Tuan Andrew Nguyen in “Between Worlds”

Video without descriptive audio available here.

Working alongside Vietnamese communities from Quảng Trị, Vietnam, to Dakar, Senegal, to Louisiana, USA, artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen creates visually rich and narratively captivating films that unearth the untold stories of war, colonization, and migration. Weaving together fact, fiction, archive, and anecdote, his films envision different ways that the wounds of the past can be healed and even become something beautiful. Working in his studio, Nguyen gives new life to the unexploded ordnance that have been buried across the Vietnamese countryside, transforming them into carefully crafted sculptures. This documentary film sees the artist move between locales, histories, and cultures, using the power of storytelling to exorcize the ghosts that linger across generations. “People have a need to tell their stories,” says Nguyen. “These stories are oftentimes forgotten stories, unheard of stories, stories erased by the dominant narrative. So the challenge is just to be open to what people want to say.”

This film was directed by Bryan Chang and Jeffrey Sterrenberg, produced by Zeshawn Ali and Bryan Chang, edited by Zara Serabian-Arthur, and photographed by Miasarah Lai.