Queer Vietnamese Americans Triple Bill

Festival 2024

2018

This triple bill of short films by director Quyên Nguyen-Le is a grounded yet imaginative exploration of the intricacies of queer Vietnamese-American life. Employing dream-like sequences to delve into trauma and memory, the films complicate the conceptions of queerness and diaspora, honing in on history and activism to negotiate multiple intersecting identities.

Nước (Water/Homeland) | 2016 | 6min
A queer Vietnamese-American teen attempts to piece together their mom’s experience as a refugee of the Vietnam War.

Hoài (Ongoing, Memory) | 2018 | 11min
An exploration of the collapsing and intersecting realities of heartbreak: those of romantic partnerships, families, and nation states.

Queer Vietnameseness | 2015 | 51min
Three queer second generation Vietnamese-Americans navigate language, politics, and family dynamics within their communities.

This screening is followed by an online Q&A with the filmmaker Quyên Nguyen-Le, moderated by British-Vietnamese artist Will Pham.

Tickets

5 December 2024, 6:30 PM

Past Event

ESEA Community Centre (formerly Hackney Chinese)

Nước (Water/Homeland)

2016

Running time
6 mins

Set during a Californian Drought, Nước (Water/Homeland) is an experimental narrative short film about a queer Vietnamese-American teen who attempts to piece together and understand their mom's experience as a refugee of the Vietnam War.

Hoài (Ongoing, Memory)

2018

Directed by
Quyên Nguyen-Le

Running time
11 mins

Centring on the story of a queer second generation Vietnamese-American woman, the film explores the collapsing and intersecting realities of heartbreak: those of romantic partnerships, families, and nation states.

Queer Vietnameseness

2015

Directed by
Quyên Nguyen-Le

Running time
51 mins

Shot on borrowed cameras during the filmmaker’s senior year of college, the documentary was born from a confused and angry yearning to find others like them, a deeply personal attempt to examine what it means to be both “Vietnamese” and “Queer”. It follows three queer second-generation Vietnamese-Americans li...

Director Bio

Quyên Nguyen-Le (they/them) is a queer Vietnamese filmmaker born to refugee parents where Chumash and Tongva lands meet (San Fernando Valley, Los Ángeles). Quyên’s film work spans documentary and narrative modes of storytelling, focusing on the ways histories are deeply felt in the everyday.

Additional info

This event is followed by a food club, and a selection of hot and cold snacks and beverages will be served. The menu includes: vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options, as well as meat dishes.

Allergen Notice

Please be advised that the caterer and kitchen handle common allergens and cannot guarantee the complete absence of cross-contamination. Our food items may contain or come into contact with: Cereals, Peanuts and tree nuts, Milk and dairy products, Soya, Mustard, Lupin, Eggs, Fish, Crustaceans, Molluscs, Sesame seeds, Celery, Sulphur dioxide. We use common fryer oil; therefore, we cannot guarantee that any menu item is completely free from any allergen. If you have severe allergies, please exercise caution. If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected] and we will do our best to assist you.