Hanoi (VNA) -The annual Science Film Festival is bringing 19 science films mostly targetingyoung people in Vietnam’s big cities, with screenings beginning this month andrunning until December 7.

Organised by the GoetheInstitut since 2005, the event supports film screenings in 23 countriesacross South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

This year’s theme,“Anthropocene: Welcome to the Age of Humans”, aims to help audiences explorethe past, present, and future of humanity. In cooperation with localpartners, the festival promotes science literacy and facilitates awareness ofcontemporary scientific, technological and environmental issues through filmsand television content with accompanying educational activities.

This year’s festival, runby Hanoi Goethe-Institute in collaboration with THD Education Solution Company,is the seventh in which Vietnam has participated. Last year, over 35,000 peopleattended 300 screenings across the country. The festival focuses particularlyon films for children and adolescents.

A jury of three viewed theFestival’s 67 film offerings to select 19 suited to Vietnamese audience and theparticular issues facing the country, said Hoang Duong, one of the jurymembers. Duong noted that this year’s theme is particularly importantbecause of the growing threat human activities pose to climate stability.

The main theme of this year’s festival is the anthropocene. The term refers tothe fact that for thousands of years, humans have made their impact on nature, andhave changed nature,” Duong said. “Today, we experience [the manifestation of]anthropocene through climate change. Our world with plants and animals isfacing a crisis. The film programme reflects on these problems but also showsus the beauty and vulnerability of the ecosystems on our earth."

From October to December,the festival will come to schools and culture centres in Hanoi and the northernprovinces of Thai Nguyen and Vinh Phuc, the central cities of Hue and Da Nang,and HCM City and the provinces of Quang Nam and Ba Ria-Vung Tau in thesouth. 

In addition to watchingfilms, audiences can participate in discovery workshops, games and experiments.Organisers hope that films and experiments will encourage young peoples’curiosity and expand their knowledge.

The festival includes ninefilms for kids under 12 years old with Vietnamese voice-over and six films forages 12 to 16 with Vietnamese subtitles. Four feature-length films will beshown on October 11, 18, 25 and November 1 at the Goethe Institute in Hanoi andHCM City only.-VNA