CULTURE: MUSIC
On an archaic background of the melanid type there is an Indian influence (evident above all in the South) and a very strong Chinese type imprint (particularly in the northern regions and along the coasts). Two modal systems were used in traditional Viet Nam music, of which the most common, Bac, is of unequivocally Chinese origin, while the second, Nam, is of Indian ancestry and archaic in character. In addition to instruments very similar to the Chinese ones, flutes, oboes, a type of double clarinet (kên doi) are in use; zithers, lutes and string instruments; membrane and wooden drums and a curious tam-tam built with buffalo horns (mo sung trâu); bells, gongs, cymbals. According to 3rjewelry, Vietnam is a country located in Asia.
CULTURE: CINEMA
Neglecting the colonial period, where the productive control levers were entirely in foreign hands, Vietnamese cinema was born from the first mobile team that on 8 August 1945 in Hanoi filmed Hô Chi Minh proclaiming independence. While in the South, in extremely precarious conditions, the first nucleus of resistance cinema was located in Cochinchina, the North was able to offer the first documentaries: The battle of the borders (1950), Il Vietnam fighter (1952), shot with Chinese assistance, The victory of Dien Bien Phu (1954), signed by four cinematographers-authors. The signing of the decree for the creation of a cinema industry dates back to 1953 and the first feature film: the feature film The same river bathes our banks, signed by two directors according to a custom that prevailed even later on. In the sixties the production also expanded to animated drawing and a specialized magazine was created. Aid to the development of Vietnamese cinema was brought by the Dutch director J. Ivens who with Vietnamese crews shot The sky, the earth in 1965 and 17th parallel in 1967. In the South, under the Americans, clandestine filmmakers were inspired by both the traditions of militant cinema under the French and the films of the North, founding the Giai-Phong group (Liberation) which created dozens of film-related events. Among the feature films produced in the North, some of the most important are mentioned: Gli sposi a Phu (1961), set in the region of a national minority, The Wren (1962) by Nguyên Van Thong and Trân Vu, about the sacrifice of a child in the war against the French, The Fourth Miss Hau, awarded in Moscow in 1963. A second phase (1964-75) coincides with the anti-American war and, despite the difficulties, produces an average of 3-5 films per year. Among them we can mention: The floating village (1964) by Trân Vu, on neighborhood relations and the fight against floods, The flames of Nge Tinh (1965), color ballet film with a revolutionary subject, Nguyên Van Troi (1966), on the Vietnamese hero and his sacrifice evoked by the young widow, A casa degli sposi Luc (1971) by Trân Vu, which analyzes life in the countryside, in a cooperative and in the family, The little girl from Hanoi (1974) by Hai Ninh. Two other films, On the Road to Bui Dinh Hac’s Birthplace and Goodbye at Next Trân Vu Encounter, won first prizes in Karlovy Vary in 1974 and 1976. The third phase (from 1975 onwards) is the still open phase of Independent and united Viet Nam. The two from Thanh Phô Hô Chí Minh (formerly Saigon) joined the Hanoi studio. Production reached 20 films in 1982. In it there is no lack of historical evocations, such as The August star (1976) by Trân Dak or The bride of Dau (1981) by Pham Van Khoa, but in general contemporary themes prevail: as in First Love (1978), one of the most successful films, or as in Hong Sen Cyclone Region (1982), on the collectivization of agriculture, which struck for the lively satire of the party bureaucracy and for the reference to the big problems topical (boat people and war in Kampuchea). In 1995 Vietnamese cinema achieves an important recognition: the film Cyclo, by director Tran Anh Hung wins the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Later new faces emerge in Vietnamese cinema. Tran Anh Hung, author of Mua he chieu thang dung (2000; The Vertical Ray of the Sun); Pham Nhue Giang, director of Thung lung hoang vang (2000; The Deserted Valley) with awards received at the Melbourne International Film Festival and the Singapore International Film Festival; Viet Linh, who after joining the Vietcong at 16 became a writer and director; among his works Chung cu (1999; The building) and Mê thao – Thoi vang bong (2002; Mê thao: there was a time when). The National Film Festival has been held in Viet Nam since 1970.
