Attending the film screening were Prof. Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan (Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities), Mr. Alan McGreevey (Second Secretary of the Embassy of Ireland); Dr. Nguyen Thi Anh Thu (Head of the Cooperation and Development Department, VNU), representatives of the Department of Cooperation and Development, Politics and Student Affairs, along with lecturers from faculties/departments and nearly 400 students from the first to fourth year of the university.
In his opening speech, Prof. Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan expressed his thanks for the attention and favor of the Embassy of Ireland for the school. This is the first time the Nature Film Festival has been held in two major cities of Vietnam and among the two screenings for students, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities was selected. Through this film, students will certainly have access to new information and vivid images of environmental issues that are taking place very fiercely on a global scale. Vietnam is a country with a long coastline, so it also suffers from the serious consequences of coastal erosion, storms and floods. In recent years, many projects have been implemented, but the issues of environmental pollution and climate change are still urgent. Therefore, it is hoped that through these very lively and attractive ways of conveying, the message of joining hands to protect the environment will reach a large number of students, having an impact on changing habits that negatively affect the environment, contributing to joining hands to reduce the harmful effects of climate change. Principal Hoang Anh Tuan hopes that in the coming time, he will receive closer cooperation from the Embassy and Mr. Alan McGreevey personally in organizing many practical activities for students of the school and Hanoi National University in general.
Prof. Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan delivered the opening speech at the premiere of the film Losing Alaska.
On behalf of the Irish Embassy, Mr. Alan McGreevey thanked the school for creating conditions for the film premiere. The school's reception was very thoughtful, the screening space was modern, and the students were very friendly. He shared: "Losing Alaska" is a film by a famous Irish director. Although it is about a small village in the US, very far from Vietnam, the issues the film addresses are issues that are being raised for the global living environment. Therefore, countries around the world are more or less affected by climate change and joining hands to minimize the negative impacts of climate change is the responsibility of every country. He believes that what the students witnessed and felt after watching this film will have an impact on their awareness and concern for environmental issues, and from there become people who spread the message "It's Time To Act" to the community. It is time for us to act together, because climate change with the terrible natural phenomena like today, is largely due to human actions.
Alan McGreevey shares more information about environmental film week and the film Losing Alaska
Students of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities confidently answered Mr. Alan McGreevey's questions in English about the information of the first Environmental Film Week in Vietnam.
A student attending the film screening shared: "First of all, I would like to thank the school and the Irish Embassy for creating the conditions for us to attend such a meaningful event. I am a first-year student, having just experienced a thoughtful and warm reception, a week of integration with many useful, youthful and modern activities. Today, we were able to attend this event, in a very spacious and modern space (like a cinema), and we felt very excited. I watched the film attentively from beginning to end. Many images made us extremely emotional. Although the content and setting of the film are about a very remote land half a world away from us, we feel it as our own problem, very close and it would be very scary if one day we were the ones to fall into that tragedy. And we know that the phenomenon of global warming causing ice to melt and sea levels to rise is due to the greenhouse effect, which is the consequence of us humans emitting too much carbon dioxide, cutting down forests, destroying nature. The message of the film is very meaningful: "It's time for us to act", we cannot hesitate any longer, certainly our young generation must be the pioneers in taking action to protect the environment and spread this message to everyone".
“Losing Alaska” directed by Tom Burke. The 86-minute film revolves around the impacts of climate change that are disrupting the lives of people in the town of Newtok in Alaska – a small village with about 375 Americans living. They have to make an effort to build a new town because the old town is gradually disappearing due to coastal erosion as a result of winter snowstorms, rising temperatures leading to the phenomenon of ice melting in the summer, submerging the Ninglick River and eroding the outskirts of the town.
Some pictures from the movie screening
