Imagine yourself in a New Orleans jazz club, enjoying a live performance by Vietnam’s Queen of Soul, finally delving into a genre she has long been adjacent to. Carol Kim used to rock the lounges of pre-1975 Saigon before leaving for the United States and becoming a diasporic musical fixture. In Saigon Jazz Revival Presents Carol Kim, she revives the songs of Saigon’s lost jazz era; Western favorites of hers like “Moon River” (the song that launched her career at nineteen years old) and "Trở Về Mái Nhà Xưa" (which uses the melody of “Torna a Surriento”); and iconic tunes that made her name, such as “Sài Gòn” – still the unofficial anthem of the namesake city.

With her latest work, director Marion Hoàng Ngoc Hill (VFF 2024’s Spring Will Come) captures a full-circle moment in which a Vietnamese musical legend brings old songs back to life with bold new interpretations, orchestrations, and arrangements to a contemporary audience. Our concert documentary finds itself in a place of cultural intersection: where a large Vietnamese diasporic community has put down roots and where jazz was birthed by African American communities from a fusion of blues, ragtime, and Western classical music. This concert documentary inaugurates a larger project dedicated to promoting, fostering, and preserving Vietnamese jazz heritage and connecting music lovers through shared appreciation of sonic legacies.

After Y Vân’s Centerpiece screening, grab a drink, sit down, and relax. You’re in for a magical, groovy sonic ride to end your musical night.

By Viet Film Fest staff