Note: The second round of the Vietnamese International Film Festival kicked off yesterday, and the final curtains drop on Sunday, April 17. The third ViFF event won't take place till 2013, so be sure to check out the site and make a note of which films you can attend before it comes to an end. Here are some musings on the Vietnamese cinema to keep you in a pensive movie-going … [Read more...] about Why Vietnamese Films Aren’t Popular & What We Can Do About It
Fish sauce now a $159 mil ingredient in the financial market
The secret to great Vietnamese cooking is adding fish sauce to just about every dish. KKR, one of the world's largest US-based private equity firms, seems to have applied this to the context of investing when it decided to add a Vietnamese fish sauce company in its portfolio. The $159 million deal, announced on April 13th, was the largest private equity transaction in Vietnam. … [Read more...] about Fish sauce now a $159 mil ingredient in the financial market
Some Profanity Follows
For the five people who’ve read “Consuming Whiteness,” you may have noticed an odd caveat at the beginning of the article. It ominously reads, “The following post contains mild profanity. Read and enjoy!” In its companion piece, “Consuming Asianness,” the word “mild” was dropped altogether and the warning became, “Some profanity follows. Read and enjoy!” Have I been getting so … [Read more...] about Some Profanity Follows
Minh Duc Nguyen, Director of Touch: Personal Stories in My Own Style
Touch marks Minh Duc Nguyen’s feature directorial debut. In this interview, Minh opens up about the challenge of being a Vietnamese-American filmmaker and what inspired him to set his multicultural story in a nail salon. Born in Vietnam, Minh immigrated to America with his family in the 1980s as part of the "boat people" exodus. He attended UC Berkeley and graduated with a … [Read more...] about Minh Duc Nguyen, Director of Touch: Personal Stories in My Own Style
Is Germany Ready for its First Ethnically Vietnamese Vice Chancellor?
In between classes yesterday, I found some time to flip through the March/April issue of Foreign Affairs magazine. I eventually settled in to Tamar Jacoby’s commentary “Germany’s Immigration Dilemma: How Can Germany Attract the Workers It Needs?” As the title suggests, the article primarily addresses Germany’s shortage of skilled foreign “knowledge workers” and its inability … [Read more...] about Is Germany Ready for its First Ethnically Vietnamese Vice Chancellor?