SYNOPSIS

Phong grew up in a small town in Central Vietnam as the youngest of six siblings. From an early age, Phong felt like a girl trapped in a boy’s body. It was only after moving to Hanoi to attend university at age 20 that Phong realized she was not alone in this experience. Her dream of “finding herself” through gender transition came true a few years later.

The film tells the story of Phong’s struggle during these years, featuring excerpts from her private video diaries, as well as meetings with family, friends, and doctors – all of whom must come to accept her determination to become a complete young woman.

CREDIT

Director: Trần Thị Phương Thảo

Born in 1977 in Hanoi, Vietnam, she moved to France in 2000 to pursue her dream of becoming a documentary filmmaker. After graduating in Political Science in Paris, she studied documentary filmmaking techniques and screenwriting at the University of Poitiers.

Returning to Vietnam, she joined the Varan Vietnam workshop, where she directed the film Workers Dream (Giấc mơ là công nhân), which participated in many international film festivals and won the P. Perrault Award at Cinéma du Réel in 2007.

ABOUT DIRECTOR

Genre: Documentary

Production: Nicole Pham

Cinematography: Swann Dubus, Trần Phương Thảo, Lê Anh Phong

Sound: Hoàng Thu Thuỷ, Franck Desmoulins

Editing: Aurelie Ricard

CLIPS

PHOTOS

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Finding Phong

Finding Phong

Director: Trần Phương Thảo & Swan Dubus

Year: 2014

Time: 1h 32m

Finding Phong

Phong grew up in a small town in Central Vietnam as the youngest of six siblings. From an early age, Phong felt like a girl trapped in a boy's body.

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Somewhere by the hospital

Somewhere by the hospital

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Year: 2025

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Winter is coming

Winter is coming

Director: Le Thi Tham

Year: 2025

Time: 34m

Winter is coming

Inside a care center in Ba Vi, Hanoi, patients dream of a normal life, yearning for the warmth of affection, sending messages beyond the iron bars, hoping to be heard.

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Grave diggers for hire

Grave diggers for hire

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Year: 2025

Time: 33m

Grave diggers for hire

"Grave diggers for hire" is a quiet documentary following Bình and Ngọc, two men who make a living by exhuming graves at a rural cemetery near Hanoi. Behind this daily work are profound reflections on health, death, and the meaning of preserving a tradition that is gradually fading away. This documentary sensitively explores the lives of those maintaining the cultural practice of grave exhumation, shedding light on deeper human and social themes.

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