Season 2 (2025)

Joy, Reinvention & Rebellion

Star Nhà Ease: The Renovation Period (Đổi Mới)

presented by Tuyết Vân Huỳnh  Curated by Tuyết Vân Huỳnh with Quynh Nguyen Dieu,, Obin Nguyen, William Reynolds, Donald Shek, Thanh Tran, Austin Tran, Loan Tran, Emma Wang Thomas

With support from Arts Council England, the British Council Connections Through Culture programme, and the BFI Audience Projects Fund, awarding funds from the National Lottery. In collaboration with The Centre for Assistance and Development of Movie Talents (TPD), and the Vietnam Film Institute. Our shorts programme is supported by Varan Hanoi.

STAR NHÀ EASE (Nhà = “home” in Vietnamese) is a nationwide film programme bringing Vietnamese cinema to UK audiences. Following a successful 2024 pilot, this year’s season shines a light on the Đổi Mới era, the post-renovation period that saw a surge in bold, commercially driven, and emotionally rich storytelling across Vietnam’s screens. This season delves deeper into the fertile and frenetic Đổi Mới era, a period of artistic experimentation and emotional honesty that exploded across screens in the late ’80s and ’90s illuminating the “phim mì ăn liền” (instant noodle) period, which offered fresh narratives that moved away from war-centric stories to explore youth, love, gender, urban life, and societal change.

Our Evolving Vision

“This season is about what happens when you rewrite the script, from the margins to the mainstream. It’s about joy as resistance, and stories that refuse to be boxed in.”

tuyết vân huỳnh, festival director

Vietnamese cinema continues to move, boldly and unapologetically, into new territory. Building on a legacy shaped by resistance, resilience, and imagination, this season we turn our gaze to the Đổi Mới era and beyond, where joy, reinvention, and rebellion burst through the screen.

If Season 1 uncovered the foundations of a hidden cinematic history, Season 2 celebrates what comes next: fast-made films that challenged old tropes, experimental storytelling born from rapid change, and a generation of artists daring to defy expectation.

Star Nhà Ease remains committed to reframing the narrative, moving beyond war and towards the richness of contemporary Vietnamese life in all its contradictions and colour. We want UK audiences to see Vietnam not only through the lens of history, but through the spark of imagination.

programme highlights

programme: Introduction | Music response 10-15 min | Screening | Q&A

Singing in Rainy Afternoon

Hát Giữa Chiều Mưa

Trần Phương

• 1990

• 1h 40min

Music Response

A live musical response the the season by Nammy Wams

London-based producer and DJ Nammy Wams returned to the programme after creating a musical response to Little Girl of Hanoi in our first season. This time, he opened the season with a 15-minute live performance responding to the Doi Moi period in Vietnamese cinema, followed by a Q&A where he reflected on his heritage, his grandmother’s influence, and the role of memory in his music. A resident on Croydon FM since 2018, Nammy has released acclaimed projects including Yellow Secret Technology, performed for Boiler Room, Nike and Adidas, and featured in Netflix’s Top Boy.

programme: Introduction | Digital Poetry Response | Screening

Bar Girls

Gái Nhảy

Lê Hoàng

• 2002

• 1h 50min

Poetry response

A digital poetry response by Nam Anh Nguyễn Quốc

As part of the programme’s first exploration of poetry as a response to film, we commissioned a digital piece by Nam Anh Nguyễn Quốc. Inspired by Gái Nhảy (Bar Girls, 2002), Prognosis reimagines the film’s heartbeat through poetry, reflecting on survival, nightlife, and the fleeting beauty of a generation in motion. This marked a new way of celebrating Vietnamese voices beyond cinema, expanding the dialogue between film and other art forms.

Click here to watch the video

programme: Introduction | Short animated film 7 min (Bicycle Xe đạp) | Screening | Poetry response

Children of the Mist

Những đứa trẻ trong sương

Hà Lệ Diễm

• 2021

• 1h 30min

Poetry Response

A poetry response by Natalie Linh Bolderston

As part of the programme’s introduction of poetry as a response to film, Natalie Linh Bolderston performed her piece live and shared it digitally for audiences to engage with after the screening. Inspired by Children of the Mist (2021), Letters to the Mountain reflects on resilience, ritual, and the mountains as silent witnesses to a community’s untold stories.

Click here to read the poem

Digital Offering only

The Bitter Taste of Love

Vị Đắng Tình Yêu

Lê Xuân Hoàng

• 1990

• 1h 40min

A Love Reimagined

Though Vị Đắng Tình Yêu (The Bitter Taste of Love) only features in our digital offering, we couldn’t let this iconic film pass without a deeper moment of reflection. We commissioned poets Hyla Etame and Julia Hien to respond to the film’s romantic turbulence, and artist Zoe Pham to reimagine a poster that captures its emotional core through illustration. Their creative responses bring fresh eyes to a classic, breathing new life into its legacy.

Read the Poems & View the Poster

Find out more about the artists:
@hylaetame
@wordsofthuha
@flowersgraveyard

poetry response: Hyla Etame

In Your Hands

For the first time, the programme commissioned poets to respond to film. Hyla, a California-based poet, writer and ambient music artist, delivered a digital response to In Your Hands, originally shared exclusively with bookers and now available for all audiences. Driven by a desire to capture the sacredness of everyday experiences, Hyla describes her process as taking nature walks and always keeping a notebook close for when words arrive.

@hylaetame

poetry response: Julia Hien

The Gate Before the Rose Garden

For the first time, the programme commissioned poets to respond to film. Julia, a British-born Chinese YA contemporary romance author, delivered a digital response to The Gate Before the Rose Garden. With an 18-year career as a rapper and singer-songwriter, Julia also supports other artists in navigating the music industry. She describes her creative process: “I can be inspired by lots of things, from mood, music, visuals, to real-life situations or conversations, but there will always be some level of joy and intimacy in my creativity.”

@wordsofthuha

poster response: Zoe Duong Pham

Reimagined by Zoe Duong Pham

For the first time, the programme commissioned Vietnamese artists to respond visually. Zoe Duong Pham reimagined Bitter Taste of Love in a poster that formed part of a live exhibition during the London festival, with audiences able to bid for an exclusive signed edition. Her work captures the quiet resilience of a post-war generation, transforming a rain-soaked scene into a poetic tableau where romance and sorrow coexist, and the protagonist becomes a symbol of enduring hope and artistic identity.

@flowersgraveyard

short film programme

TIDES OF CHANGE, A Short Film Double Bill + A Live Musical Response + Poetry + Q&A

Grandfather and Grandson

Tham Nguyen Thi

• 2006

• 29 min

Flowing with the Current

Ly Nguyễn Ngọc Thảo

• 2020

• 32 min

poster response

Imagined by Zoe Duong Pham

For the first time, the programme commissioned Vietnamese artists to respond visually. Zoe Duong Pham imagined Tides of Change, reflecting on Vietnam’s cultural crossroads where tradition and transformation coexist. Inspired by Grandfather and Grandson and Flowing with the Current, her artwork visualises the tension between generational values and evolving economies: a sweeping wave divides the composition, contrasting continuity and change, renewal and contemplation. The piece was part of a live exhibition during the festival at our London venue, allowing audiences to engage directly with the work and its layered narratives.

poetry response

A response by Tra My Nguyen Hoang

Trà My Nguyễn Hoàng created a poetic response inspired by Grandfather and Grandson (2021) and Flowing with the Current. We emerged from the dirt and Working Notes trace the resilience of a people shaped by labour, migration, and survival, weaving together ancestral histories, songs, and rituals to show how memory, land, and lineage endure. She performed the piece live and took part in a post-screening Q&A, reflecting on her creative process and the stories behind her work.

Click here to read the poem

Musical response

A response by Shirley Ly

As part of this season, classical composer Shirley Ly created a musical response to the short film double bill and performed it live for our London Audiences. A self-taught British contemporary classical composer from Greenwich with Vietnamese and Chinese heritage, she has created over 50 works for various ensembles, with her music streamed over a million times in more than 100 countries. Shirley also took part in the post-screening Q&A, reflecting on her creative process and the ideas behind her performance.

Musical response

A response by An Trinh

Multi-instrumentalist An Trinh created a musical response to the shorts programme, performing live for our Manchester audience. Her music blends Vietnamese folk, jazz, classical, and ambient sounds, exploring themes of migration, memory, language, and identity. Currently recording her debut EP, she focuses on bold interdisciplinary work that fosters community storytelling and cross-cultural connections. An also took part in the post-screening Q&A, reflecting on her creative process and the ideas behind her performance.

Vietnamese film history reframed.

Rewind & Reframe is a vibrant visual celebration of Vietnamese cinema, from the bold flair of the “instant noodle” era (1990–94) to the innovative storytelling that followed.

Artists Toma Nguyễn, Donald She, Thann Tran and Zoe Duong Pham reimagine film posters from our season, some lovingly reconstructed, others created for films that never had one. Through memory, critique, and imagination, these works breathe new life into a cinematic legacy shaped by change, creativity, and resilience.

Zoe Duong Pham

Reimagined by Zoe Duong Pham

Zoe Duong Pham created two works: a poster reimagining Bitter Taste of Love, capturing the quiet resilience of a post-war generation, and Tides of Change, inspired by Grandfather and Grandson and Flowing with the Current, reflecting Vietnam’s cultural crossroads where tradition and transformation coexist. Both pieces were part of a live exhibition during the London festival, allowing audiences to engage directly with her poetic compositions that explore hope, endurance, and the tension between continuity and change.

Toma Nguyễn

Hát Giữa Chiều Mưa (Singing in the Rainy Afternoon), 1990

Reimagined by Toma Nguyễn

Toma Nguyễn’s interpretation of Hát Giữa Chiều Mưa centres on the emotional strength of its protagonist, Mai, a young woman whose promising future is irrevocably altered by a sudden accident that leaves her blind. The artwork translates this pivotal transformation through soft, melancholic tones and a focus on inner light. Drawing from the film’s themes of endurance, dignity, and hope, Toma captures the profound stillness and vulnerability that underpins Mai’s resilience. The visual language is quiet yet powerful, an homage to the film’s emotional crescendo and enduring spirit.

Donald Shek

Gái Nhảy (Bar Girls, 2002)

Reimagined by Donald Shek

In his reinterpretation of Gái Nhảy, Donald Shek visualises the neon-drenched metropolis as a layered, seductive facade that obscures deeper struggles. Each woman in the poster is symbolised by a butterfly, vivid, delicate, and captivating, yet born of transformation and turmoil. The composition evokes the paradoxes at the heart of the film: resilience cloaked in elegance, survival within spectacle. Inspired by urban iconography, glossy advertisement culture, and the ephemeral shimmer of nightlife, Shek crafts an image where beauty and danger coexist.

Thành Trần

Những Đứa Trẻ Trong Sương (Children of the Mist, 2021)

Reimagined by Thành Trần

In this response to Children of the Mist, Thành Trần explores the social constraints placed on young women within H’Mong society. The central figure, Di, is depicted in a state of tension, surrounded by figures pulling her in conflicting directions. The composition is directly inspired by the traditional Đông Hồ painting The Rat’s Wedding, embedding a folkloric aesthetic into a contemporary narrative. Through this visual fusion, Thành Trần draws a powerful connection between heritage and ongoing cultural critique, offering a poignant reflection on autonomy, resistance, and generational expectation.