Quyên Nguyen-Le
Directing
Biography
Quyên Nguyen-Le is a queer vietnamese filmmaker born in los angeles, california
Known For

A team of Arctic geologists stumble across an abandoned laboratory in which the Nazis developed an incredible and brutal secret weapon during the final months of WW2. Deep in the ice, they accidentally awake a deadly army of flying zombie sharks ridden by genetically mutated, undead super-humans, who are unleashed into the skies, wreaking their bloodthirsty revenge on any aircraft that takes to the air. An elite task force is assembled to take on this deadly threat and stop the Sky Sharks from conquering the air, but as time runs out, the task force realises they will have to fight fire with fire, and the stage is set for the greatest flying super-mutant zombie shark air battle the world has ever seen....
Sky Sharks

During a routine pickup, an elderly Vietnamese cab driver is taken hostage by three recently escaped Orange County convicts. Based on a true story.
The Accidental Getaway Driver

A collection of original shorts exploring the unknown, the unexplained, and the unimaginable.
The Labyrinth

On June 3, 1973, a man was murdered in a busy intersection of San Francisco’s Chinatown as part of an ongoing gang war. Chol Soo Lee, a 20-year-old Korean immigrant who had previous run-ins with the law, was arrested and convicted based on flimsy evidence and the eyewitness accounts of white tourists who couldn’t distinguish between Asian features. Sentenced to life in prison, Chol Soo Lee would spend years fighting to survive behind bars before journalist K.W. Lee took an interest in his case. The intrepid reporter’s investigation would galvanize a first-of-its-kind pan-Asian American grassroots movement to fight for Chol Soo Lee’s freedom, ultimately inspiring a new generation of social justice activists.
Free Chol Soo Lee

As rising sealevels threaten locations touched by the Pacific Ocean in Hawaiʻi, the Philippines, China, and North America, four women give offerings of music, poetry and heartfelt testimonial to preserve the volcano, ocean, air and land for future generations.
Afterearth

How do you remain friends with someone you used to love? Maybe a desert road trip together is not the best place to start.
The Thing About Us

Chronicles the extraordinary journey of the legendary Nobuko Miyamoto – a dancer, singer, and activist driven by a lifelong passion for social justice and community engagement.
Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song In Movement

The last remaining South Vietnamese naval officers reunite in California for what will likely be the final time, finding solace with the few people who understand the complexities that shape their life histories.
Sea Song

About the relationship between a queer Vietnamese-American teen and their Vietnamese refugee mother.
Nước (Water/Homeland)

Centering on the story of a queer Vietnamese American woman, this short film explores the collapsing and intersecting realities of heartbreak: from romantic partnerships, families, and nation states.
Hoài (Ongoing, Memory)

San Diego has been called many things – including a paradise. It’s also a refugee city, a cluster of neighborhoods, a militarized zone, a border town. And Asian American. This collection of four short documentaries, commissioned on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the San Diego Asian Film Festival, maps many such San Diego’s – across ethnicity, geography and history. At the same time, they hold on to some notion of paradise, however illusory: a haven from war, the dreams of an immigrant, precious teenage reminiscences, solace in the afterlife, and spaces for creative expression.
The Paradise We Are Looking For

Between Us follows the multilayered stories of LGBTQIA+ Khmer and Vietnamese cultural workers in southern California as they contemplate the in-betweenness of belonging, healing, and carving out spaces of their own.
Between Us

A documentary that follows the lives of three queer second generation Vietnamese Americans, navigating language, politics, and familial relationships - their stories add dimensions to Vietnamese diasporic experiences in community organizing, family, work in nail salons, and living in Little Saigon, Orange County, California: Ro Nghiem, a second generation Vietnamese, post-punk, gay lesbian boy who is currently attending school for graphic design, Natalie Newton, a Vietnamese American queer activist and strategic research analyst for social justice causes, and Shannon My Le, a claims adjuster for a workers’ compensation insurance company and is a part time entrepreneur.
Queer Vietnameseness
As Cambodia Town members face displacement threats, the Cambodia Town Thrives collaborative is formed to create a better future for their community.
Cambodia Town Thrives

Our film tells the story of KH Supermarket, a Cambodian-owned grocery store in the heart of Cambodia Town, Long Beach that was forced to close due to gentrification. We aim to create space to mourn the loss of this cultural artifact and celebrate the market’s contribution of nurturing our community.
Conversations at the Register
This documentary follows different refugee communities across the US, from Montagnard in North Carolina to the Mien in Oregon. Interviews with California Vietnamese mamas with queer kids, a collective of Southeast Asian vendors at FDR Park, canvassing youth, and Hmong farmers who trade crops with their neighbors, unearth untold unique refugee stories.
Southeast Asian American Journeys
A daughter explores her mother's Vietnamese immigration story in the wake of the closure of their nail salon.
In Living Memory
Muoz-doic Mixtape (pronounced: moo-ah thoy) is an offering of intergenerational storytelling from the Mien community of Portland, Oregon: a brief glimpse into the collective work of culture-keeping in the face of historical displacement.
Muoz-doic Mixtape
The Morning Passing on El Cajón Boulevard follows Julie - a young and ambitious second generation Vietnamese American funeral director working in City Heights, known as the refugee neighborhood of San Diego, California. Julie is used to managing funerals every week, but after the unexpected passing of her own father, Julie seeks help from Do Thai Uyen, a San Diego legend who has managed funerals (and taxes) for southeast asian families since the 1980s. A brief and intimate glimpse into the ways refugee families mourn the loss of loved ones far from their homelands.