Give as a gift
This short film set contains strong language and thematic material including death, grief, and suicide. Viewer discretion is advised.
The proof of a life lived in full or continuing to do so lies within the memory and act of recollection. The moments we get to sit down and reflect on ourselves can be specific and arbitrary all at once. The more one reminisces, the more they realize how these memories shaped and informed who they are, their personhood. Still, what’s in a memory? What is worth remembering? How and why should one remember? These are the questions in which this series of short films aims to answer.
To begin our journey down memory lane, Grandma’s Four Color Cards offers us insight on what it means to remember someone and take care of them as the years go by. As we go along, Happy Thoughts reflect and ruminate on life and death, on the present and the future as the heart and mind grow weary of things they cannot control. To transition into the second half of this set, with a more experimental approach, Goodbye and Hello to My Dad is a remembrance and lingering of a loved one. Finally, 100 Days invite us to consider the efforts of grief and memory as they work in tandem to bring us closer to each other better than before.
“Don’t Forget to Remember Me” shares a deeply personal and thoughtful perspective on why we should remember to reconcile with the past, embrace the present, and look forward to the future.
By Katy Nguyen
On the morning of her departure from Australia, Lan is troubled by a dream of her late uncle. She is returning to Vietnam to complete his 100 days ceremony finalising his journey into the afterlife. While packing she realises the funeral portrait is missing, seeing this as a sign that she can't leave yet.
What begins as a wandering search through a quiet suburban house spirals into a desperate confrontation with her younger sister, Vi, who is ready to carry on with the day and life in Australia. To Lan, Vi's pragmatism is a betrayal of their roots; to Vi, Lan’s obsession is a refusal to let the living move forward. As tensions boil over, a physical struggle erupts, unearthing Lan’s truest fear: that in leaving for Vietnam, she is losing her sister to a distance beyond geography.
In the fallout of their fight, the sisters find a fragile middle ground. Lan accepts the inevitability of goodbye while Vi comes to terms with loss. Before parting ways, Vi initiates a small makeshift ceremony for their uncle; a quiet acknowledgement that letting go of the past is not the same as letting go of one another.
- Year2026
- Runtime17 minutes
- LanguageVietnamese
- CountryAustralia, Viet Nam
- PremiereWorld premiere
- DirectorQuang Nguyen
- ScreenwriterQuang Nguyen
- CastPhoebe Phuoc Nguyen, An Dang
- CinematographerZhang Yifan
- EditorQuang Nguyen
- Production DesignElle Nguyen
- ComposerAndy Zhan
This short film set contains strong language and thematic material including death, grief, and suicide. Viewer discretion is advised.
The proof of a life lived in full or continuing to do so lies within the memory and act of recollection. The moments we get to sit down and reflect on ourselves can be specific and arbitrary all at once. The more one reminisces, the more they realize how these memories shaped and informed who they are, their personhood. Still, what’s in a memory? What is worth remembering? How and why should one remember? These are the questions in which this series of short films aims to answer.
To begin our journey down memory lane, Grandma’s Four Color Cards offers us insight on what it means to remember someone and take care of them as the years go by. As we go along, Happy Thoughts reflect and ruminate on life and death, on the present and the future as the heart and mind grow weary of things they cannot control. To transition into the second half of this set, with a more experimental approach, Goodbye and Hello to My Dad is a remembrance and lingering of a loved one. Finally, 100 Days invite us to consider the efforts of grief and memory as they work in tandem to bring us closer to each other better than before.
“Don’t Forget to Remember Me” shares a deeply personal and thoughtful perspective on why we should remember to reconcile with the past, embrace the present, and look forward to the future.
By Katy Nguyen
On the morning of her departure from Australia, Lan is troubled by a dream of her late uncle. She is returning to Vietnam to complete his 100 days ceremony finalising his journey into the afterlife. While packing she realises the funeral portrait is missing, seeing this as a sign that she can't leave yet.
What begins as a wandering search through a quiet suburban house spirals into a desperate confrontation with her younger sister, Vi, who is ready to carry on with the day and life in Australia. To Lan, Vi's pragmatism is a betrayal of their roots; to Vi, Lan’s obsession is a refusal to let the living move forward. As tensions boil over, a physical struggle erupts, unearthing Lan’s truest fear: that in leaving for Vietnam, she is losing her sister to a distance beyond geography.
In the fallout of their fight, the sisters find a fragile middle ground. Lan accepts the inevitability of goodbye while Vi comes to terms with loss. Before parting ways, Vi initiates a small makeshift ceremony for their uncle; a quiet acknowledgement that letting go of the past is not the same as letting go of one another.
- Year2026
- Runtime17 minutes
- LanguageVietnamese
- CountryAustralia, Viet Nam
- PremiereWorld premiere
- DirectorQuang Nguyen
- ScreenwriterQuang Nguyen
- CastPhoebe Phuoc Nguyen, An Dang
- CinematographerZhang Yifan
- EditorQuang Nguyen
- Production DesignElle Nguyen
- ComposerAndy Zhan