Latest / The Vietnamese with Kenneth Nguyen / 478 - Who Are the Vietnamese European Creators? Brittany Tran, HIEN, Duzan Duong

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478 - Who Are the Vietnamese European Creators? Brittany Tran, HIEN, Duzan Duong · The Vietnamese with Kenneth Nguyen

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_04]: Welcome to the Vietnamese podcast.
• 0:01
  [SPEAKER_04]: I have a very special edition today.
• 0:04
  [SPEAKER_04]: We have three guests.
• 0:06
  [SPEAKER_04]: I want to start my introduction with Brittany Tran.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_04]: Brittany has been with the Vietnamese podcast and so many were so many different hats from day one of my journey.
• 0:17
  [SPEAKER_04]: Brittany is the founder of Real Citrus, a film distribution company.
• 0:22
  [SPEAKER_04]: And she is putting together a wonderful event called Stories We Carry.
• 0:28
  [SPEAKER_04]: bringing Duzan film to New York, but the big thing is having an event at Columbia University this coming March 17th, I believe, or 16th, March 16th, which is the Monday, and you can find a lot of that on real citrus or on the Vietnamese podcast Instagram.
• 0:50
  [SPEAKER_04]: Then we have Hien, Hien is a singer from Hungary who's been on the podcast before.
• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_04]: And you know, welcome back to this podcast.
• 0:59
  [SPEAKER_04]: Hien is going to be one of the guest special guests that we have on the day that we have of the March 16th event at Columbia.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_04]: And our guest, Duzan Zung is a film director from Poland who directed a movie called
• 1:18
  [SPEAKER_04]: You can't do that.
• 1:21
  [SPEAKER_04]: Now we do, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_05]: You know, we are a very small country, so it's easily, easily to be mistaken, but we are going to make big stuff in check-in.
• 1:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, yes.
• 1:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: And you all have the best Vietnamese market in Europe.
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_04]: So we do have fun.
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so do Zana is coming to Washington, D.C. and New York to show the film all done through Brittany's road citrus.
• 2:14
  [SPEAKER_04]: So welcome to this edition of this podcast, Brittany, have at it.
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh man, for doing me on the spot.
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much Ken for bringing us all together.
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is really exciting.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want to first start off by just kind of sharing a little bit about the plans and what we want to do and the difference between DC and New York and all of that.
• 2:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: But keeping it short.
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: So really, this was all put together by the Check-In-BC.
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: They've been so supportive.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they're the ones that is bringing Dujon to the states.
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Under citrus, our plan we're still in the works of like figuring out distribution.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Our big plan is that we are going to take Dujon's film, summer school 2001, through theatrical distribution this summer.
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so our goal throughout from this time until then is to raise awareness, but also to raise
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: During this time, the Czech embassy jumped in, they're like, hey, we want to bring Dujon in.
• 3:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: We can take care of all of the theatrical booking, the hotel, the logistics, everything.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so they are covering DC portion and New York portion.
• 3:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: So when we heard of that, especially as a startup and as a new team, we're like, let's hop on this opportunity, let's gather the community together.
• 3:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: and how can we do something that is one impactful, two brings out the Vietnamese community, send me in great dujan during this time, but also ultimately gain more awareness to our ultimate goal of bringing this at the other in the summer.
• 3:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's how we came, you know, to put together a story as we carry.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: and then Ken jumped in, he said, hey, how could I help?
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: What she always does?
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's where we are now.
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Stories we carry is put together by Columbia University with Agile Professor and filmmaker Tony Boy, myself and Ken.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when we sat down, the first panelist we had was Dujon.
• 4:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: From there, Dujon said, hey, can we have a ticket for this person that I met on Instagram, name him?
• 4:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, and we're like, yeah, of course, in the funny stories, I have discovered he and some music on Instagram a while back and love her sound so much and so it was such a nice surprise to be connected to you, hand.
• 4:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then bringing it back home, we wanted to make sure that this event really highlighted not just the film itself, but the importance and the value of bringing stories like this and the diaspora and the community.
• 4:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think there are so many organizations across East Coast that West Coast all sorts of places.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And now overseas, in Europe, that is bringing together Vietnamese people.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: This all came together and we were able to bring on a hen, Kevin Winn, and also Dustin.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that brings us back home to this conversation and I really want to be able to sit on this call, get to know a little bit more about hen, but also European Vietnamese, which I know nothing about, aside from the film.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so yeah, thank you so much Ken for having all of us and
• 5:38
  [SPEAKER_04]: Wonderful.
• 5:38
  [SPEAKER_04]: Like we talked about, thank you, Brittany, for that.
• 5:41
  [SPEAKER_04]: Brittany's citrus is a film distribution platform among many other things in the future.
• 5:45
  [SPEAKER_04]: I think that she's going to bring a lot more things to the Vietnamese culture in our diaspora.
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_04]: I bring the podcast episodes and bring the whole Vietnamese global diaspora to the world.
• 6:00
  [SPEAKER_04]: That being all said, today we are distribution platforms that are, we want to talk about the European Vietnamese that exists in the world, the creatives that come out of the European Vietnamese or Vietnamese European.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_04]: So here, let's start with you.
• 6:16
  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's talk a little bit about your journey and and how you got started.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I was born in Budapest, Hungary, and I moved to the US in 2015 for school.
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: I studied in Boston, and then after I graduated, I moved to New York, and ever since.
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then, I'm here.
• 6:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: I found my little chosen family here, and I love to be a creative here.
• 6:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think it's so important for us to keep our stories alive,
• 6:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: When I saw Suzanne's film, I was so excited because literally every time we get together with my Viet Hungarian friends in the past years, we always dreamed about having like
• 7:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: a movie that could tell our parent's story because it just hasn't been done.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like the most of the movies and books are coming from the Beat Americans and Beat French when it comes to our diaspora.
• 7:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we love those, but we always have, we always dreamt about having our own and I think even though I haven't seen the movie, but I feel like we're going to tell a little bit
• 7:31
  [SPEAKER_04]: let's talk about how you got to the to the scene.
• 7:36
  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, how I got to this call.
• 7:39
  [SPEAKER_05]: Hmm.
• 7:39
  [SPEAKER_04]: No.
• 7:40
  [SPEAKER_04]: Actually, I didn't get creative work from yeah.
• 7:44
  [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah.
• 7:44
  [SPEAKER_05]: I'm okay.
• 7:46
  [SPEAKER_05]: So I started as a dancer.
• 7:50
  [SPEAKER_05]: So I danced my way to filmmaking and yeah, I did you know the usual Asian stuff like popping street dance or sort of stuff so I can do a wave with my, you know, body and stuff.
• 8:07
  [SPEAKER_04]: Brittany and him scheduled for a dance before we kick off the event, right?
• 8:12
  [SPEAKER_04]: Like he's going to do a dance.
• 8:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, we, we, we, you know, I go to New York often, but I feel like he and if we can put together a pre-party, and after party, some sort of party where there's a dance and singing element.
• 8:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can we please?
• 8:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would love that.
• 8:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: That would be good.
• 8:28
  [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah.
• 8:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 8:28
  [SPEAKER_05]: Actually, when I was a dancer, I always dreamt of you know dancing in New York because it's where it started and Then it would make this circle look like hope and After after Realizing that I cannot find a job like a proper job in In Czech Republic, I just just bought a camera and I started doing you know wedding for Vietnamese people and From that I just kept going on and
• 8:58
  [SPEAKER_05]: Here I am, like, after maybe 12 years already of filmmaking, presenting my first feature film, which is serial.
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_04]: Brittany, I want to ask you, why did you decide to pick up Doozan's films?
• 9:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, great question.
• 9:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I heard about Dujan's film actually through a good front of ours Anderson Lee when we went to an event and he said, Hey, have you seen some of her school?
• 9:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, I said no and he said, well, you should you should watch it.
• 9:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, and I think it's going to be showing soon.
• 9:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then fast forward, we were, I reached out to via film fast because, you know, as a new company, I wanted to support film festivals, especially Vietnamese film festivals.
• 9:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we reached out to ESA and ESA highlighted Dushan's film as something that I should watch.
• 9:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, okay, I'm hearing this from two very like, you know, industry people that I look up to.
• 10:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And before I even watched the film, got to watch the film, I did, I had to do research.
• 10:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: So a lot of our work through the truth is doing research to write the editorial to kind of like really highlight the value and importance, all these themes, right?
• 10:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And as I was putting together all of the elements for summer school, the visuals were beautiful, firstly, and then I got to meet Dujon.
• 10:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: He, uh, a quirky ass dude, you know, he's hilarious.
• 10:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And, um, so I decided, you know, what are we meeting person?
• 10:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when he arrived in Orange County,
• 10:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Frasal European Vietnamese dude Landy and Orange County has his first place in the US.
• 10:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I took him to FIFA, 79 in Orange County.
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we hit it off.
• 10:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, personality was great.
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Funny didn't take himself too seriously.
• 10:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just an overall good guy.
• 11:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then when I watched the film, my daughter was sitting next to me.
• 11:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And my husband, you know, right behind me, we love the film.
• 11:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: My daughter was like watching it after the film, she was kind of still talking about it.
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's when I hit it home for me.
• 11:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have to do something with this film.
• 11:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's how I discovered summer school.
• 11:21
  [SPEAKER_04]: Wow.
• 11:23
  [SPEAKER_04]: And then you had the misfortune of making me sit with Duzan and a motocic step.
• 11:34
  [SPEAKER_04]: That was a fun thing.
• 11:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know me.
• 11:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know me.
• 11:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: I see something or I meet someone I'm like, this is, there's something there.
• 11:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like I got a, we got to make it work, you know.
• 11:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he was only in Orange County for such a short period of time.
• 11:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to optimize that time and really have you there to meet him into like be my sound and my microphone for what we have left.
• 12:01
  [SPEAKER_04]: no, it's awesome.
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_04]: You know, he and I want to ask you, what do you think you bring from Europe into your sound and do something that goes for you too?
• 12:12
  [SPEAKER_04]: Like what's the difference between like is there a difference between like a Vietnamese American or a Vietnamese European in the creative work that you both do?
• 12:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Definitely, I mean, we just have a different, so many, so much shared experience, but also different experiences and different perspectives.
• 12:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that growing up in Hungary definitely made a huge effect on the music I consume.
• 12:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I'm deeply inspired by Hungarian traditional music, just as Vietnamese traditional music and I love to play with those.
• 12:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: tried to re-contextualize it my own little sound world, and yeah, I just feel like a lot of places where I meet Vietnamese people and I tell them that I'm from Hungary, they're like, what?
• 13:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're Vietnamese, I'm like, yeah, like my accent, like I speak English well, but my accent is actually
• 13:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, sometimes I meet Eastern Europeans and they're like, wait, like, if interesting, you have an accent, like you, you're obviously like Asian, but you don't have an Asian accent.
• 13:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: What is this accent that you have and like it's Hungarian?
• 13:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can I ask a question like for everyone that's listening for myself?
• 13:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like I spend some time in Vietnam and meeting Vietnamese Europeans was probably one of the highlights of my time there, from Vietnamese friends, Vietnamese like from Sweden, Switzerland, all sorts of things.
• 13:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: For the people who don't know, listening, can you both share just
• 13:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: One geographically, the difference between you two, and then two, the Vietnamese diaspora of how that all looks and feels and bring that to life a little bit more.
• 14:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because we're making the assumption that everyone knows.
• 14:09
  [SPEAKER_05]: But actually, Hungary and Czech Republic are like neighbors almost, really.
• 14:18
  [SPEAKER_05]: And we are labeled as Eastern Europeans.
• 14:22
  [SPEAKER_05]: But Hungarian language is really crazy for me because it's even the writing and everything.
• 14:29
  [SPEAKER_05]: It's really hard for me to understand anything, but it's logical.
• 14:35
  [SPEAKER_05]: But back to your question first, Ken.
• 14:40
  [SPEAKER_05]: When I first came to Bedfimfest, and I saw five films and four out of five films
• 14:52
  [SPEAKER_05]: Then I realized that this is the big difference between us, your bins and you Americans because we are basically from the north and you are from the south.
• 15:06
  [SPEAKER_05]: And you've been living in the states for like more generations than us because we came in like 80s.
• 15:15
  [SPEAKER_05]: and you've been living there since the war.
• 15:19
  [SPEAKER_05]: So I'm feeling that this is like something that we can bridge.
• 15:23
  [SPEAKER_05]: Can I connect more?
• 15:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 15:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Can I still northern Vietnamese?
• 15:30
  [SPEAKER_05]: Sorry.
• 15:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, so my parents are from the north, even though my grandmother is from the south.
• 15:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, so like my grandparents, my mom's side there were kind of little musicians and kind of little musicians from the south,
• 15:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: born in Buffalo, which is the most southern part of Vietnam.
• 15:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: But yes, so I have relatives in both places, but like my accent in Vietnamese, I have more than accent, for example.
• 15:56
  [SPEAKER_05]: And for those who don't know, the reason why so many northern Vietnamese are in Europe is because you know, some exchange program through government, like communist Vietnam and communist Europe, they just wanted to have some exchange and they send some workers.
• 16:15
  [SPEAKER_05]: So there is a lot of Vietnamese
• 16:20
  [SPEAKER_05]: in Poland.
• 16:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, yeah, collapse of the Soviet Union, right?
• 16:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: That was a big wave of them.
• 16:28
  [SPEAKER_04]: So many powerful Vietnamese coming from Poland, that that, you know, I think the the founder of the of in group is from Poland and a number of other big business guys come from the Vietnamese diaspora from Poland.
• 16:42
  [SPEAKER_04]: It's a really weird thing Eastern Europeans coming from the Vietnamese from from that area.
• 16:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, honestly, one of my highlights in America was meeting the Vietnam American community.
• 16:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think one of the main reasons I really wanted to stay in New York because I found some of my chosen family through the Vietnamese communities.
• 17:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we started these, um,
• 17:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: events called WVFest here in Brooklyn and we had people from the Vietnamese diaspora from everywhere like we had the Americans, the Australians, the Russians like Europeans and mainlander Vietnamese coming out to this event enjoying music and food and it was just so beautiful to learn to get to know these people and learn different stories and perspectives.
• 17:32
  [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, to be honest, when I was growing up, I was so ashamed of being with Nemes, you know, I wanted to be this tall white hair guy, blonde, and to be, you know, I wanted to fit, but right now, I think most of the check people are like envious of me because I have this depth,
• 17:56
  [SPEAKER_05]: and I can go to the state and, you know, it doesn't happen to every filmmaker in Czech Republic.
• 18:05
  [SPEAKER_04]: No, it's true.
• 18:07
  [SPEAKER_04]: It's true.
• 18:08
  [SPEAKER_04]: All the pain that we have, all the trauma, is now like a badge of
• 18:14
  [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, like, when I met you can, we met like three times, barely, and I just felt connected immediately because, you know, you're Vietnamese, you're even though you're American, I felt something.
• 18:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think what I'm hearing too is less about like war trauma, but displacement trauma, but just being from somewhere and then you're just like displaced, put somewhere else.
• 18:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then you find people who look like you and then in the way that, you know, watching summer school, it's not too different.
• 18:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, our stories and our relationship with our parents, the arguments, our siblings, like
• 19:03
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, when you all think about the creative process, does being Vietnamese influence that process or do you create just from a beautiful place or a painful, whatever that is, not related to the Vietnamese process, not really to the Vietnamese perspective?
• 19:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: For me being Vietnamese is a huge part of my artistic identity as well.
• 19:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: growing up, similarly to Dusan, I think that I try to not hide more of this side of myself, but I definitely didn't know that much of my roots and my Vietnamese side because it wasn't
• 19:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: encouraged the much I think and you know we try to fit in out of those things.
• 19:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think at once I came to the state and I found no more communities more diverse communities through music that's when I really started to learn more and wanting to learn more about my roots and and getting the music and I realized
• 20:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: how beautiful that journey is and then you know meeting the diaspora communities came next.
• 20:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: And honestly like what I'm really grateful is that I get so like such a great support from the Vietnamese diaspora communities everywhere.
• 20:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: I just feel that, of course, in Hungary or through the music, I found beautiful communities that I felt love and supported, but my OG, like real supporters, are always the Vietnamese communities.
• 21:02
  [SPEAKER_05]: Always, it always got me, so I always made a film about my, you know, people, my community, about myself, and I'm hoping that I can, I can be something more than just a Vietnamese person,
• 21:29
  [SPEAKER_05]: that so many Vietnamese are like calling for this representation and they are so hungry.
• 21:37
  [SPEAKER_05]: So who I am to tell them that I will not be casting more Vietnamese people.
• 21:42
  [SPEAKER_05]: I can make the stories more universal or the topics, but I will be using Vietnamese people like maybe always, but not in a way that I'm looking for the roots and stuff.
• 21:56
  [SPEAKER_05]: But more like, if I, if I was to choose a white person or a Vietnamese person, my heart will always go to the Vietnamese people.
• 22:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Especially when you try to tell a Vietnamese story, right?
• 22:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, I think that is just in the past decades.
• 22:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: We just heard so much more about
• 22:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, the American like white American perspective when it comes to not just Vietnamese stories but Asian stories and I think now I'm glad that the balance, you know, it becomes starting to become a little bit more balanced that we hear our people's voice more and it's more can put them forward.
• 22:41
  [SPEAKER_04]: You know, what's exciting is Brittany and I back in October, we went to a concert at the Dolby Theatre, which is where they have the Oscars.
• 22:51
  [SPEAKER_04]: And we got to watch a performance by a single name Hainthlen, and these, this person is somebody that Brittany and I don't, I don't know if you heard about it Brittany, but I didn't hear about who that person was before.
• 23:04
  [SPEAKER_04]: And, um, do's not, I know you and I met in Vietnam just recently together, we have such huge strong.
• 23:11
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, we did.
• 23:14
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
• 23:15
  [SPEAKER_04]: We did.
• 23:15
  [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, no.
• 23:15
  [SPEAKER_04]: We got it.
• 23:17
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
• 23:17
  [SPEAKER_04]: OK. And the thing is, we have such strong cultural ties to Vietnam.
• 23:22
  [SPEAKER_04]: Every time we go back, we realize, like, oh, my god, there's like these cool things going on.
• 23:26
  [SPEAKER_04]: How much on us all of you?
• 23:29
  [SPEAKER_04]: How much does Vietnam,
• 23:30
  [SPEAKER_04]: Um, and what goes on in Vietnam, how much were you guys paying attention to that and how much does that influence the work, the motivation, the encouragement, all of it in your spirit and your soul.
• 23:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's a great question.
• 23:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 23:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm honestly so motivated but also intimidated at the same time because the phase Vietnam is growing and developing, especially what I'm seeing in the entertainment industry is mind blowing.
• 23:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: like it's insane.
• 23:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love to connect and work with Vietnamese creators because every time I work with them, I'm so inspired, like that type of dedication and hard work is like, oh, I, you know, they're so much to learn from them and I'm just so glad that now the West
• 24:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: learn more about from the east because before that it was just like mostly the east was watching what the west was doing but I think that now definitely there's it's really clear that the east is developing so much and there's so much learn from that side so yeah I'm so glad to witness this and I'm so happy that we can be a little bit part of it too.
• 24:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think Vietnam is moving so fast.
• 24:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: UNI met in Vietnam can both being from the States.
• 24:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think, culturally, for a long time, the Vietnamese identity, I felt like was, as a Vietnamese person, it was our stories from the outside in meaning we were being told.
• 25:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was being told who I was as a Vietnamese person from people outside of my community.
• 25:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is who you are.
• 25:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And in living and being in Vietnam and now working with a lot of Vietnamese people, both on the business side but also on the creative side, we're able to kind of redefine that story for ourselves.
• 25:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I see a lot of and Vietnam is very young in terms of the creative community, the entertainment, like everyone, just the population.
• 25:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so while there's still a lot to be worked on.
• 25:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right, there's a lot of entertainment framework, films, movies, music, there's still a lot of things that need to develop.
• 25:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I think in terms of the people themselves, the young population themselves are hustlers in every...
• 26:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: every version of that term, and creatively hustling, meaning they are developing, taking in from society from culture from everyone, and then redefining that and recreating it for themselves in such a fast pace.
• 26:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like just from just looking at fashion alone,
• 26:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: like fashion Vietnam, people are looking inwards now, interviewing on a flagry water, whatever Vietnamese people doing, designers, and streetwear, and high fashion, and boutiques, people are flying in to go to Vietnamese shops, which like when I was there, that was unheard of, you know?
• 26:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think it's just moving so fast and for me, it's a majority of my inspiration.
• 26:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: I still very much hire creative people in Vietnam.
• 26:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I work with clients from Vietnam.
• 26:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, it's a huge part of my work.
• 26:56
  [SPEAKER_05]: From my perspective, I see a lot of potential, you know, because the Czech Republic, it has only
• 27:07
  [SPEAKER_05]: is so much bigger.
• 27:08
  [SPEAKER_05]: You know, the market.
• 27:10
  [SPEAKER_05]: So it makes me try harder so that I can match with the guys in Vietnam so that I can compete with them and I see it as a competition.
• 27:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I think I read somewhere that I don't know if 75 or 85 or 80% like a big chunk of the population of Vietnam is under the age 30, which is like I can't even comprehend that.
• 27:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like everybody's younger than me, what?
• 27:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 27:42
  [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, that's good at making babies.
• 27:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yep.
• 27:49
  [SPEAKER_05]: And of course, the Chinese have to have this big problem that they don't have babies.
• 27:53
  [SPEAKER_04]: So if your time is really like on the rise, you know, Dujan, I thought that too, but I heard that we are actually experiencing a slow down in our population.
• 28:02
  [SPEAKER_04]: It's happening because everybody wants to save money, everybody wants to make more money.
• 28:07
  [SPEAKER_04]: Everybody doesn't want to spend and, you know, I think that the pressure of having babies and worrying about the future and wars and all that, it's like it's making people not have babies,
• 28:19
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so we are probably good at making babies, but I don't know if we're making babies.
• 28:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Wow.
• 28:31
  [SPEAKER_04]: I drew John kind of sparks these interesting.
• 28:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I told you he was quirky.
• 28:39
  [SPEAKER_05]: I cannot speak so long like Brittany or Ken or he and so I'm just, you know, giving out ideas.
• 28:47
  [SPEAKER_04]: One thing I do, one thing I do want to ask you guys, because people like me and Brittany, we deal with the different sort of problem when it comes to being from the south, and this idea of different flags, but you guys don't have to deal with that, because your flag is the same flag that you write, and I didn't think about that into this conversation.
• 29:07
  [SPEAKER_04]: I would love to hear your thoughts on the integration of
• 29:13
  [SPEAKER_04]: What is quote unquote, the flag that you grew up with, but the Vietnamese flag, and then coming to the United States and seeing that there is this difference in the culture.
• 29:21
  [SPEAKER_04]: Does that even register on your radar at all?
• 29:23
  [SPEAKER_04]: Does it?
• 29:24
  [SPEAKER_04]: And I want to hear you talk about how that, if that even affects your work and distribution, bringing in different considerations when you have films from coming from Vietnam.
• 29:36
  [SPEAKER_04]: So I want to hear this idea of the different sides of it coming
• 29:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 29:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have just a quick question on that.
• 29:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't even kind of think about that.
• 29:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: But so in Europe, for you both growing up, the Vietnamese flag of the Vietnam flag is the one we have now in Vietnam.
• 29:59
  [SPEAKER_04]: The red flag.
• 30:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you were not even exposed to Southern Vietnamese flags at all.
• 30:05
  [SPEAKER_05]: I was so ignorant that I realized that we have two flags.
• 30:10
  [SPEAKER_05]: Until I was in the States and somebody told me,
• 30:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: until you went to Orange County.
• 30:15
  [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, yeah, exactly exactly.
• 30:17
  [SPEAKER_05]: It was like, like, what was you didn't have to last?
• 30:22
  [SPEAKER_05]: I didn't know.
• 30:23
  [SPEAKER_05]: I always thought that, you know, the red flag with the, you know, star is the only one ever.
• 30:30
  [SPEAKER_05]: I didn't know.
• 30:32
  [SPEAKER_04]: But I'm also in that mind blowing Brittany.
• 30:35
  [SPEAKER_04]: I just learned, I just figured that out right now because I realized that their parents are from the north and then they got sent over to either go to school or worker like labor.
• 30:45
  [SPEAKER_04]: So it's all right, it's all the same flag as after 75, all their parents and our parents.
• 30:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'm from Hawaii, but we're considered after the line so we're kind of a self.
• 30:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: and grew up with my dad being a POW with the yellow flag and three red stripes.
• 31:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I also lived in Vietnam for some time and so I kind of like, you know, was told right away, like, that's not our flag and Vietnam.
• 31:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so had to quickly learn that.
• 31:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Wow.
• 31:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I would love to hear your interpretation of what that's like, I didn't even know that you didn't know that until, like, six months ago, Dojo.
• 31:24
  [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah.
• 31:26
  [SPEAKER_05]: You know, I'm learning all my life and this has been like one big, you know, trip to Vietnam, like the soul of Vietnamese person, and you know, you guys helped me a lot because, you know, I didn't know that in California, it's so many Vietnamese people.
• 31:42
  [SPEAKER_05]: It's like the same when I told them, I'm from Czech Republic and we have a big community and every American was like, uh, Vietnamese American, well, you have a big community.
• 31:51
  [SPEAKER_05]: So I was like, like you,
• 31:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, however you landed right in Orange County, deep in Orange County, good little tall Orange County.
• 32:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we try to take him to LA, but that didn't happen.
• 32:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: So there is not two different, but to go back to your question, Ken, I just have an example of my work and it does not that it affects it, but we have to be very mindful because what that mindfulness is less about politics, but more about
• 32:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: For at least for me in being a Vietnamese American in that our elders lived this experience, right?
• 32:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: They lived the Southern Vietnamese experience, the displacement, the war, the immigration, all of that.
• 32:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so for my dad as a POW and while
• 32:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, for my dad and my respect for him, I understand why there is still a need for the old South flag, but I also understand that the world today in Vietnam where it is today is not that flag.
• 33:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so in my work, it has to be mindful of when we distribute films from Vietnam to the US, we have to remove those flags.
• 33:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: we just don't feature a flag.
• 33:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: We feature a language instead.
• 33:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: We feature the be honest, I love that.
• 33:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't like flags, I don't like, I don't think it becomes too nationalist, even though even though I love to acknowledge and hear stories on,
• 33:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: on the war because I feel like we need to learn as much as we can of our past to make sure that we try our best not to repeat those mistakes.
• 33:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I mean, I, you know, when I learned about the Southern Vietnamese experience isn't and
• 33:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: from refugee descendants, especially the Vietnamese folk people, I learned so much of that side that I didn't get to hear much from my parents.
• 34:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's, you know, just as equally important that we acknowledge.
• 34:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: all experiences and we learn, you know, both, I don't want to say both sides because I don't think it's like a two side thing.
• 34:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's more like displaced people versus that higher power or like, you know, that a presser.
• 34:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, it is important to be really careful and mindful with these things and because our elders and ancestors,
• 34:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: experienced it.
• 34:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: They lived it.
• 34:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I 100% agree because my version of that is that we are not our government.
• 34:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: We are not our flies.
• 34:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're not, you know, we're, we are also our own people.
• 34:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's important to understand.
• 34:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: the paths, but also to live in the present and be present and just to get to know each other.
• 35:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so when we do the distribution of Vietnamese films here, and if it features a flag and all these things, we remove it not to be political, but we remove it so that way the story comes through.
• 35:12
  [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, like I can't imagine that your audience wouldn't come to the movies if they saw the red
• 35:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, not all.
• 35:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think the younger audience are more open and learning for themselves.
• 35:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I think, yeah, definitely there are hubs that we can pretty much rely on not showing up if that happened.
• 35:40
  [SPEAKER_04]: But I got a funny story that happened just last Monday.
• 35:47
  [SPEAKER_04]: So I,
• 35:49
  [SPEAKER_04]: was invited to a Vietnam embassy dinner.
• 35:53
  [SPEAKER_04]: This last Sunday, it was a tent party.
• 35:57
  [SPEAKER_04]: You show up and there's 50 tables, 10 people each, 500 people, it was hot.
• 36:02
  [SPEAKER_04]: It was at the Anaheim, Marriott, writing middle of the Confendient Center in Anaheim, writing a part of Orange County.
• 36:08
  [SPEAKER_04]: We're all the, you walk in and big stage because a big red flag, just a yellow star.
• 36:18
  [SPEAKER_04]: when you speak.
• 36:19
  [SPEAKER_04]: I was a little scared.
• 36:20
  [SPEAKER_04]: I was a little bit trepidation about like what like but I heard this is like the fifth year that they've done this and no no and I've seen members of the community that I know like Vietnamese American leaders inside that hall sitting at that dinner and I was like but most of the people I didn't recognize
• 36:40
  [SPEAKER_04]: Because usually you go to an event like that for me, I'll recognize how it may be 10, 20 people that are in the Vietnamese American leadership space.
• 36:47
  [SPEAKER_04]: I only saw like two or three, but I was even blown away to see those people there.
• 36:50
  [SPEAKER_04]: I was like, wow, this takes a lot of, this is a lot of change that's happening that you're like, and then, you know, the council general council of Vietnam comes up and gives his speech and, you know, it's,
• 37:03
  [SPEAKER_04]: All right.
• 37:05
  [SPEAKER_04]: We are here.
• 37:06
  [SPEAKER_04]: We are now 2026 and that flag is arrived right in the heart.
• 37:09
  [SPEAKER_04]: There's no protest.
• 37:12
  [SPEAKER_05]: I mean, I think that it's good for business to be on good terms with our homeland, you know, because if you want to make business, you don't talk about politics in Vietnam.
• 37:25
  [SPEAKER_04]: I think a lot of people are changing, you know, doing more business, you know, doing more business and we're accepting it more.
• 37:32
  [SPEAKER_04]: It's happening a lot more.
• 37:34
  [SPEAKER_04]: It's happening in a very underground way.
• 37:36
  [SPEAKER_04]: Like, I'm a part of a board in business board in Oregon.
• 37:40
  [SPEAKER_04]: That impact actually invited me to that dinner.
• 37:43
  [SPEAKER_04]: And the business community in DC, New York, Portland, San Diego, are all cool with this stuff.
• 37:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think I think that I'll ties it back over to, I think, why this conversation is important because business follows culture.
• 38:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And culture is the derivative of the arts.
• 38:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's why we need here in Indusion and people like you guys to create and to develop from your roots and from your culture and from your experiences.
• 38:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so that way more of our community shows up and the more people that shows up, the more business can accept where we are today.
• 38:32
  [SPEAKER_04]: well put.
• 38:34
  [SPEAKER_04]: Really well put.
• 38:35
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, really well put.
• 38:37
  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's talk.
• 38:38
  [SPEAKER_04]: Let's can we talk a little bit about can we talk about Brittany about what we're doing on Monday?
• 38:44
  [SPEAKER_04]: The Columbia part is that a public thing.
• 38:46
  [SPEAKER_04]: Is it something Monday?
• 38:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, next Monday.
• 38:51
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, next Monday.
• 38:52
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, we talk about it is.
• 38:56
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah,
• 38:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: it is not open to the public.
• 38:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is a private event.
• 39:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is a seated private event.
• 39:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I believe we're almost at capacity.
• 39:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: So amazing guys.
• 39:08
  [SPEAKER_05]: How many seats?
• 39:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: We showed up.
• 39:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was 70 seats.
• 39:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think we have like four left, but there's a standing room because it is at the Pulitzer Hall, which is, you know, where they give out the price.
• 39:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: And there are standing spaces.
• 39:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: The capacity I believe is 120.
• 39:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we have room.
• 39:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Psychosocial is providing food.
• 39:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is going to be a great event.
• 39:36
  [SPEAKER_04]: What did you decide to put that event on, in addition to the screening in the evening?
• 39:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: We, I decided to do that because I wanted to make sure that we optimize the make use of Dujon's time, but also to bring the community together in a way that
• 39:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: allows for two things.
• 40:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Number one is visibility to the film and fundraising and investment.
• 40:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: But number two, to get to know the Vietnamese community on the East Coast, so that way when we are planning for the distribution of summer school and more films that we have a community that we can tap into.
• 40:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we want to make sure that that community, you
• 40:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: that we're not just tapping into, but we are a part of.
• 40:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's the important part.
• 40:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, you don't want to go somewhere and say, like, hey, I want to meet all these people, because I want to make sure that we in the future can can market to them.
• 40:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is more so who can we partner with, who can we work with, who can we connect with, that feels authentic to what we do.
• 40:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what people show up.
• 40:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so that's that's why we wanted to do this and really just to have fun.
• 40:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think the most important thing in doing all of this This is good and all but at the end of the day like are we having fun?
• 40:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's the most important thing.
• 41:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's why the after party or the pre-party with dance and music
• 41:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Also, I wanted to add them so glad that it's going to be at Columbia University because they have the Vietnamese studies, right now, which I'm so happy that it's happening that people, you know, have the chance to learn about Vietnam and the history and the language and the culture, because I don't know my American friends told me that when they learned about Vietnam in high school or specific to Vietnam, American war, it was just a very like,
• 41:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not the brief mentioning, but they didn't really go in depth with that, and despite that is such a big part of American history and so important to know more about, so I'm so glad that Columbia have this initiative.
• 41:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, for sure, here I had a question for you.
• 41:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I listened to your episode on Ken's podcast and you talked about the voivafest, that sounds so fun.
• 42:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I, and I, and you put that together in such a short period of time.
• 42:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: What was that all like in like who showed up?
• 42:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: And are you going to do it again?
• 42:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to do it again, apparently, in April.
• 42:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Actually, we're going to have a meeting on Sunday with my friends to talk about our next event.
• 42:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we threw three events so far.
• 42:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the reason why we keep going because the community really wants it, like, literally, our friends are like, one is the next week with it.
• 42:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: So the first event, it was a full house.
• 42:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was like 215 people showing up in Bushwick.
• 42:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, Vietnamese communities are not really, and bushmicked typically, but it brought together a really nice, like, a really niche community.
• 42:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it was just so much fun.
• 42:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, we had Vietnamese
• 42:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: food, Vietnamese music, and comedy, like my co-founder, Leo Leongen is a really, really wonderful still, he's doing stand up comedy, and the event after that was a lunar new year event, which was also really nice, and our last event was in 2024, which was Gaza Benefit Market,
• 43:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: we got to invite a bunch of Palestinian vendors, artists, and like food makers, and we also had Vietnamese people, so that was also really nice collaboration.
• 43:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, that's my favorite part of doing Vue Ve, is that I get to meet so many different
• 43:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: people from the Vietnamese diaspora, including the Americans, the mainlander, Vietnamese, and just Vietnamese like everywhere.
• 43:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's amazing.
• 43:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Can I ask you one in LA?
• 44:01
  [SPEAKER_04]: I don't know, it's just, I bring a chance for just a mission to do a similar thing, but I call it we vet, isn't it?
• 44:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Don't act like this is no Vietnamese of you to copy and then just switch one letter.
• 44:16
  [SPEAKER_04]: I'm honoring two of our dear friends Hien and chef win buoy.
• 44:23
  [SPEAKER_04]: We have a chef friend who did a whole food series called buoy vet, you know, his last name is buoy.
• 44:28
  [SPEAKER_04]: So it's a play on words.
• 44:30
  [SPEAKER_04]: I would call it buoy vet because it's a smaller event of buoy.
• 44:35
  [SPEAKER_04]: But honoring my chef friend, you know, that's how my brain works.
• 44:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, actually Leon and I did talk about that our dream is to do a West Coast tour and then broader maybe like in in Europe because we have some European Like smaller Vietnamese like collective, such as like in Hungary, you know, we have the lunar space, our friends are doing it.
• 44:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that they reach out to you to someone want to like
• 44:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: look, you know, see the film as well.
• 45:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, that's what it's cool about the Vietnamese diaspora that we are so global.
• 45:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we just have each of their everywhere around the world.
• 45:07
  [SPEAKER_04]: It's amazing.
• 45:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
• 45:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you can just always tap in and someone will know someone and then it happens.
• 45:13
  [SPEAKER_04]: It's amazing.
• 45:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that you should do here in a voivet, I see where you're going can, but I think you should do a voivet and if you are, you have a whole community here that would love to support you.
• 45:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yay.
• 45:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 45:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: We would love to do that.
• 45:35
  [SPEAKER_04]: Quick question.
• 45:35
  [SPEAKER_04]: Leo coming to our event.
• 45:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Actually, I'm not sure if he'll be able to make it, I'm going to ask, I know that he's going to be here on Sunday because he has an event here.
• 45:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'll ask.
• 45:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: But our next WVFS event is going to be an April.
• 45:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be a Vina House party.
• 45:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you happen to be in New York sports, you're invited.
• 46:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's amazing.
• 46:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: When what is that?
• 46:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: What is the date on that one?
• 46:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: We actually don't have it locked yet, but we're going to have the meeting on Sunday to figure out.
• 46:12
  [SPEAKER_04]: They just invited us to the meeting Brittany.
• 46:15
  [SPEAKER_04]: Sunday.
• 46:15
  [SPEAKER_04]: Right.
• 46:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's right.
• 46:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's right.
• 46:17
  [SPEAKER_04]: That's right.
• 46:18
  [SPEAKER_04]: They want us to be at that meeting.
• 46:19
  [SPEAKER_04]: We did.
• 46:20
  [SPEAKER_04]: We understand here.
• 46:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: we want to involve more people into, we've felt like we want this to be really a community thing, so we're trying to have like more people, anybody who wants to like plan and organize to have them onboard and any ideas are welcome.
• 46:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, if we come to the west coast and you want to come like do something with us, like we're so open.
• 46:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely.
• 46:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's a huge, you know, in, have you been here?
• 46:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: I, I remember from your episode, you were supposed to go to LA, right?
• 46:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Or you had intentions to go to LA after Boston, but then you decided to stay in New York?
• 46:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, because I got the first work opportunity in New York and I ended up being here, but I'd been to LA and I'd been to Orange County too, like I'd been to Little Saigon, and it was
• 47:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was one of the best days of my life literally like I had to know what's good food.
• 47:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: I had the snails and the chair and you know the weird American food is a little bit slightly different than the Vietnamese food and I love that I'm a big fan.
• 47:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like I went to karaoke with saying like a bunch of ballero.
• 47:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was, it was a dream.
• 47:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's amazing.
• 47:30
  [SPEAKER_05]: It's almost the food man.
• 47:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: always yeah we do have we do have a pretty not as big as Orange County and we're not too far right from from Orange Cargo about an hour away 45 minutes sometimes an hour in traffic like two hours but there is a you know a pretty healthy size of Vietnamese Americans especially Vietnamese Americans entertainment, creative film, etc.
• 47:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: here in LA and so I think a festival like you are especially with comedy, food, culture like that would do so well here.
• 48:03
  [SPEAKER_04]: We probably are the biggest Vietnamese entertainment community outside of Vietnam and in fact Of course, I mean Paris by night come on first one night everybody grew up on Paris by night Paris by night was like that's that's the Vietnamese volleyball
• 48:19
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
• 48:21
  [SPEAKER_04]: And her Vietnamese film directors come the early days, you know, Charlie, Ham Trang, Victor Vu, a lot of the veterans out of the visual effects like my brother come from L.A.'s Hollywood area and then they come.
• 48:35
  [SPEAKER_04]: Tim Bowie, Tony Bowie, all made movies in Vietnam in the early days and helped build the Vietnamese film industry.
• 48:41
  [SPEAKER_04]: Very proud to know that our brothers and sisters, like Jenny Tranglay, helped build the Vietnamese film industry to wear it as today.
• 48:51
  [SPEAKER_04]: It's a huge legacy coming out of L.A.
• 48:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you two are meeting two, like you see this wall with Dustin Winn, um, I don't know if you were familiar uh, being from Europe of Dustin Winn, but he, I've seen, I've seen him some lovis, yeah.
• 49:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and he went back to Vietnam, did a ton of films, and then came back and doing a lot of stuff too, and then of course, Tony Boy, who is the filmmaker, which we could have had it on, what did we have among this
• 49:23
  [SPEAKER_04]: Those are me for God.
• 49:24
  [SPEAKER_04]: It's probably teaching.
• 49:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh my God.
• 49:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
• 49:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sorry, Tony.
• 49:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sorry.
• 49:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: He would have been great on this call.
• 49:32
  [SPEAKER_04]: He's hilarious, but I think it's very difficult to do a lot of people on a single call.
• 49:38
  [SPEAKER_04]: And Tony is very shy.
• 49:40
  [SPEAKER_04]: He's been on podcasts before, but he's shy and he's super busy because he's actually preparing to come to LA for the Oscars.
• 49:49
  [SPEAKER_05]: Wow.
• 49:50
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, he's going to the Oscars.
• 49:52
  [SPEAKER_04]: He's going to the governor's ball, which is happening.
• 49:54
  [SPEAKER_04]: I think before the Oscars and then he'll be at the he'll be in attendance at the Oscars.
• 49:59
  [SPEAKER_04]: So it's a very special weekend for him.
• 50:01
  [SPEAKER_04]: And then he's hopping on a flight at one in the morning on Sunday night to be with us in New York all that Monday.
• 50:08
  [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you Tony.
• 50:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he's going to he's going to land it and and jump right into the conversation with you off.
• 50:18
  [SPEAKER_04]: You know, we're heading towards the end of our episode here.
• 50:23
  [SPEAKER_04]: And I want to ask everybody what, 2026, what is the evolution of your work?
• 50:29
  [SPEAKER_04]: What is the evolution of the projects that you all have in store?
• 50:34
  [SPEAKER_04]: I want to hear about it.
• 50:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Should I start?
• 50:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
• 50:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm actually finishing off my album.
• 50:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm trying to,
• 50:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: release that this year and hopefully tour with it and have life performances from that material.
• 50:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that's my current big plan.
• 51:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that's it.
• 51:05
  [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, looking forward to it.
• 51:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can't wait to hear your album.
• 51:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is this going to be your first album that would like full album or so honestly like I released albums before in my teenager years but it was completely different type of music so I think that ever since I really found my sound that I started to produce my own music.
• 51:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: it is my first album that you know I'm also a producer and writer so yeah I'm excited to do that but honestly the reason why I really want to release it is that because I want to move on to the next thing.
• 51:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm doing this talking about 2027 what I'm trying to work on is that I managed to bring my grandfather's consent tapes from Vietnam to New York it's like
• 51:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: 15 really, really old cassette tapes.
• 52:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some of them were too old to...
• 52:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: be restored, but I was able to digitize the esmaterial and, you know, my grandfather played a musician.
• 52:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: He played a guitar, a violin, and a bunch of like Vietnamese traditional instruments, and basically on this cassettes, it's all of his improvisations, and also he reported his favorite radio shows like Caitlyn, Caitlyn pieces, and shows, so I would love to sit
• 52:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: three simple that in my own music, so I think that after I release this next album, I want to dedicate a whole album made from from my grandmother, parent, and grandfather's assets.
• 52:45
  [SPEAKER_04]: That is amazing.
• 52:46
  [SPEAKER_04]: It's incredible.
• 52:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Are they?
• 52:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Isn't it if I can ask number one, where are their names, especially if they are musicians from Vietnam?
• 52:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And number two, are they still around?
• 52:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, they've passed the way my grandfather's name is Tantanthu.
• 52:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And my, um, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh
• 53:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: grandmother's name is Nam.
• 53:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: They actually met in the Kailung theater and they fell in love there.
• 53:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: So my grandmother was to be a singer actress, like Kailung actress and singer in Hanoi, and then my grandfather grew up in Banclio, and then Kailung and Saigon as well.
• 53:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: But then I think he moved to Hanoi, I think because of
• 53:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: the wife, my grandmother.
• 53:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: So they ended up in Hanoi and my mom was born in Hanoi already.
• 53:39
  [SPEAKER_04]: I just wanted two comments to add to this.
• 53:42
  [SPEAKER_04]: Number one, have you watched Ivan, the documentary made by Quahha, you know, Ivan the composer?
• 53:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Ivan, what's I just heard about that.
• 53:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I just want to name that dog.
• 53:52
  [SPEAKER_04]: Ivan, Ivan is a name of, he's like a, like a, like a a prolific, he wrote so many of the songs that you know that you hear, like long man or all of these beautiful songs, his daughter is probably your age in.
• 54:08
  [SPEAKER_04]: And she put together this beautiful documentary called Ivan.
• 54:12
  [SPEAKER_04]: And, you know, it's, yeah, it's out there.
• 54:15
  [SPEAKER_04]: But it's like, why VIA and, and it's very similar to your story with, uh, with your grandfather and grandmother.
• 54:22
  [SPEAKER_04]: to see it.
• 54:24
  [SPEAKER_04]: And you can hit on Instagram.
• 54:27
  [SPEAKER_04]: Quah ha.
• 54:29
  [SPEAKER_04]: It's she always says I have a man's name.
• 54:30
  [SPEAKER_04]: So she brought it up.
• 54:33
  [SPEAKER_04]: But Quah, K.O.K.
• 54:35
  [SPEAKER_04]: H.O.A.
• 54:35
  [SPEAKER_04]: I say that because not to confuse you when you think about, oh my god, Quah is a guy, but it's actually a woman director.
• 54:41
  [SPEAKER_04]: Quah ha.
• 54:42
  [SPEAKER_04]: Look her up, message her.
• 54:44
  [SPEAKER_04]: I think it's important that both of you make that connection.
• 54:47
  [SPEAKER_04]: The other thing that I
• 54:51
  [SPEAKER_04]: have a conversation with the D. J. N. M. D. J. Demonslayer.
• 54:54
  [SPEAKER_04]: His name is Dan.
• 54:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't understand him.
• 54:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I haven't met him, but he was, he was going to do an event in New York.
• 55:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: And he wanted me to perform, but then that event didn't happen.
• 55:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
• 55:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I know he did a lot of research on new wave.
• 55:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
• 55:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's amazing.
• 55:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 55:08
  [SPEAKER_04]: sampling with Gailoon, if you guys collaborate, I would love to hear, because Dima Sair is the brilliant mind, and I can't imagine like, you know, collaborating on a tracker too with that kind of, Gailoon sampling, that would be mind blowing.
• 55:21
  [SPEAKER_04]: I'll be amazing.
• 55:22
  [SPEAKER_04]: I would look forward to that.
• 55:23
  [SPEAKER_04]: And also your sampling, whatever you do with your vocals and your your grandparents, would be absolutely fantastic.
• 55:32
  [SPEAKER_04]: Brittany, your next
• 55:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, okay.
• 55:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, 2026 for Citrus, I, we've fully kind of started the business this year.
• 55:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because last year was like, hey, can we make this work?
• 55:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: And more like, okay, we can do this.
• 55:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: We can make this work.
• 55:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: So Citrus was established this year.
• 55:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not too long ago.
• 55:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And my goal for the year is to distribute the film not only the adrogly, but also
• 56:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: developed that playbook for releases, starting with Dujon's film, and hopefully acquire more Southeast Asian and diasper films to bring it to the States, both North America, both Canada and the U.S. and through the actual distribution and really have people come out to the cinema, to watch the movies, I think that's the most important part.
• 56:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: because I, you know, tying that all back to me and why that is important, because the whole business started because I just want my mom to be able to come to the cinema with me and not have to translate.
• 56:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so, and her name is Squid, which means Tangerine.
• 56:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: or a Clementine, and that's why it's such a... Oh, I know, it's a good dedication to my mom and I want to make sure that every our elders, our families, our parents, are able to go to the movies to wash our films, and so 2026 onward is to do that.
• 57:05
  [SPEAKER_04]: What a cool story, I didn't know that.
• 57:07
  [SPEAKER_05]: Oh, I'm glad that I heard this story.
• 57:12
  [SPEAKER_05]: Okay, so for 2020's six, we just learned that we got funded a new project.
• 57:21
  [SPEAKER_05]: Wow, man.
• 57:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: The animation wouldn't?
• 57:23
  [SPEAKER_05]: No, no, I have like three projects running like simultaneously.
• 57:27
  [SPEAKER_05]: But because, you know, if you are a director and you takes you eight years to make a film, you better make like at least three at the same time.
• 57:35
  [SPEAKER_05]: So this project is called Journey to the West.
• 57:40
  [SPEAKER_05]: And it's, you know, the story of the first Vietnamese who came to Europe.
• 57:45
  [SPEAKER_05]: So it's starting in 1950s.
• 57:48
  [SPEAKER_05]: And the funny story, 100 children after Indochina War came to Czechoslovakia.
• 57:55
  [SPEAKER_05]: And the first Vietnamese who came to Czechoslovakia.
• 58:01
  [SPEAKER_05]: So it's like this anthology series.
• 58:05
  [SPEAKER_05]: different like story from different time.
• 58:09
  [SPEAKER_05]: So it's a 1950s, 1960s, 70s, 80s.
• 58:13
  [SPEAKER_05]: And you know the reason I am making this is, it's also connected to my parents because I wanted them to, you know, to see
• 58:23
  [SPEAKER_05]: their own journey on TV so that they could get, you know, entertained because they only watch social media and I think they could watch some TV show and we are collecting interviews with people who actually remember the time.
• 58:45
  [SPEAKER_05]: And, you know, it's going to be hard to get funded like 100% but we are in development stage right now so I will be writing a lot of scripts now.
• 58:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And also, excessive, that's so exciting.
• 58:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: And really cool, and then reminds me of your project can, and what you're doing with the story bank, the interviews with our elders, which is also really incredible.
• 59:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to tell your piece of your storyboard.
• 59:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're looking to do for 26, but it made me think about that.
• 59:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: How special?
• 59:18
  [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you, thank you.
• 59:20
  [SPEAKER_04]: In 2020, six, I am actually expanding beyond the Vietnamese.
• 59:26
  [SPEAKER_04]: So, anybody tangentially related to African Americans I've had on the podcast, Tony award-winning people who are outside of the community, but who have like roots within the Vietnamese community, like we have a Congresswoman Judy Chu in California that will be coming on and you know,
• 59:43
  [SPEAKER_04]: So people like that, I'm expanding it out to hear more of like legislation that they have with like deported people going to Vietnam or Cambodia.
• 59:51
  [SPEAKER_04]: So expanding the podcast in that way and just making sure that the Vietnamese podcast is a hub for mainstream Asian America as it relates to the Vietnamese community.
• 1:00:02
  [SPEAKER_04]: So that's sort of like the direction.
• 1:00:05
  [SPEAKER_04]: And obviously I'm going to always keep Vietnamese people
• 1:00:09
  [SPEAKER_04]: consistently back on the podcast.
• 1:00:10
  [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, that's my bread and butter is my love for Vietnamese people.
• 1:00:15
  [SPEAKER_04]: And I am so happy that we knocked this podcast out to it.
• 1:00:19
  [SPEAKER_04]: It was very last minute.
• 1:00:21
  [SPEAKER_04]: And all three of you are such wonderful speakers, you know, you guys are such articulate and so easy to do something like this, which is normally very hard to do a podcast with three guests.
• 1:00:33
  [SPEAKER_04]: But it was very,
• 1:00:39
  [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.
• 1:00:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Ken, for having us.
• 1:00:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we'll all be in New York soon, so... Party soon, man.
• 1:00:46
  [SPEAKER_04]: Party soon, party soon, party soon.
• 1:00:48
  [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you, everybody.
• 1:00:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you for listening to the Vietnamese with Kenneth Win.
• 1:00:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: Special thanks to Brittany Tran, to Jane Win, Katherine Win, Tina Fam, Sydney Jamie, and Crystal Tran.
• 1:01:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: Please find us on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at the Vietnamese podcast.