As queer trans and gender non-conforming children of the Vietnamese diaspora, we are fragmented at the crossroads of being displaced from not only a sense of belonging to our ancestral land, but also our own bodies which are conditioned by society to stray away from our most authentic existence.
Yet these bodies of ours are the vessels we sail to embark on a lifetime voyage of return to our original selves. It is our bodies that navigate the treacherous tides of normative systems that impose themselves on our very being. And it is our bodies that act as community lighthouses for collective liberation.
Ultimately, the landscape of our bodies is our blueprint to remembering, to healing, to blooming.
A quarter of a million drug addicts —one of the most serious consequences of the Vietnam War. These addicts were the citizens of the South, and of Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon. Shot in 1981 by three Australian women, Changing the Needle was the first in-depth film to be made about Vietnam’s unique approach to drug rehabilitation at a time when few foreign film crews had access to Vietnam at all.
A Hmong guide's daily life in the mountains of Sapa, North Vietnam.
Four Oddballs of Saigon or The Saigon Fabulous Four is a 1973 Vietnamese 35mm eastmancolor film directed by La Thoại Tân.
The first Vietnamese feature-length film.
Over the years, Raul Ries, a military veteran (US Marine Corps) has reached out to those who are serving or have served in our armed forces. He has spoken to countless men and women from various theaters of military conflict, after their return home. In 2006, 40 years after fighting in the jungles of Vietnam, Ries experienced flashbacks for the first time. Subsequently, he found three of the men closest to him, who fought alongside of him in the Marine Corps unit ALPHA 1/7, and have suffered the consequences. Together again, they are taking the hill and finding healing.
Documentary short following French-Vietnamese artist Marcelino Truong on his journey back to Vietnam for the research on his 'roman graphique' 'Une si jolie petite guerre' (A Lovely Little War). Truong looks back to when his family lived in Saigon from 1961 to 1963 when his father served as a translator to then president of the Republic of Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem. The film follows Truong as he ruminates over memories, photos and films, and also conducts a host of interviews with Vietnamese relatives and officials to present a personal and long awaited Vietnamese perspective to the war.
Four stories for the price of one! Two detectives struggling with their own masculinity learn to work with each other, a French focus puller learns the true nature of his abusive director, a British influencer travels to Texas and has to fight for his life to get out, and a young man falls in love with a stranger who has yet to learn his dark secret.
A Vietnamese documentary on human suffering and the meaning of kindness.
Severely traumatized and disillusioned soldier Alan Jaffeo returns to his hometown in San Francisco following a two year tour of duty in Vietnam. Filled with rage and appalled by the general decadence all around him, Alan violently lashes out at prostitutes, family members, and anyone else unfortunate enough to cross his angry and deadly path.
A pacifist apolitical documentary about North-Vietnam.
Three young Texans try to adjust to small-town life after experiencing the emotional toll of combat in the jungles of Vietnam.
A man goes on a journey finding the literal Paradise in hope of resurrecting his late wife, only to face with a horrifying truth about the reality he's living in.
An American officer and a North Vietnamese prisoner of war are stranded and chained together in the jungle during the Vietnam War.
Push-ups to the rhythm of a metronome, a meter counting backward from 100; three words are shouted time and again: “dog – pig – monkey”.
Living by a river, a father and son make their living by fishing every day. The little boy, Ca, contracts a serious illness. The treatment is very expensive. Will the father be able to catch enough fish to pay for it?