Exploring the Vietnam Diaspora Musical Narrative
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Herb Alpert School of Music is set to host the Hear + Viet + Film symposium on October 21 and 22, a unique event focusing on trans-Vietnamese film and music. This symposium aims to bridge transnational and transdisciplinary perspectives on this global medium, showcasing works that engage with Vietnamese diasporic experiences, histories, and aesthetics.
The symposium kicks off with a Zoom panel on "Social Media in a Trans-Vietnamese Context" featuring popular YouTubers What the Pho, Phúc Mập, AfroViet TV, and Thanh & Etienne. The event is free and open to the public, making it an opportunity for everyone to delve into the rich tapestry of Vietnamese culture and artistic expression.
On Saturday evening, there will be a screening of the film "Journey from the Fall" at the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum, followed by a Q&A with director Ham Tran and composer Christopher Wong. "Journey from the Fall" is described as a remarkable humanistic tale giving voice to the uniquely personal and yet richly universal experience of displacement.
The Vietnamese diaspora, one of the great migrations of the twentieth century, was forced by war in Vietnam in the 1960s and 70s. Approximately 189,000 refugees resettled in "Little Saigon" in Orange County between 1975 and 1997, with Metro Los Angeles now home to the largest Vietnamese refugee community in the world.
The resilience of the Vietnamese community has been a subject for artists of every stripe, and the symposium is likely to shed light on this resilience through the lens of film and music. Saturday panels focus on the use of sound and music to texture Vietnamese film, covering topics like atmospheric sounds in films about aerial warfare, the use of song in women's storytelling, ritual sounds, and representation.
Given UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music's emphasis on innovative music and interdisciplinary arts, the symposium probably highlights critical perspectives on how Vietnamese identity is expressed and negotiated through cinematic and sonic practices. This might involve themes such as memory, migration, socio-political contexts, and cultural hybridity in Vietnamese film and music.
The term "trans-Vietnamese" suggests an intentional focus on works that cross traditional national, cultural, or linguistic boundaries, reflecting a nuanced, globalized understanding of Vietnamese identity and artistic expression. This aligns with broader trends in contemporary scholarship and artistic work that foreground hope, political awareness, and complex identities in Vietnam-related cultural productions.
While the search results did not provide explicit descriptions of the symposium’s program or speakers, related film initiatives screened at UCLA, such as "Fluctuations of Home: Short Films From L.A. to D.C.," show the institution's engagement with diverse, place- and identity-focused narratives in film, which aligns with the likely goals of the Hear + Viet + Film event.
Professor Tina Huynh, who grew up in Little Saigon, will also be on hand for a Q&A session, bringing a personal perspective to the discussions. Huynh is now a professor at the University of Puget Sound, continuing her work in exploring the stories and music of the Vietnamese refugee community.
The Hear + Viet + Film symposium promises to be a thought-provoking event, offering insights into the intersection of Vietnamese diasporic film and music, addressing transnational identities and cultural dialogues through artistic practice at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music.
As the Hear + Viet + Film symposium approaches, individuals interested in lifestyles, home-and-garden, education-and-self-development, entertainment, and music can engage with a Zoom panel featuring popular YouTubers in a trans-Vietnamese context. This event, free and open to the public, serves as a gateway to delve into the rich tapestry of Vietnamese culture and artistic expression.
On a separate note, the symposium also promotes interdisciplinary studies, as Saturday panels delve into the use of sound and music to texture Vietnamese film, reflecting broader trends in contemporary scholarship and artistic work that champion hope, political awareness, and complex identities in Vietnam-related cultural productions.
