Colombian culture promoted on the big screen in Hanoi

The film screening of “El Piedra” by Rafael Martínez Moreno. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will coordinate with the Colombian Embassy in Hanoi to organise a Colombian film day in Hanoi on December 15.

The film screening will take place at the National Cinema Centre at 87 Lang Ha, Hanoi, with free tickets available at trang.thu@cancilleria.gov.co.

The film “El Piedra” directed by Rafael Martínez Moreno, tells about Reynaldo Salgado "El Piedra" - 40 year old afro-colombian boxer who throws fights in Cartagena. In other words, he gets paid to lose fights. He is a professional loser.

One day, Breyder, a 12-year-old boy from the street, shows up claiming to be his son. Reynaldo after years of blows to the head, has a failing memory, and accepts the boy as his son.

Reynaldo does not know how to raise a kid, and despite wanting to quit boxing, is now forced into accepting more fights in order to provide the necessities for his new son.

Breyder wants to be a boxer, but Reynaldo does all he can to dissuade him from all of the hardships he had to bear as pugilist.

In this journey, Reynaldo finds someone that makes him feel important again. Breyder idolizes not the boxing champion, but rather the middle-class worker. That's how two solitaries build a family together.

El Piedra - it’s a fresh approach on boxing: it is not about the epic contender. It is all about finding dignity within the supposed defeat.

The film has both English and Vietnamese subtitles, and it is only for audiences over 16 years old.

In an effort to bring Colombian culture to Vietnamese, the embassy introduced many films earlier, including “Encanto”. The film tells the tale of an extraordinary family, the Madrigals, who live hidden in the mountains of Colombia. They reside in a magical house, a vibrant town, in a wondrous, charmed place called an Encanto.

The magic of the Encanto has blessed every child in the family with a unique gift from super strength to the power to heal-every child except one, Mirabel. But when she discovers that the magic surrounding the Encanto is in danger, Mirabel decides that she, the only ordinary Madrigal, might just be her exceptional family's last hope.

Other films on air were the documentary “Vecinos Inesperados”, and "Los Ajenos Fútbol Club.”

Photo: Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh (L) in a meeting with Colombian Vice President Germán Vargas Lleras in 2016. (Photo: VNA)

Other notable cultural activities included the Vietnam-Colombia graffiti wall launched in the northern port city of Hai Phong on May 18 and a music show at the Opera House in Hanoi on July 20, among others.

Vietnam and Colombia established diplomatic ties on January 1, 1979. Over the past 40 years, the bilateral ties have developed constantly and have been consolidated.

Although the Colombian embassy was just established 2014 and the two countries have many differences, they still share similarities, said Laura Caballero, who is in charge of cultural affairs at the embassy.

Once Colombia creates a good image among Vietnamese, the country will have more cooperation opportunities with Vietnam in different fields, from politics to economy, trade, tourism, climate change, sports, and education, she noted.

Caballero revealed there will be more film screenings and other activities in culture and literature next year.

In regard to trade, Colombia ranks fifth among export markets of Vietnam in Latin America and two-way trade has been on the rise in recent years.

In 2020, bilateral trade hit 640.8 million USD, with Vietnam shipping engines, machinery, electrical equipment, footwear, aquatic products, garment-textile and metal wires worth 622.5 million USD to Colombia.

Meanwhile, Vietnam imported timber and wooden products, foodstuff, leather, organic chemicals and rare metals totalling 18.3 million USD from the Latin American nation./.