Amidst 1980s Los Angeles, Linh Tran, a disheartened Vietnamese woman tasked with evictions, uncovers the harsh reality of displacing fellow Vietnamese refugees. Struggling with the choice to keep her job or stand in solidarity with those she's meant to uproot, her moral dilemma deepens as she befriends a little Vietnamese girl caught in the midst of it all.

Director Biography - Oanh-Nhi Nguyen

Oanh-Nhi Nguyen is a filmmaker and activist with a decade of experience working for gender and racial justice. She crafts stories that honor Asian and Asian American women, specifically exploring how intergenerational struggles and triumphs shape the trajectory of their lives. Her narratives focus on the power of women and girls to actualize their dreams and build anew.

With five short films under her belt, Oanh-Nhi's most recent work, LITTLE BIRD, will be screened at this year's upcoming AFI Fest. LITTLE BIRD stars Chantal Thuy (known for Ru at TIFF and Magnum Pi), Perry Yung (3BodyProblem and Warrior), and Paul Yen (Little Fires Everywhere).

In just two years, Oanh-Nhi has garnered numerous accolades, including her selection as a 2024 participant at Tribeca's Creators Market, where she will pitch her narrative projects to executives and studios. Her comedy pilot, UNACCEPTABLE, was accepted into the 2022 Athena's Writers Lab. Her directorial debut TAKING ROOT: Southeast Asian Resettlement Stories in Philadelphia, an episodic docu-series, was selected as an official entry for the 2023 Tribeca Festival.

Oanh-Nhi is a graduate of the highly selective AFI Conservatory, holding an MFA in Directing.

Director Statement

My storytelling has always been inspired by my experiences working in social justice spaces for girls of color and AAPI communities for the past ten years. Within my stories, I care about amplifying the experiences of Asian and Asian American women, specifically Vietnamese women and immigrants because our stories are rarely told and seen. I find inspiration from real people and experiences and aim to create narratives that offer moments of respite and triumph to my community while demonstrating the hardships we faced.

In the past year, I had the privilege of directing "TAKING ROOT" alongside VietLead, a docu-series capturing the narratives of Southeast Asian refugees in Philadelphia. Through this experience, I encountered remarkable community leaders and delved into the accounts of Southeast Asian refugees who, having been resettled in harsh conditions, initiated a rent strike to protest and compel the landlord to address building repairs.

The inspiration drawn from this event is loosely woven into "Little Bird," a project aiming to illustrate the resettlement of refugees post-war. The narrative, however, takes a more intimate approach by centering on a Vietnamese female character. Having endured significant hardships during and after the war, she is solely focused on survival, distancing herself from others. Her journey takes a transformative turn when she encounters a young Vietnamese girl who challenges her to rekindle connections, both with her own humanity and others around her.