee has licenced 35 tourism investment projects that cover more than 1,640ha and cost some VND5.1 trillion and US$5 billion, some of which have become operational.
There is the La Perla Tashun Company’s US$10 million Bai Tram Hideaway Resort in Song Cau district that covers more than 89ha.
Located on a sand hill and backed by a mountain range looking out onto the open sea, Bai Tram has an arc-shaped beach that is very romantic. By 2010 the resort is to have 167 available five-star rooms with infrastructure facilities to international standards.
When it is completed, Bai Tram Hideaway Resort will become an entertainment chain of beach facilities, hillside villas, French-style villas, entertainment and sports areas and a convention centre. The first phase of construction has been completed and some deluxe suites are being used under test conditions.
The chairman of the Phu Yen province People’s Committee, Pham Ngoc Chi, said that after Bai Tram Hideaway Resort is completed, a number of other top-of-the-line resort projects are to get underway.
In Tuy An district, in the city of Tuy Hoa, a US$4.3 billion Phu Yen hi-end tourism chain will be built that is to cover 565ha. This will be the biggest tourism project in Vietnam.
Other significant projects are ’Mini City’, a top-of the-line resort costing US$550 million that covers 300ha, the US$35 million Long Beach Resort on 8ha, the US$30 million Sao Viet Ecological Resort on over 68.4ha, US$31 million Phuong Phu Gia compound chain on 8ha, and the more than US$10 million Thuan Thao Resort on over 10ha.
In Song Cau district will be the US$5.6 million Bai Nom Ecological Resort on over 30ha, and another associated with Long Hai Resort costing US$3 million over 8.2ha.
Phu Hoa and Dong Xuan districts have attracted the US$50 million Green Resort on over 125ha and the Triem Duc hot spa site costing US$30 million over 50ha.
To effectively exploit its potential for tourism development, the Phu Yen Communist Party Committee enacted Resolution 77-KL/TU dated April 28, 2008 to confirm its determination to develop tourism. Accordingly, tourism will be turned into a spearhead economic sector with rapid and sustainable growth.
The number of visitors coming to the province is expected to increase 35 percent per year from 2006-2010 and by 2010 the province is to receive around 360,000 visitors, the number of foreign visitors increasing 53 percent per year.
On August 29, 2008, the Prime Minister enacted Decision 122/2008/QD-TTg to approve Phu Yen province’s socio-economic development master plan until 2020.
By 2020 the province will need VND238 trillion in investment capital to turn it into a major tourism and service centre in the region and the country, a new eastern gateway to ignite development in the Central Highlands and inter-regional development between the Central Highlands and central coastal areas.
Phu Yen tourism is expected to take off with the big money investment projects. If travel agencies join hands to offer combined tour packages to destinations in Phu Yen and some outlying locations like Khanh Hoa province and Ho Chi Minh City where picturesque landscapes that are associated with romantic legends exist, Phu Yen would become a magnet for visitors in the near future.
With close cooperation with other central coastal provinces and Ho Chi Minh City, Phu Yen could be part of the program ’The world heritage road over the central region’.
The province’s tourism industry will have a bright future once these big investment projects get underway.
(Source: VNE)