Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (lovingly still called Saigon by locals), is a city as colourful, charming, and contradictory as the people who call it home. Focusing on its LGBTQ+ community, this ode to a place and its people draws on a mosaic of characters to give life to a unique cinematic portrait. The featured individuals, couples, and families—traditional and non-traditional—strive for the things in life that unite us all: love, acceptance and belonging. Using striking cinematography and thoughtful compositions, the film’s memorable portraits are intercut with dreamy and poetic sequences that offer a meditative rhythm. Aimed at the city and all its “mothers,” this cinematic love letter perfectly reflects the sentiment of a repeated refrain in the film: “Should I live again one day, I would still want to be your son.”
Film description by Hot Docs programmer Aisha Jamal.
In Vietnamese with English subtitles.
Join director Khoa Lê and special guests for a post-screening Q&A.
Featuring:
- Ms. Nookie Galore (moderator), a horror storytelling panda drag queen and LGBTQ community health worker
- Bùi Phuong Nht (Sen), film participant
- Nguyen Hieu Ngc (Ngoc), film participant
- Nguyen Turong Danh (Dahn), film participant
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