Hi everyone! My name is Bailey Vo & I am very excited to bring this film to life as it is my final short film I will be making during my time as a film major at the University of Central Arkansas. Not only is this film important to me as it's my honors senior thesis project but this is a personal story close to my & many other Asian American's hearts of learning to accept our cultural identity & understanding my family's generational differences. By creating this film, I hope to share the message of the importance of family, culture, & most importantly accepting embracing who you are.

As I am finishing this film, I am looking at film festivals to submit the film to however we will need help with covering the submission fees!

ABOUT THE PROJECT:

PHÚC YÊU is a coming of age drama/comedy short film that follows a Vietnamese American girl named Linh & her struggle between not feeling American enough & also not Vietnamese enough while living in a predominantly white community with her Vietnamese immigrant father. After the loss of her mother, Linh’s relationship with her father & her culture becomes even more distant than it already was. However as Lunar New Year comes around & she starts to grow into her own person, Linh finally begins to understand her father & the importance of embracing & celebrating her culture.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT:

As a filmmaker & also a Vietnamese American, I feel that it is important that we talk about the struggles of cultural identity as well as understanding the previous generations of your family as they are significant parts of many people’s stories. By creating this film, I hope to create something that Asian-American viewers can relate to & inspire those who felt the same way I did about my cultural identity to have these explorations & conversations to be able to find happiness & acceptance in who they are as an individual.

THE GOAL:

I hope to address the dilemma that I and many Asian Americans face of trying to “fit in” to American culture while at the same time feeling the need to protect their Asian culture that has been passed down from generation to generation. I also want to tell this story to shed light on minority stories that non-Asian viewers aren’t used to and open the opportunity for them to experience a piece of what it was like for us growing up in America.