In honor of Lesbian Visibility Week, we present this in-depth interview with Hồng Anh Nguyễn, the director of “Saigon Kiss,” a short film capturing an intimate encounter between two women in Vietnam’s largest metropolis. Through thoughtful responses to our questions, the filmmaker shares insights into her creative process, cultural perspectives, and the importance of queer Vietnamese representation.
Q: What inspired this brief but intimate encounter between two women in Saigon?
I was born and raised in Germany to Vietnamese parents, but none of my family is from Saigon. This gives me an external perspective when observing the city and its people. Saigon is a rapidly changing metropolis—new buildings spring up overnight, others are knocked down quickly. Even the population and my encounters there feel transient. The city never stops moving; people come and go.
This impermanence is bittersweet for the LGBTQIA+ community. We crave spaces where we can return, feel safe, and express ourselves freely, yet queer spaces in Saigon vanish as quickly as they appear. That tension—the thrill of new connections mixed with their fleeting nature—inspired me. As a lesbian who never saw Vietnamese lesbian characters on screen growing up, telling this story through that lens felt natural.
What drew you to tell lesbian stories in short film format?
As an emerging filmmaker, the short format was a necessity, not a choice. Our budget was tight—we barely scraped together enough for a short film, not even considering a feature-length project.
How did collaboration with your actresses and production team influence your storytelling?
The actresses were incredible. Since my Vietnamese isn’t fluent, I let them adapt lines to feel natural, and we improvised often. Rehearsals built chemistry, and an acting coach helped refine slang and expressions.
In terms of production, we would have never been able to do this without our producer, Nguyễn Thị Xuân Trang. She helped us assemble a very experienced crew. Also our lead actress Nguyễn Vũ Trúc Như is also a stunt performer and coordinator. She was able to drive with confidence, protecting the camera crew and her co-star in the scenes we shot in real rush hour.
What do you hope viewers take away from your film during Lesbian Visibility Week?
I just want audiences – especially young viewers – to know they’re not alone. You can be unapologetically Vietnamese and fiercely queer without those identities being shackled to suffering. For those outside our community, I want to show that just because we haven’t seen many queer Vietnamese women represented on screen or in public life, it doesn’t mean we don’t exist. We’re here. And there are so many of us.
About the Director
Hồng Anh Nguyễn is a queer Viet-German screenwriter, director, and editor based in Frankfurt am Main and Hà Nội. Her short film SAIGON KISS premiered at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, earning a Queer Jury Special Mention and the Jury Award for Best Short Film at Chéries-Chéris Paris. She has directed documentaries for EST Eastern Standard Times, amplifying the voices of modern Vietnamese women. Supported by the British Council Vietnam, Goethe-Institut, and Asia-Europe Foundation, she is also a STEP writers' stipend recipient from Hessen Film & Media and a Kyoto Filmmakers Lab fellow.
