This screening features 5 films. Toggle between film descriptions by scrolling and clicking on the buttons at the top right.
Set within the first day of school, Hiep Nguyen is an exuberant Vietnamese student going on an exchange program at a Christian high school in South Dakota. At the school, Hiep stumbles into the challenge of conforming to an environment of all-white, very religious Midwesterners. As he finagles his way through obstacles emerging from intense cultural clashes, Hiep will have to ask himself: Should you accept yourself wholly, or should you change in order to connect with others in this school?
Director - Duc Anh Nguyen
Hailing from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Duc Anh Nguyen is a 25-year-old MFA Film Production candidate and recipient of the Rock Hudson Memorial Scholarship at the University of Southern California. He is currently the only Vietnamese in the MFA program.
Previously, Duc Anh attended George Washington University and founded the university’s only student-run filmmaking organization, fundraising $5,000 each semester for student filmmakers. Afterward, he worked briefly in corporate marketing.
When he was 6 years old, Duc Anh was introduced to world cinema through bootleg DVDs. By 8, he knew he wanted to be a filmmaker after watching High School Musical on Disney Channel, simultaneously disappointed his parents’ wish for him to be a very rich and successful businessman. By 16, Duc Anh won a scholarship to attend an exchange program in the USA, hoping to fulfill his long-term goal of invading the American film industry with Vietnamese representation.
This screening features 5 films. Toggle between film descriptions by scrolling and clicking on the buttons at the top right.
Set within the first day of school, Hiep Nguyen is an exuberant Vietnamese student going on an exchange program at a Christian high school in South Dakota. At the school, Hiep stumbles into the challenge of conforming to an environment of all-white, very religious Midwesterners. As he finagles his way through obstacles emerging from intense cultural clashes, Hiep will have to ask himself: Should you accept yourself wholly, or should you change in order to connect with others in this school?
Director - Duc Anh Nguyen
Hailing from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Duc Anh Nguyen is a 25-year-old MFA Film Production candidate and recipient of the Rock Hudson Memorial Scholarship at the University of Southern California. He is currently the only Vietnamese in the MFA program.
Previously, Duc Anh attended George Washington University and founded the university’s only student-run filmmaking organization, fundraising $5,000 each semester for student filmmakers. Afterward, he worked briefly in corporate marketing.
When he was 6 years old, Duc Anh was introduced to world cinema through bootleg DVDs. By 8, he knew he wanted to be a filmmaker after watching High School Musical on Disney Channel, simultaneously disappointed his parents’ wish for him to be a very rich and successful businessman. By 16, Duc Anh won a scholarship to attend an exchange program in the USA, hoping to fulfill his long-term goal of invading the American film industry with Vietnamese representation.
