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This Art21 collection spotlights three artists who use research, storytelling, and speculative visions to confront the forces shaping our world. Candice Lin uncovers overlooked histories through sensorial materials; Tuan Andrew Nguyen explores the lasting wounds of war, migration, and colonialism through community-based storytelling; and Josh Kline imagines the human consequences of automation, inequality, and climate crisis. Together, these films invite us to question official narratives and envision more just futures.
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.
Director Biography - Jeff Sterrenberg, Bryan Chang
Bryan Chang is a documentary film director, cinematographer, and editor whose films have been featured by The New York Times, National Geographic, TIME Magazine, The Atlantic, and MoMA; screened at the Sundance Film Festival; and distributed theatrically. His feature-length documentaries include Brasslands (director), Narco Cultura (editor), Dark Money (editor) and Island Soldier (producer/editor). He is a co-owner of Meerkat Media, a cooperatively-run production company specializing in both independent feature documentaries and commissioned work, that have broadcast on HBO, PBS and CNN.
Jeff Sterrenberg is primarily a non-fiction and experimental filmmaker based in Brooklyn, New York. His work has been screened at festivals around the world including CPH:DOX, The New Orleans Film Festival, IFFR in Rotterdam, The LA Film Festival, Rooftop Films, and many more. His professional work has been seen on National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Atlantic, TIME, PBS, and he’s worked with numerous museums, grassroots organizations and non profits around the New York City area. He went to Emerson College where he holds a BA in film and documentary. He has been a proud member of the Meerkat Media Collective and worker cooperative since 2009 and has worked on multiple feature documentaries and dozens of short form documentaries, music videos, short narratives, and experimental films. He has also been a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective since 2012.
- Year2025
- Runtime0:14:54
- LanguageEnglish, Vietnamese
- CountryUnited States, Vietnam
- DirectorJeff Sterrenberg, Bryan Chang
- CastTuan Andrew Nguyen
- CinematographerProduction Company: Art21
This Art21 collection spotlights three artists who use research, storytelling, and speculative visions to confront the forces shaping our world. Candice Lin uncovers overlooked histories through sensorial materials; Tuan Andrew Nguyen explores the lasting wounds of war, migration, and colonialism through community-based storytelling; and Josh Kline imagines the human consequences of automation, inequality, and climate crisis. Together, these films invite us to question official narratives and envision more just futures.
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.
Director Biography - Jeff Sterrenberg, Bryan Chang
Bryan Chang is a documentary film director, cinematographer, and editor whose films have been featured by The New York Times, National Geographic, TIME Magazine, The Atlantic, and MoMA; screened at the Sundance Film Festival; and distributed theatrically. His feature-length documentaries include Brasslands (director), Narco Cultura (editor), Dark Money (editor) and Island Soldier (producer/editor). He is a co-owner of Meerkat Media, a cooperatively-run production company specializing in both independent feature documentaries and commissioned work, that have broadcast on HBO, PBS and CNN.
Jeff Sterrenberg is primarily a non-fiction and experimental filmmaker based in Brooklyn, New York. His work has been screened at festivals around the world including CPH:DOX, The New Orleans Film Festival, IFFR in Rotterdam, The LA Film Festival, Rooftop Films, and many more. His professional work has been seen on National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Atlantic, TIME, PBS, and he’s worked with numerous museums, grassroots organizations and non profits around the New York City area. He went to Emerson College where he holds a BA in film and documentary. He has been a proud member of the Meerkat Media Collective and worker cooperative since 2009 and has worked on multiple feature documentaries and dozens of short form documentaries, music videos, short narratives, and experimental films. He has also been a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective since 2012.
- Year2025
- Runtime0:14:54
- LanguageEnglish, Vietnamese
- CountryUnited States, Vietnam
- DirectorJeff Sterrenberg, Bryan Chang
- CastTuan Andrew Nguyen
- CinematographerProduction Company: Art21