Tag: Vietnamese American professionals

Tammy Nguyen Lee to Join Vietnamese Filmmakers at Cinema Symposium 5

Tammy Nguyen Lee, ATG Against The Grain Productions President and filmmaker,  joins several other Vietnamese filmmakers and creatives at the Cinema Symposium 5 panel discussion held from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m on Sunday, April 18, 2010 at UCLA. Tammy will stream in live from Dallas, TX to  share her perspective on producing her award-winning documentary, Operation Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam. Read below for more info:

Cinema Symposium 5 Unites Filmmakers, from Established to Emerging, Local to Global

HIDDEN GENIUS’s Top Five Films To Be Screened at Cinema Symposium 5
Los Angeles, Calif. – UCLA’s Vietnamese Language and Culture (VNLC) and the Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association (VAALA) present the fifth biennial Cinema Symposium titled “Operation Greenlight: Breaking into the World of Vietnamese Cinema.” Cinema Symposium 5 will be held on Sunday, April 18, 2010 from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Dodd Hall 121 on the UCLA campus. Admission is free and open to the public. Doors open at 2:30 p.m.

The symposium will feature 11 distinguished guests. Our panel includes: Kieu Chinh (Actress/Producer, “Journey from the Fall,” “Sad Fish”, “Time”), Nghiem-Minh Nguyen-Vo (Director, “Buffalo Boy”, “Don’t Look Back”), Mark Tran (Director, “All About Dad”), Orchid Lam Quynh (Actress, “Sad Fish”), Minh Duc Nguyen (Director, “Touch”), Nadine Truong (Director, “Shadow Man”), Danny Do (Producer, “Just Kidding Films”). As a special feature, we will also be streaming “Live” from Saigon the production team from “De Mai Tinh” [Fool for Love], with Dustin Nguyen, Irene Trinh, and Charlie Nguyen. Also joining us “Live” from Dallas, Texas, is director Tammy Nguyen Lee of “Operation Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam.”

The esteemed panelists will be discussing the “ins” and “outs” of Vietnamese filmmaking, producing, and distributing. They will offer advice and speak about their experiences in the making of films and short videos in both Vietnam and Vietnamese America. The panel discussion will be followed by a lively Q & A. Shortly thereafter, please join us for the screening of the “Hidden Genius” competition entries.

“Hidden Genius” is an exciting short film competition open to emerging filmmakers. After months of screening and deliberation, the selection committee nominated five short films for the Grand Jury Award, sponsored by the Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association (VAALA), and the Audience Award, sponsored by Coco Paris LLC. These films hail from four countries — the United States, Canada, Australia, and Vietnam — and, in spite of the specific qualifications of this competition, vary immensely in subject matter and aesthetics. Patrick Bergeron’s “Loop Loop” is an experimental panorama filmed from a train ride in Hanoi. Justin Quoc Dang’s “Dice” is a thrilling lesson on the ephemeral nature of glory. Minh Duc Hoang Tran’s “Closed…!” explores the mounting tension between an alienated wife and her oblivious husband. Hoa Vu’s “Water Me” is a tongue-in-cheek memoir of a vacation in Vietnam among friends. Last, Huy Vu’s “Thinking of You” is a lush vignette about a quirky flower shop girl and the elusive “object” of her desire. These films, deriving from the furthest corners from our base in southern California, demonstrate that Vietnamese is indeed a “globalized” nationality, hence the theme of this year’s Cinema Symposium 5 – “Operation Greenlight: Breaking into the World of Vietnamese Cinema.”

Cinema Symposium was created in 2002 by VAALA and VNLC and is held every other year at UCLA. The forum seeks to create connections between Vietnamese American professionals working in the film industry and students with an interest in film and Vietnamese culture. Cinema Symposium alternates yearly with the Vietnamese International Film Festival (ViFF), which is also biennial. It works to promote works that are by or about Vietnamese Americans. The event also highlights the achievements of professionals in front of and behind the camera. These artists’ accomplishments in this highly competitive industry continue to pave the way for other Vietnamese Americans and are inspirational to many in the community.

2:30 – 3:00 p.m. Meet and greet; refreshments served
3:00 – 3:10 p.m. Opening remarks
3:10 – 3:30 p.m. Showcase of trailers/clips
3:30 – 5:15 p.m. Panel discussion
5:15 – 5:30 p.m. LIVE streaming from Saigon with Để Mai Tính team
5:30 – 5:35 p.m. LIVE streaming from Dallas with Tammy Nguyen Lee
5:36 – 6:00 p.m. Screning of Hidden Genius’s five finalists
6:00 – 6:15 p.m. Break
6:15 – 7:00 p.m. Awards presentation

Moderated by Lee Ngo and Daniel Pham

FUNDED BY:
Funded by USA/BOD and Coco Paris LLC

For more info, visit:
www.vnlc.org
www.vaala.org
www.VietFilmFest.com