Nguyễn Lương Hằng
Directing
Biography
Nguyễn Lương Hằng (aka Hang Luong Nguyen) is an award-winning writer-director, producer, and educator from Ho Chi Minh City interested in exploring the Vietnamese female identity in global and familial contexts. Her debut short THE STORY OF US (2014) screened at the 2016 Focus on Asia Fukuoka FF. She then served as producer for Trinh Dinh Le Minh's acclaimed debut feature GOODBYE MOTHER (2019), one of the first LGBTQ films from Vietnam to participate in the international cinematic scene, selected by prestigious festivals in Busan, Hawaii, and Toronto before its distribution on Netflix Vietnam. Her sophomore short, SUPERMARKET AFFAIRS (2022), screened at Oscar-qualifying festivals including Palm Springs ShortFest, Nashville FF, and Cinequest; winning several awards. She received an MFA in Film & Media Production at the University of Texas at Austin with support from the Fulbright Program. Her thesis short ROOFTOP LEMPICKA received the 2022 Grant for Short Films from the Austin Film Society founded by director Richard Linklater, has screened at Filmschoolfest Munich, Osaka Asian FF, and Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Her debut feature project Summer 1999 has been selected to develop at the SGIFF’s Southeast Asian Film Lab and Venice Film Festival’s Biennale College Cinema. She is also an alumna of Locarno Open Doors Lab, EAVE Ties That Bind, and Full Circle Lab Philippines.
Known For
Văn comes back to Ho Chi Minh City from the US with his boyfriend Ian to visit his mother. Being the male heir of the family, everyone expects him to take a wife soon. And to top it all, his grandmother, who has Alzheimer, mistakes Ian for her grandson.
Goodbye Mother
A Vietnamese immigrant mother and daughter in the US argue over how to honor the late patriarch as they shop for his second death anniversary, and inadvertently involve a handsome stranger at the local Asian supermarket.
Supermarket Affairs
While her mother is expecting their second child, young Thi befriends Ngoc, a club waitress who has just moved in as a tenant in their family home. As their friendship grows, she discovers that Ngoc is secretly a sex worker. Meanwhile, an art book of Tamara de Lempicka’s female nudes, stolen from a bookshop, silently bears witness.
Rooftop Lempicka
A pre-teen fears faces her greatest fear: her own faith.