Using the metaphor of nanitic—a descriptor of the first worker ants produced by the queen using only the reserved nutrition of her body—this story follows a day in the life of two young girls Mai and Trang, their Aunt Útty, and Trang’s ailing grandmother.
IMDbPro Short Cuts Share Her Journey Award, TIFF 2022
Supported by
Community Broadcast Partner
Community Partner
Kylie Le, Ly Pham, Van Pham, Dam Nguyen, Eve Sevigny, Fred Nguyen, An Nguyen
Canada
2022
In Vietnamese and English with English subtitles
Featured in:
VIFF Short Forum: Program 1
What kind of alchemy occurs to transform hardship into fortune? Here, the extraordinary burn brightly.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
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Memory of Princess Mumbi
In 2093, a filmmaker arrives in the African village of Umata, where he meets Princess Mumbi, a woman torn between love, legacy, and the future of storytelling. It's a fabulous genre-blending fable about memory, invention and cinematic resistance.
Lessons of Darkness
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Beau Travail
Inspired by Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Claire Denis' transfixing Beau Travail is set in East Africa. Sgt Galoup (Denis Lavant) reflects on his time in the French Foreign Legion, and the impact of the handsome Sentain (Gregoire Colin).
But I'm a Cheerleader
Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is the perfect All-American Girl, or so she thinks. That is until she’s shipped off to conversion therapy. This pitch black comedy is wrapped in a saccharine bow, featuring the icon herself, RuPaul, as a conversion counsellor.
Credits
Executive Producer
Karine Bélanger, Hany Ouichou
Producer
Carol Nguyen, Marie Lytwynuk
Screenwriter
Carol Nguyen
Cinematography
Alexandre Nour-Desjardins
Editor
Carol Nguyen
Original Music
Arie Van de Ven
Art Director
Estelle Tang
Director
Carol Nguyen
Carol Nguyen is a Vietnamese-Canadian filmmaker based in Montreal. Her films often explore the subjects of cultural identity, family, and memory. Her last film, No Crying at the Dinner Table (2019), premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and had its international premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), where she was additionally invited as the opening night speaker. In 2020, No Crying at the Dinner Table also received the Jury Prize for Short Documentary at SXSW. Nguyen is a 2018 Sundance Ignite fellow, Adobe Creativity Scholar, and a TIFF Share Her Journey ambassador.


