Don’t miss this exciting new episode of ÁCCENTED: Dialogues in Diaspora, presented by the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN)! This season, author and DVAN co-founder Viet Thanh Nguyen will host conversations with a distinguished lineup of authors, artists, poets, cultural producers, and community organizers across the Southeast Asian diaspora.
ÁCCENTED returns on Thursday, October 21st with legendary actress Kiều Chinh, Ysa Le from the Vietnamese International Film Festival, and Jes Vũ from CAPE in conversation with Pulitzer-prize winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen on Vietnamese diasporic cinema. They’ll be discussing their work, careers, and ventures in the community, and share insights and wisdom into how we can continue to amplify diasporic narratives in the film industry.
The Zoom event takes place this Thursday, October 21st, 2021 at 6 pm PST / 9pm EST. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased here. Sign up for a VIP pass and join our guests and host Viet Thanh Nguyen in an intimate after party conversation!
About the Guests:
Kìêu Chinh is a legendary actress with a long successful career dating back to 1957. Throughout her career, she has played female leads in 22 feature films in Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taipei, India, as well as in American productions shot in Asia such as Operation CIA, co-starred with Burt Reynolds. She has also appeared in over 80 television shows. Along with journalist Terry Anderson and the late Vietnam Vet Pulitzer Prize author Lewis Puller, Kieu Chinh is a founder / co-chair of The Vietnam Children’s Fund, a non-profit organization that has built a network of elementary schools in Vietnam as living memorials to remember the families and children lost in that country’s long wars. Her new memoir, Hồi Ký Kiều Chinh, has just released and is available worldwide.
Ysa Le began her art activism with VAALA since 2000, serving as VAALA’s Board as President from 2004-2008, and then as Executive Director from 2008 until now. She is one of the original co-founders of Viet Film Fest.
Prior to VAALA, Ysa was a radio host for the Viet Nam California Radio (VNCR), from 1995 to 2010. She hosted a weekly show called “Vòng Chân Trời Văn Học Nghệ Thuật” (“The Art Horizon”), which covered interviews with various artists and art events. Her show was syndicated for Voice of America (VOA), which broadcasted in Vietnam. In 2005, Ysa was chosen by the Orange County Register as one of the “30 Vietnamese Americans to Watch” in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Vietnamese American community in the United States. She received the Arts and Culture (In-Language) Award from New California Media in 2003 for her article on Mimi News, reporting the revival of the traditional performance art Cải Lương in the Vietnamese community. She was awarded with the “Service Award” from the USC (University of Southern California) Asian Pacific Alumni Association in 2012. Ysa received the inaugural VIMO Luminary Champion Award for her contribution in cultivating positive advancements for Vietnamese filmmaking.
Ysa received her Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1994. She currently works as a clinical pharmacist at St. Joseph Home Infusion Pharmacy in Anaheim.
Jes Vu is the Communications Manager at CAPE, a non-profit organization that champions diversity by connecting, educating, and empowering Asian American and Pacific Islander artists and leaders in entertainment and media. A child of refugees from Vietnam, she grew up in the land of cheesesteaks, hoagies and Wawas—otherwise known as the Philly suburbs. She works in the intersections of Asian America and Hollywood, and recently served as one of the Story & Cultural Consultant for Disney Animation’s Raya and the Last Dragon as part of their Southeast Asia Story Trust. She is 1/2 of the producing team with Keith Chow for Southern Fried Asian, a podcast under The Nerds of Color, which profiles the diversity of Asian Americans from the American South.
About the Host:
Viet Thanh Nguyen is the author of The Sympathizer, Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War, The Refugees, Race and Resistance: Literature, Politics and Asian America, and Chicken of the Sea, written with his son Ellison. His most recent book is The Committed, the sequel to The Sympathizer.
About the Moderator:
Philip Nguyen is the emcee for ÁCCENTED: Dialogues in Diaspora presented by the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN). He teaches Asian American Studies in the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University and is the Executive Director for the Vietnamese American Roundtable, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in San Jose, California. Philip serves as the President of the Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations (UNAVSA) and as the Co-Chair of the Young Vietnamese Americans (YVA) Committee for PIVOT – The Progressive Vietnamese American Organization.
Silent Auction:
Sign up to bid on our silent auction to take home a VietFilmFest Package (a pair of virtual passes, cookbook and swag!), drive-in movie tickets, and signed copies of books by Kiều Chinh and Viet Thanh Nguyen!
Instructions:
- Create an account and access ÁCCENTED’s online auction.
- Click on “View All Items” and click on the item(s) you’d like.
- Enter your desired bid amount under “Bidding” and place your bid.
Happy bidding!
