The Play “Country’s Soul” of the Vietnam National Puppetry Theatre won a Gold Medal at the first International Puppet Festival held in Hanoi in 2008. The play also won three individual awards: Best Director Award for Artist of Merit Vương Duy Biên, Most Impressive Music Composer for Music Composer Dương Trung Quoc and individual Gold Medal for the Phoenix Dance team which were presented at the closing ceremony of the Festival at the Opera House in Hanoi On Feb. 23, 2008.
After 8 days and nights the first International Puppet Festival 2008 closed in Hanoi. 20 items of 17 theatres from 11 countries attending the Festival showed a rich and lively puppet picture of all puppet forms: string, stick, shadow, human puppet and general theatrical works, combining traditional and contemporary puppet arts.
In the spirit of introducing and promoting unique features of Vietnam’s water puppet art in the trend of integration, eight plays from Vietnamese puppet art troupes brought to the Festival the richness and diversity of puppet arts. In addition, typical puppet shows from other countries such as string, shadow, stick and black puppet arts were highly appreciated and learned by Vietnamese puppet troupes.
“Country’s Soul” – an art work bearing a drama art form, combining ground puppets and water puppets and installation art reproduces lively cultural life of northern countryside of Vietnam. Being highly appreciated by the first International Experiment Theatrical Festival also held in Vietnam, “Country’s Soul” once again was confirmed with a Gold Medal presented by the first International Puppet Festival in Hanoi.
“Story of Tò He” (Vietnam National Puppetry Theatre) and “Legend of Fairy and Dragon” (Thang Long Puppetry Theatre) of Vietnam won Silver Medal together with “Apsara” of Hobbyhut Puppet Troupe from Chiangmai, Thailand. In addition, five others won Bronze Medal.
Ten Gold Medals were presented to artists including: Artist Chu Đắc Được (Thang Long Puppet Theatre), the phoenix dance team (Vietnam National Puppetry Theatre), Artist Joao Da Silva Araujo (Brazil), Nanang HP (Indonesia), Wawan Gunawan (Indonesia), Ải Trọng Bình, Hùng Bỉnh, Lý Kiến Hoa, Trương Tiểu Quỷnh, (Giangxi, China), Atafan Bjorklunds (Sweden), the team from Tof Theatre (Belgium) and the team from Cairo Theatre (Egypt). Seven Bronze Medals were presented to individuals and groups from other theatres.
Artist of Merit Vương Duy Biên – Art Director of “Country’s Soul”, Art Director Nguyễn Hoàng Tuấn of “Legend of Fairy and Dragon” and Art Director Wilawan Svetsreni from Chiangmai, Thailand are three winners of Best Director Award. Three Best music Composer Award winners are Duong Trung Quoc, Đặng Hữu Phuc (Vietnam) and Kodir Wayang Ajen (Indonesia).
Also in the framework of this festival, the Organizing Committee presented the media awards to many items: Traditional & contemporary art program (Thang Long Puppet Theatre), Ethnic Minority Art Troupe (Dak Lak Puppet Art Troupe), Best Item that impressed children most (Ho Chi Minh Puppet Art Troupe), Best Item loved by the public (Tof Theatre – Kingdom of Belgium)…
