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3. National Conference: 'National values system, cultural values system, family values system, and Vietnamese human standards in the new era'
On November 29, 2022, the National Conference on 'National values system, cultural values system, family values system, and Vietnamese human standards in the new era' (Conference) was organized by the Central Propaganda Committee in coordination with the Central Theoretical Council, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Institute of Social Sciences. In the Conference, Comrade Nguyen Trong Nghia, Central Party Secretary and Head of the Central Propaganda Committee, attended and delivered directives.
The Conference was held in person in Hanoi and via two online venues in Ho Chi Minh City and Thua Thien Hue. The Conference was divided into two sessions. The first session took place in the morning with the theme 'Family values system and Vietnamese human standards in the new era.' The second session 'National values system, Vietnamese cultural values in the new era' was held in the afternoon of the same day.
From the results agreed upon at the Conference, Comrade Nguyen Trong Nghia emphasized 5 key solution groups to be implemented in the coming time. Accordingly, Party committees at all levels, state agencies, political and social organizations, theoretical research agencies, mass media, cultural and artistic organizations... need to further deeply and comprehensively grasp the content on building the national values system, cultural values system, family values system, and Vietnamese human standards in the endeavor to promote industrialization, modernization, and international integration in accordance with the orientation speech of Comrade General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the National Culture Conference in 2021.
4. Cham Ceramic Art recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage
On November 29, 2022 local time, at the 17th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO held in Rabat, the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco, Cham Ceramic Art was officially inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List of Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. This was one of the 56 nominations considered at this session.
According to the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Vietnam's nomination dossier met the criteria for inclusion in UNESCO's Urgent Safeguarding List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. These criteria include heritage related to the traditional handicraft of Cham hand-made pottery and the use of simple tools. The cultural bearers and practitioners are predominantly Cham women. Knowledge and skills are transmitted within families, lineages, and communities through storytelling and daily practice.
This heritage fosters exchanges and interactions among practitioners, social activities, and enhances the role of Cham women in modern society. It also relates to folk performance arts, customary practices, beliefs, and festivals, including ceremonies related to the Cham pottery-making craft. Cham Ceramic Art contributes to preserving the cultural identity of the Cham in Southeast Asia.
5. National Assembly passes Amended Cinematography Law
The Amended Cinematography Law consists of 8 chapters, 50 articles regulating film activities; rights, obligations, and responsibilities of agencies, organizations, and individuals participating in film activities; state management of cinematography. On June 15, 2022, the National Assembly passed the Cinematography Law 2022 at its 3rd session, 15th term. Accordingly, the Cinematography Law 2022 stipulates the following transitions:
- Permits for film dissemination and broadcasting decisions issued according to the provisions of the Cinematography Law 2006: Shall continue to be implemented according to the provisions in the dissemination permit and broadcasting decision.
- Permits for cooperation, joint ventures in film production, and provision of film production services to foreign organizations and individuals issued according to the provisions of the Cinematography Law 2006: Shall remain valid until the expiration date stated in the permit.
- Films that have been granted dissemination permits or broadcasting decisions but have not carried out warnings and displayed film classification levels to viewers as prescribed by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism: Within 01 year from January 01, 2023, must supplement warnings and display film classification levels to viewers in case of continued dissemination.
The Cinematography Law 2022 shall enter into force on January 01, 2023, replacing the Cinematography Law 2006 and the amended Cinematography Law 2009.
6. 11th International Art Photography Exhibition
With 4 themes: Freedom for color photos, Freedom for monochrome photos, Tourism, and Portraits, the 11th International Art Photography Exhibition in Vietnam attracted 16,458 artworks from 1,260 participating authors. On the morning of June 7, 2022, the Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists (VAPA) organized the Award Ceremony and opened the 11th International Art Photography Exhibition in Vietnam in 2021 (VN-21).
Four Jury Boards with high reputation and titles both in Vietnam and internationally conducted evaluations independently via online methods. To meet the international photography exchange demand while ensuring VAPA's criteria, the Jury Boards selected the Accept photo set based on 2 criteria. Initially, the Accept photo set consisted of 2,090 artworks evaluated according to international standards (applied to 3 organizations: FIAP, PSA, and ISF); subsequently, this photo set was further reviewed based on VAPA's criteria to select the 860 photos for VAPA exhibition (marked with VAPA's red points), including 96 awards for all 4 systems: VAPA, FIAP, PSA, and ISF. Despite the flexibility of adding photos to the Accept set according to the criteria of international photography organizations, the ratio of artworks selected for the 'VN-21' Accept round compared to other international competitions remains stringent (only 12.67% according to international standards and 5.2% according to VAPA's criteria). This truly poses an increasingly attractive challenge to photographers at home and abroad. At the same time, the selected photo set for exhibition at 'VN-21' becomes a high-quality, diverse, and appealing visual feast, offering various unique creative styles for the audience to enjoy. It is a vivid and colorful picture of solidarity and friendship among photographers from 45 participating countries and territories.
7. 6th Hanoi International Film Festival
On November 12th, at the Vietnam - Soviet Cultural Friendship Palace (Hanoi), the 6th Hanoi International Film Festival, directed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in coordination with the Hanoi People's Committee, concluded and awarded prizes to outstanding films and filmmakers.
The 6th Hanoi International Film Festival has become a special event amidst the international and Vietnamese film industry's recovery after over 2 years of heavy impact from the Covid-19 pandemic. The film festival has affirmed its prestige and brand since its establishment in 2010, on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi. This event attracted 800 delegates from Vietnam and abroad, featuring free screenings of 123 films from 56 countries and territories, along with numerous workshop activities, exhibitions, film production project markets, outdoor film screenings, and exchanges with film crew artists.
Concluding the successful film festival, the Organizing Committee awarded deserving prizes to outstanding films and filmmakers. Notably, the Hanoi People's Committee presented a Special Commendation Certificate to director, People's Artist Dang Nhat Minh for the film 'Jasmine' in recognition of the film's contribution to the city's economic, social, defense, and security development, as well as its participation in the 6th Hanoi International Film Festival.
8. Successful Negotiation of the Repatriation of the 'Imperial Seal Treasure'
On October 19, 2022, information about the auction of 329 artifacts was posted on the website of Millon Auction House in Paris, France. Among this list is the appearance of the 'Imperial Seal Treasure' from the Minh Mang dynasty (1820-1841) of the Nguyen family, cast in 1823 (lot number 101). This auction took place at 11:00 on October 31, 2022 (Paris time).
Recognizing the significance, importance, and historical, political, cultural, and artistic values of the 'Imperial Seal Treasure,' the Government, along with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, closely coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Public Security, and relevant agencies and organizations to search for and implement solutions to repatriate this seal back to its homeland.
With a plan to pass through cultural diplomacy, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has formulated a repatriation plan for the 'Imperial Seal Treasure' and solicited opinions from relevant ministries, while submitting it to the Prime Minister for approval and organizing an inter-agency task force. This task force will conduct direct negotiations and discussions with Millon Auction House in France, and subsequently proceed with the next steps in the repatriation process of the seal.
9. Documentation Heritage: 'Ngũ Hành Sơn Stone Engravings' and 'Trường Lưu Village Manuscript System, Hà Tĩnh (1689-1943)' were inscribed on the Asia-Pacific Region Documentary Heritage List.
On November 26, at the 9th Session held in Andong City (South Korea), the UNESCO Memory of the World Committee for Asia-Pacific (MOWCAP) recognized two submissions as Documentary Heritage of the Asia-Pacific Region: 'Ngũ Hành Sơn Stone Engravings in Da Nang' and 'Hán Nôm Manuscripts of Trường Lưu Village, Hà Tĩnh (1689-1943).' The stone engravings in Ngũ Hành Sơn, Da Nang, represent a precious treasure of documentary heritage, inscribed in both Chinese characters and Nom script, comprising a total of 78 stone engraving documents (including 76 in Chinese characters and 2 in Nom script).
The documents contain diverse content and unique forms, including imperial decrees, inscriptions, essays, poems, epitaphs, honorary titles, couplets, etc., written by Nguyen dynasty emperors, court officials, monks, and authors from different generations, who once visited and left inscriptions on the cliffs and in caves at Ngũ Hành Sơn from the 17th century to the 1960s. The stone engravings are extremely valuable, accurate, and distinctive documents, reflecting the economic, cultural, and social integration between Japan, China, and Vietnam in Vietnam from the 17th to the 19th century.
The stone engravings display diversity in form and expression style, serving as unique and impressive works on stone, utilizing various writing styles such as Seal Script, Clerical Script, Cursive Script, Running Script, and Grass Script. The stone engravings at Ngũ Hành Sơn represent the only original documents that Emperor Minh Mang wrote and engraved on mountain cliffs and in caves.
10. Opening of the event 'Art and Creativity Path'
On the afternoon of December 28, the event 'Art and Creativity Path' officially kicked off at the An Hoi Sculpture Garden, located in Hoi An City. The highlight of the event is the creative camp, where artisans create artistic works from recycled materials such as wood, bamboo roots, clay, bamboo paintings, fabric, etc. These artworks not only possess stunning beauty but also high artistic value and unique creativity.
In addition to the creative camp, the decoration space here is also designed in a unique style, environmentally friendly, and located right by the Hoai River - a unique sightseeing and photo spot for tourists. The event is accompanied by various activities such as the photo exhibition 'Hoi An - Heritage and Creativity', Hoi street food space, street music, folk games, and experiential activities such as wood carving, bamboo root carving, calligraphy, etc. This is one of the activities to welcome the new year 2023 and at the same time holds significant meaning for Hoi An as it intensifies efforts to participate in UNESCO's Creative Cities Network, contributing to enhancing intrinsic values and fostering creative ideas in the community. This will gradually strengthen Hoi An's position in the creative industry field. The event will take place from December 28, 2022, to January 8, 2023, and the artworks participating in the creative camp will be exhibited until February 6, 2023.
11. Hue Festival 2022
To stimulate tourism demand, the Hue Festival 2022 features a variety of outstanding activities, notably 50 cultural events organized continuously throughout the year. Instead of being concentrated in a short period, the Hue Festival 2022 will be held in 4 seasons to string together the distinctive cultural and artistic events of the ancient capital region.
The Hue Festival 2022 will restructure and redistribute cultural and artistic activities, folk festivals, royal court ceremonies, and will also introduce new festivals of appropriate quality and scale, reflecting the potential and special cultural characteristics of the ancient capital region. The goal is to meet the balanced needs of visitors for exploration and enjoyment, not concentrated on a specific period but evenly distributed throughout the year.
Within the framework of the Hue Festival 2022, there are the Spring Festival 'Harmony of Spring Colors' (from January to March); the Summer Festival - Hue Festival 'Cultural Heritage with Integration and Development' (from April to June), the Autumn Festival 'Enchanting Autumn' (from July to September), the Festival 'Melodies of Winter' (from October to December).
