Documentation and feedback of the creation and distribution of Nước the documentary. Three students having immigrated to the United States in the early nineties, each to and from very different experiences, find common ground and new questions.
Created by Bing Liu, Hai Nguyen, Khanh Than, and youme in 2010 as a student project for Asian American literature course taught by Helen Jun at University of Illinois Chicago.
What were Heidi's feelings about being the subject of your film?
When Heidi agreed to let us accompany her and film her trip, she, along with us, believed everything was going to be happy. She wasn't exactly sure why we wanted to come along and she was caught up in the excitement of a reunion after 22 years. She didn't give much thought to the consequences of turning it into a feature-length documentary. Once we returned, however, she expressed hesitations about sharing what happened with the world and questioned whether we should continue with the film. She said that she was ashamed of her behavior with her family but that she had been so overwhelmed by the whole experience she just couldn't control her reaction. She feared that a film would expose her to audiences who would condemn her, making it all even more difficult to handle.
We felt great compassion for Heidi and didn't in any way want to coerce her into going forward with the project. We believed the film could have a great impact on many people but more importantly we didn't want it to have a negative impact on Heidi. After many months of talking together she agreed to proceed. But we weren't totally convinced. We wanted her full support. We showed her a 17-minute sample that included the most dramatic moments of the film -- good and difficult -- and told her if she wanted us to stop, we would. We would only continue if she believed there was something in it for her. After viewing the tape she said yes, we should make the film. Of course we asked why, what did she believe was in it for her? She told us that it was forcing her to really look at her past, that she wouldn't have done that if it wasn't for the film and she knew some part of her wanted to remember it all. As she told us, her life, until then, had felt like a bunch of pieces of a puzzle floating unconnected in her mind. In making the film, we were helping her fit them all together as well as helping her find missing pieces.
What does Heidi think of the completed film?
Once the film was completed, we sent her a copy and it took her over a month to look at it. When we won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival we called her to share the excitement. She said, "I'm so happy for you. You worked so hard for so long, I'm glad you won... and... I guess I better take a look!" Finally, a few weeks later, she gave us her opinion, "I think you made a really good film... I just wish it wasn't about me."
Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco welcome your comments and questions. You can reach them directly via e-mail at: daughter_danang@igc.org.
What a great documentary. Full of emotions and cultural differences that came out in surprising ways. I'd love to discuss this more in person. Thanks for sharing it.
http://www.daughterfromdanang.com/about/qa.html
ReplyDeleteFilmmaker Q&A
What were Heidi's feelings about being the subject of your film?
When Heidi agreed to let us accompany her and film her trip, she, along with us, believed everything was going to be happy. She wasn't exactly sure why we wanted to come along and she was caught up in the excitement of a reunion after 22 years. She didn't give much thought to the consequences of turning it into a feature-length documentary. Once we returned, however, she expressed hesitations about sharing what happened with the world and questioned whether we should continue with the film. She said that she was ashamed of her behavior with her family but that she had been so overwhelmed by the whole experience she just couldn't control her reaction. She feared that a film would expose her to audiences who would condemn her, making it all even more difficult to handle.
We felt great compassion for Heidi and didn't in any way want to coerce her into going forward with the project. We believed the film could have a great impact on many people but more importantly we didn't want it to have a negative impact on Heidi. After many months of talking together she agreed to proceed. But we weren't totally convinced. We wanted her full support. We showed her a 17-minute sample that included the most dramatic moments of the film -- good and difficult -- and told her if she wanted us to stop, we would. We would only continue if she believed there was something in it for her. After viewing the tape she said yes, we should make the film. Of course we asked why, what did she believe was in it for her? She told us that it was forcing her to really look at her past, that she wouldn't have done that if it wasn't for the film and she knew some part of her wanted to remember it all. As she told us, her life, until then, had felt like a bunch of pieces of a puzzle floating unconnected in her mind. In making the film, we were helping her fit them all together as well as helping her find missing pieces.
What does Heidi think of the completed film?
Once the film was completed, we sent her a copy and it took her over a month to look at it. When we won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival we called her to share the excitement. She said, "I'm so happy for you. You worked so hard for so long, I'm glad you won... and... I guess I better take a look!" Finally, a few weeks later, she gave us her opinion, "I think you made a really good film... I just wish it wasn't about me."
Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco welcome your comments and questions. You can reach them directly via e-mail at: daughter_danang@igc.org.
What a great documentary. Full of emotions and cultural differences that came out in surprising ways. I'd love to discuss this more in person. Thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteI watched the documentary. Interesting. We'll discuss.
ReplyDelete