A documentary about Vietnamese costumes that traces the ups and downs of the nation’s history has begun airing on channel HTV 9.
Nguyen Hai Anh, director and scriptwriter of Di tim trang phuc Viet (Finding Vietnamese costumes), said the each of its 24 episodes narrates noteworthy stories about different periods of Vietnamese civilization through the costumes.
The images of Vietnamese costumes have been found on the surface of trong dong (kettledrum) and statues standing for thousands of years since the reign of the Hung Kings, considered to be the nation’s founders.
National costumes from the Ly, Tran, Le, and Nguyen dynasties to the traditional ao dai of today will be shown in the film.
The costumes reflect movements in Vietnamese history until today, the director said.
The film crew visited China, Switzerland, France, Austria and Belgium to capture details about Vietnamese costumes displayed in those countries’ museums.
Hai Anh added that the idea of making the documentary came to her in 2000 when she thought first of discovering Vietnamese history through national costumes.
She said contributions of Vietnamese as well as foreign historians and archaeologists have been key to the documentary that she hoped would find the audience’s favor.
The documentary is being shown on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays until October 31.
Reported by Cat Khue