Give as a gift
Masculinity is transforming as gendered norms and roles evolve. Sometimes, when considering a pressing sociopolitical issue, men are deemed “the problem” – ending a conversation without further contextualization, nuance, or a suggested remedy. This set – which involves male protagonists and subjects (We Were the Scenery’s co-subjects are a husband and wife) – depicts men pushed to the margins of society for reasons beyond their control. How do their notions of masculinity inform their responses to a situation and how is masculinity – especially in a Vietnamese diasporic context – evolving?
Vietnamese men find themselves adrift, far from home, in Visa, Land of Opportunity, and From a Distance. In Visa, A Vietnamese student is desperate to extend his stay in America and resorts to desperate measures. The desperation is quieter, less urgent in Land of Opportunity and From a Distance (their subjects contending with alienation in Hong Kong and Germany, respectively) – but it remains just as potent as in the set opener. The Journal and We Were the Scenery examine Vietnam War-related trauma that manifests differently within an American veteran and a Vietnamese refugee couple. With the former film reopening unseen wounds, the latter recalls the couple’s experiences reenacting violent scenes for Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979) – a film unconcerned about Vietnamese suffering. The animated Xanh concludes this set, as a daughter asks her father why he refused to challenge a racist remark hurled towards him.
Like its fellow VFF short film sets, this set does not pretend to offer clear answers to its central question, but exists to further a necessary conversation.
By Eric Nong
In the kitchen of an Asian fast food restaurant, Duy Em and her father Ba discuss a recent incident in which he was discriminated against. Eager to know why he refused to challenge the racist remarks, and unwilling to accept his resigned attitude in the matter, Duy Em decides to dig deeper. As her father tells the story of his journey to Germany among the Vietnamese boat people, it becomes clear that his experiences over the last 40 years have dramatically shaped his perception of injustice. “Xanh”, which in Vietnamese can mean both green and blue, is a story about the individual choice of perspective and the visible contexts these choices entail, a lone example which nonetheless speaks to all the invisible identities that exist in our midst.
- Year2022
- Runtime12:23
- LanguageVietnamese
- CountryGermany
- DirectorThị Đăng An Trần
- ProducerSylvia Jorde
- CastThị Đăng An Trần, Văn Nhân Trần
- EditorPetja von Bredow
- AnimatorKarla Riebartsch, Lydia-Sophia Schüttengruber, Gina Stephan, Fabienne Völler, Benjamin Wahl,
- Production DesignNicolas Sperling, Gregor Wittich, Alexia Mokry, Cristina Narata, Aylin Aslatan, Marie-Christin Aufinger, Luísa Bacelar, Esther Brechlin, Sylvia Jorde, Cristina Narata, Rion Sho Narata, Lydia-Sophia Schüttengruber, Nicolas Sperling, Gina Stephan, Benjamin Wahl, Duke Lam Nguyen
- ComposerGwenola Heck, Leo Neumann, Nicolas Sperling, Julia Thonig, Fabienne Völler, Mirko Büchele
- Sound DesignManik Möllers, Samuel Krupke
Masculinity is transforming as gendered norms and roles evolve. Sometimes, when considering a pressing sociopolitical issue, men are deemed “the problem” – ending a conversation without further contextualization, nuance, or a suggested remedy. This set – which involves male protagonists and subjects (We Were the Scenery’s co-subjects are a husband and wife) – depicts men pushed to the margins of society for reasons beyond their control. How do their notions of masculinity inform their responses to a situation and how is masculinity – especially in a Vietnamese diasporic context – evolving?
Vietnamese men find themselves adrift, far from home, in Visa, Land of Opportunity, and From a Distance. In Visa, A Vietnamese student is desperate to extend his stay in America and resorts to desperate measures. The desperation is quieter, less urgent in Land of Opportunity and From a Distance (their subjects contending with alienation in Hong Kong and Germany, respectively) – but it remains just as potent as in the set opener. The Journal and We Were the Scenery examine Vietnam War-related trauma that manifests differently within an American veteran and a Vietnamese refugee couple. With the former film reopening unseen wounds, the latter recalls the couple’s experiences reenacting violent scenes for Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979) – a film unconcerned about Vietnamese suffering. The animated Xanh concludes this set, as a daughter asks her father why he refused to challenge a racist remark hurled towards him.
Like its fellow VFF short film sets, this set does not pretend to offer clear answers to its central question, but exists to further a necessary conversation.
By Eric Nong
In the kitchen of an Asian fast food restaurant, Duy Em and her father Ba discuss a recent incident in which he was discriminated against. Eager to know why he refused to challenge the racist remarks, and unwilling to accept his resigned attitude in the matter, Duy Em decides to dig deeper. As her father tells the story of his journey to Germany among the Vietnamese boat people, it becomes clear that his experiences over the last 40 years have dramatically shaped his perception of injustice. “Xanh”, which in Vietnamese can mean both green and blue, is a story about the individual choice of perspective and the visible contexts these choices entail, a lone example which nonetheless speaks to all the invisible identities that exist in our midst.
- Year2022
- Runtime12:23
- LanguageVietnamese
- CountryGermany
- DirectorThị Đăng An Trần
- ProducerSylvia Jorde
- CastThị Đăng An Trần, Văn Nhân Trần
- EditorPetja von Bredow
- AnimatorKarla Riebartsch, Lydia-Sophia Schüttengruber, Gina Stephan, Fabienne Völler, Benjamin Wahl,
- Production DesignNicolas Sperling, Gregor Wittich, Alexia Mokry, Cristina Narata, Aylin Aslatan, Marie-Christin Aufinger, Luísa Bacelar, Esther Brechlin, Sylvia Jorde, Cristina Narata, Rion Sho Narata, Lydia-Sophia Schüttengruber, Nicolas Sperling, Gina Stephan, Benjamin Wahl, Duke Lam Nguyen
- ComposerGwenola Heck, Leo Neumann, Nicolas Sperling, Julia Thonig, Fabienne Völler, Mirko Büchele
- Sound DesignManik Möllers, Samuel Krupke