Actress Ngô Thanh Vân, Ambassador of Scar of Life or Vết sẹo cuộc đời, Raises $144,800

Commentary: It is always commendable that the fortunate people want to give back to society and to the less fortunate. Ms. Ngô Thanh Vân from Norway has made success in the Vietnamese Showbiz. She has dedicated her interest in the cause of congenital cardiovascular diseases. Hat off to her time and efforts and to others who contribute their time and financial resource!



On May 15, “Scar of Life 4 – The dreams,” an event to raise money for the Heartbeat Vietnam Fund to help children with cardiovascular diseases, raised US$144,800 from an auction and donations from participants.

ngo thanh van 2 jpg 1368662983 1368663682 500x0 Actress Ngô Thanh Vân, Ambassador of Scar of Life or Vết sẹo cuộc đời, Raises $144,800

 

The money is expected to pay for heart surgeries for 144 children.

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Vietnamese Celebrities at Cannes Film Festival 2013

Commentary: A small delegation of Vietnamese celebrities is invited to attend Cannes Film Festival. Only a few Vietnamese movies are presented.

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“Lua Phat” (Once upon a time in Vietnam), which is made only to be screened at the Cannes, and “Duong dua” (Race tracks) have made their way to the 2013  Cannes Festival’s Marche du Film (Market of Films), the world’s largest film fest, which runs from May 15 to 26.

 

According to BHD, a local film distributor, a five-minute introduction on “Lua Phat” and its two-minute trailer were shown at the fest on May 17.

 

“Lua Phat”, Vietnam’s first fantasy action film directed by Vietnamese-American director Dustin Nguyen, attracted considerable attention from foreign filmmakers and distributors, almost 300 experts from international film festivals as well as filmbiz newspapers including the “Film Biz Asia”, “Movie Scope”, and ‘Hollywood Reporter”.

 

“If I’m an audience member, I certainly will give it a standing ovation,” said Daniel Guando, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions of world-famed Weistein Group, one of the US’ largest film distributors.

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Why Gay Marriage May Come Sooner In Vietnam?

Commentary: It is estimated that there are 1.6 million LGBT people in a country of 90 million people, about 1.7% of the population. Despite the poor record on human rights regime, Vietnamese officials are considering openly about  recognition of gay marriage.

There are several reasons to this openness to the LGBT community by the regime because it does not oppose directly to the communist rule and the regime can claim the advancement on the human rights even though it systematically crackdowns on any dissent.

In terms of the societal perspective, Vietnamese society does not have a state religion and is not religious. Vietnamese culture is deeply ingrained in Buddhism and Taoism, which are not actually religions and both preach about the reincarnation. Reincarnation can take place in either form of gender or mixed gender from one life to the next life. Therefore, there is no religious basis to be against homosexuality and transgender.

vietnam gay banner Why Gay Marriage May Come Sooner In Vietnam?

Participants carry a rainbow flag while attending Vietnam’s first-ever gay pride parade in Hanoi on August 5, 2012. (Nguyen Huy Kham/Reuters)

gay marriage Why Gay Marriage May Come Sooner In Vietnam?

Unofficial gay wedding celebration.

As the LGBT community is small and thus still a rare phenomenon, stigma may take sometimes to dissipate. Thanks to the internet and the fight for LGBT rights in other countries, open acceptance of LGBT in Vietnam may come sooner than other countries.  Continue reading

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Antique Buddhist Artifacts On Display

With approximately 300 artifacts related to Buddhism through the Ly – Tran – Le – Nguyen dynasties, the exhibition of Buddhism cultural heritage open on May 17 at Xa Loi Temple, 39 Ba Huyen Thanh Quan Street, District 3, HCM City.

 

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The exhibition is held to bring heritage closer to the masses, enabling people to see Buddhism antiques. Photo: Bronze Buddha statue from the fourteenth century. Continue reading

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Vietnam-made drones succcessfully performing pilot trials

Vietnam-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) made by the Spacial Techonology Institute under the Vietnam Science and Technology Academy were put on pilot operations on May 18th to serve the Scientific and Technological Programs to support socio-economic development in the Central Highlands in the 2011-2015 period.

At 9 am on May 18th, 2 UAVs numbered AV.UAV.S1 and AV.UAV.S2 took off from Camly airport, Da Lat city, Lam Dong, carrying functional cameras, spectrometers and other devices to take shots and measure spectra of natural objects on the ground in order to standardize figures of picture data collected from the newly-launched satellite.

The unmanned aircraft AV.UAV S2 carrying cameras, spectrometers and other necessary devices took off from the Cam Ly military air port at 9.05 am on the day.

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Plane VN1 Vietnam made drones succcessfully performing pilot trials

 

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