The 2018 Viet Film Festival in Orange County had many volunteers to direct the audience to theater screenings. With actors and filmmakers arriving at the local AMC theaters in stunning attire, the event was considered to be better than similar Hollywood affairs. It was also regarded as a celebration of Vietnamese independent cinema at its finest. Documentary films turned out to be more compelling than anything else at the festival. That was particularly true of Limbo, a documentary film about deportation and immigration.
The short documentary’s director was Tung Nguyen, a community organizer with VietUnity, Soros Justice Fellow and local activist. Known locally for his fight against unjust deportations and detentions for Southeast Asian people in SoCal and nationwide, Nguyen entered the US as a teen refugee. In the past, Nguyen faced life imprisonment for murder in the first and robbery when a confrontation in which his friend stabbed someone to death.
The documentary confronted the past of Nguyen to the time when he was fighting against deportations and detentions. It also addressed the stigmas that were common in the community of Vietnamese and that occurred due to what they perceived as being unforgivable for being criminal.
The documentary reached its emotional zone, particularly in the sequence where Nguyen’s family embarrassed him after his release from prison. Nguyen faced a future with uncertainty because of a deportation order from local immigration officials. The order came after California’s Governor Jerry Brown granted him immediate, parole-based release in the year 2011 for his exceptional rehabilitation.
Nguyen was working on a project known as APROC, dedicated to helping and boosting access to legal immigration and re-entry services for previously imprisoned Asian-Pacific Americans, including those in danger of deportation. The cinematography and editing for the documentary revitalized a tale that often happened in the county, which could not be understood through a news piece. It was the true power of documentary cinema.
After the screening of Limbo, there was a talk between filmmakers, an immigration attorney and Nguyen about the challenges that Vietnamese faced in Vietnam and Orange County. In the discussion, Nguyen emphasized the importance of educating the communities about how issues such as criminality did not define them. Nguyen stated that the government attacked people with removal orders such as himself, or those who were getting deported, for something they did decades ago. After spending jail time for their deeds, they were living in better and more dignified ways. If they could educate themselves, they could be better ready to accept what they once considered unacceptable. The words of Nguyen left a mark on the film festival audience.
In the past, California’s people were urged to back the community, including Nguyen. The community knew the importance of calling Governor Jerry Brown and writing an official letter of support so that Nguyen could be given a pardon. They also knew it was among the many different steps they could take to fight against the so-called deportation machine.
