Cartoon on legendary Hanoi founder to screen

A cartoon about the legendary Emperor, who founded the Thang Long capital (now Hanoi,) is scheduled to air on September 17.
A scene from the film.
A scene from the film.

The film, entitled ‘Dragon’s Son’, is the first feature-length animated film using 3D technology in Vietnam,  said Nguyen Thi Hong Ngat, Executive Director of the Cinematography Association Studio at a press briefing in Hanoi on September 13.

The 90-minute film tells about the childhood of King Ly Thai To, (Ly Cong Uan), who founded the 216-year-long Ly Dynasty in 1009.

Artists have animated over 30 characters, designed 20 major sets and produced almost 850 scenes.

Director Pham Minh Tri said ‘Dragon’s Son’ is 100% Vietnamese, from the sounds to the music and costumes. The cartoon is characterised by northern countryside scenery such as banian trees, ferry stations, pagodas and buffalo boys playing and fishing.

Ly Cong Uan was born in 974 at Co Phap Pagoda, in the village of same name in Bac Ninh province.

At the age of three, his mother took him to the pagoda and the monks there raised him. The monk named him Ly Cong Uan and he eventually became a monk.

He was put under the protection of a monk named Ly Van Hanh, who was well respected in the holy Anterior Le Dynasty court, and came to the capital and was promoted several times reaching Left Guard-Commander of the Anterior Citadel, a high rank in the army. In 1009, Le Ngoa Trieu, the last king of the Anterior Le Dynasty, died under the wrath of the people because of his cruelty towards them during his reign. Dao Cam Moc, a senior official, and the monk Van Hạnh used their power to enthrone Ly Cong Uan with no protest, thus beginning the Ly Dynasty.

The capital at that time, Hoa Lu, in the northern province of Ninh Binh, was a tiny area with rugged geography bounded by mountain ranges, which had been suitable for a turbulent era but was not conducive to peacetime development and growth. Ly Thai To chose to move the capital to a wider area in the flat alluvial delta called ‘Dai La’, which is now Hanoi. In 1010, he began the move and while travelling from Hoa Lu to the new land, he saw a yellow dragon rising into the sky, so he changed the name of the new land from ‘Dai La’ to ‘Thang Long’. (VNA)