An exhibition featuring different lives in modern society has opened in Hanoi with the title of Tales in the City: Community Voices.

The exhibition includes the screening of three films: The Unknown Teachers, Rural People Become Rubbish Collectors in the City and Hiphop Is My Life.

Each film lasts for about 15-20 minutes and the synopsis for each is a part of the display. Both the display and film screenings are the result of applying new techniques for displaying and film making, with the support of American specialists Wendy Erd and Peter Kaufman.

The stories in the films are told by ordinary people who are not actors. The films are about real lives. Visitors will understand why the most popular job for rural students is tutoring, they will also get an insight on the work of rubbish collectors and the obsession for hip hop among some of the younger generation.

Doan Thi Binh, a rubbish collector from the northern province of Nam Dinh, said she was moved to be able to share her life and work in Hanoi with others.

"This is the first time we rubbish collectors have had a chance to talk about ourselves," she said. "Life in the city is expensive and not easy for the poor like us. We're happy to provide a glimpse of our difficulties, dreams and thoughts."

Along with showing the films, the exhibition has on display parts of the interiors of the homes of the three groups in the movies, including the tutors who are rural students, trash collectors and the hiphop dancers from Minishock group.

There are other educational events happening as well, such as the performance and exchange among the hiphop dancers and khen (bamboo pan-pipes) dancers from the ethnic Mong group in the north-western province of Hoa Binh .

Visitors can also participate in activities such as taking photographs with the communities, sharing ideas and hopes, drawing graffiti and dancing with the Minishock group.

The exhibition will run until September 9 at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology in Nguyen Van Huyen street , Hanoi . This is a part of a project called Community-based Media in Vietnam : First Voice Stories, funded by the Ford Foundation. It's expected that other communities will be featured. /.