Vietnam healing
Saturday october 18, 2025
2:30 PM - 4:30 PM
These two powerful short films explore the lasting aftershocks of the Vietnam War, offering perspectives from both the North and South, as well as the voices of Vietnamese Americans living with its legacy today. Through deeply personal stories and reflections, they reveal how history continues to shape identity, memory, and community across generations. Together, these films open space for dialogue, healing, and a fuller understanding of a complex past.
In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, millions of Vietnamese immigrants fled their beloved country to rebuild their lives all over the world. Nearly fifty years later, hundreds of children of these refugees have permanently returned to the motherland out of a curiosity and desire to experience the current country that their parents still mourn. Comedian Fred Le, who himself spent three years in Vietnam, conducts a series of interviews with these overseas-born Vietnamese professionals to explore the allure of the motherland and what it means to "return home."
The Empathizer
Director: Fred Le
On Healing Land, Birds Perch (ĐẤT LÀNH CHIM ĐẬU)
ON HEALING LAND, BIRDS PERCH is a short documentary that tells the remarkable stories behind one of the most iconic photos in history, while acting as a portal into the “varied carols,” to borrow from Walt Whitman, of trauma and the American journey. This is the first documentary, from a Vietnamese born filmmaker that explores the continuing aftershocks of the Vietnam War from the perspectives of both sides of the war: North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese including Vietnamese Americans alive today. The story is told through the iconic Pulitzer winning photo of General Loan shooting a Vietcong captain Nguyen Van Lem in the head on the second day of the 1968 Tet Offensive.
Director: Naja Pham Lockwood
SECTION IN PROGRESS…
Q&A
Moderator: Lan Nguyen
Lan Nguyen is an award-winning filmmaker, educator, and community organizer. With roots stemming from Long Beach, CA, Lan currently resides in San Jose and teaches at San Jose State University and UC Santa Cruz.
On Healing Land, Birds Perch
Director: Naja Pham Lockwood
Naja has executive produced multiple documentary and narrative films focusing on social justice issues including Try Harder!, Coming Home Again, Gook and Cries From Syria. In 2020, Naja produced 76 Days directed by Hao Wu, revolving around the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The film won a Peabody Award and a Primetime Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. Naja is the founder of RYSE Media Ventures, which supports stories of diverse voices, and an investor in Impact Partners Films, which has financed the Academy Award winning documentary, Icarus, as well as Won’t You Be My Neighbor and Audrie and Daisy. She co-produced The First Days, which is a collaboration between StoryCorps and PBS's Academy Nominated Last Days in Vietnam which aimed to collect, preserve and celebrate the stories of Vietnamese American refugees and Vietnam veterans throughout America.
The Empathizer
Producer/Director: Fred Le
Fred Le is a standup comedian and filmmaker who was born in the Bay Area and currently lives in Los Angeles. After spending three years enjoying life in the country his parents had fled in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, he began focusing his creative output on exploring his own Viet Kieu (overseas-born) identity. He is the co-creator of the all-Vietnamese comedy showcase Embarrassed by Night which continues to tour up and down California since 2022, and his debut feature documentary The Empathizer is currently doing festival rounds after premiering at the Viet Film Fest 2024 where it was nominated for Best Feature. As a performer, he has earned invites to showcase at major festivals such as Treefort, Boom Chicago! in Amsterdam, and San Francisco Sketchfest.