Poster for ‘A Trip to Heaven’ by director Duong Dieu Linh
The 15-minute Vietnamese film was presented with the Medien Patent Verwaltung AG Prize of the festival’s Pardi di doman category, which honours best international short films.
The category saw the competition of 43 entries, including two other Vietnamese films, namely ‘An Act of Affection’ by Viet Vu, and ‘The Unseen River’ by Pham Ngoc Lan.
‘A Trip to Heaven’ tells the story of 50-year-old woman named Tam, who bumps into her high school sweetheart on a tour bus to the Mekong Delta. Tam was hopeful for a chance of reconciliation, but maybe he was not.
Sharing about the prize, Duong Dieu Linh said that this was a significant milestone in her career as the Locarno Film Festival has fuelled her ideas and initiatives in film making over the past five years. She also described the award as a source of prize and encouragement for her in the future journey.
The Locarno Film Festival is an annual event held in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, it is one of the longest-running film festivals and is also known for being a prestigious platform for independent and young film makers around the world.
Quang Nam: 11 additional COVID-19 patients recover
COVID-19 patients receive discharge in Quang Nam on August 18 morning
A further 11 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patients in Quang Nam province were released from various hospitals throughout the locality on August 18, the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) quoted information from the provincial Health Department saying that.
The release of the patients comes after each case tested negative for COVID-19, whilst none of the group have shown any signs of the virus in recent days, including symptoms such as a fever, a cough, or shortness of breath.
All the recoveries must continue to be subject to a mandatory 14-day isolation period in line with COVID-19 prevention and control regulations.
At present, 95 additional COVID-19 patients are receiving treatment at hospitals in Quang Nam province, with the majority of the cases reportedly responding well to treatment, including elderly people and those suffering multiple comorbidities.
This comes after Quang Nam Central General Hospital also discharged two COVID-19 patients on August 13 after they had successfully made a full recovery from the virus.
Dragon fruit exports through Lao Cai border gate accelerated
Trucks carrying dragon fruit travel through Kim Thanh Border Gate on the morning of August 17 to export the fruit to China.
The management board of the Lao Cai Economic Zone has instructed the local authorised agencies to give priority to the export of dragon fruit through Kim Thanh Border Gate to minimise wasted time and ensure the quality and value of the fruit, Nhan Dan newspaper has reported.
The main harvest season of dragon fruit has begun in central and southern provinces in Vietnam with increasing volume of the fruit transported to Kim Thanh Border Gate in the northern province of Lao Cai to ship to China.
Ha Duc Thuan, vice chairman of the management board of the Lao Cai Economic Zone, said that an average of 150 container trucks carrying dragon fruits with an estimated volume of 3,000 tonnes travel through Kim Thanh Border Gate each day to transport the fruit to China.
Relevant forces including the customs agency, border guard, and plant quarantine and medical quarantine forces are working together to conduct both customs clearance, security checks and quarantine procedures at the border gate to ensure both the prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic and the acceleration of customs clearance for fresh dragon fruit.
Because the Chinese side has implemented strict anti-COVID-19 measures and strict border trade procedures for Vietnamese dragon fruit, the clearance time has been extended, resulting in a reduction in the amount of cleared goods.
Thus, the management board of the Lao Cai Economic Zone proactively arranged two parking areas to gather trucks carrying fresh fruit and have upgraded the warehouses of local logistics companies to facilitate the gathering of trucks carrying dragon fruit. Tran Anh Tu, Deputy Director of the Customs Division at the Lao Cai border gate, said that the import-export revenue through the border gate since early this year has reached 73% of the figure from the same period last year, of which, the export revenue measured 62% of that from the same period last year.
Approximately 355,000 tonnes of dragon fruit have been exported through the border gate, equivalent to 72% of the volume from the same period in 2019, Tu noted./.