The German-based specialty chemicals group, Lanxess, has announced its partnership with the Science Film Festival to be held in Vietnam and Cambodia this month.

This move is a part of its efforts to propagate the importance of chemistry in daily life.

The partnership is part of activities undertaken by Lanxess globally as the world celebrates the International Year of Chemistry as launched by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the company said.

Launched in Thailand in 2005 by the German learning institution Goethe Institute, the film festival is a cultural and educational initiative presenting European and Asian films that communicate technological, ecological and scientific issues in an entertaining way to a young ASEAN audience.

This is the first time the festival is being held in Vietnam .

Eighteen films from six European and Asian countries will be screened in cities of Hanoi , Hai Phong, Da Nang , Hue , HCM City and Can Tho, as well as five provinces between November 11 and 30.

The festival's opening night will take place at the Trung Vuong High School in Hanoi on November 11.

In Cambodia , 15 films from four countries will be screened in Phnom Penh and surrounding provinces.

The film festival aims to reach a total of 20,000 children and youth, including students from teachers training universities.

All films have been dubbed in the respective local languages, ensuring direct understanding of film content by the audience, without the distraction of reading subtitles.

Kaye Lim, Lanxess's vice-president of corporate communications for the Asia-Pacific region, said, "The festival is one of the many initiatives undertaken by Lanxess as part of our global vision for education as a fundamental building block of life.

"We believe that through social conduits like this, we are cultivating not just a higher and sustainable level of interest in science amongst the schoolchildren, but building talents for the future as well.”/.