Viet Film Fest to celebrate 20 years with launch party in Huntington Beach

When Viet Film Fest started in 2003, there were only enough Vietnamese films — both from the diaspora and from Vietnam itself — to hold the festival every other year. By 2013, there was a catalog long enough to change to an annual event, and this year, the festival marks its 20th anniversary with several offerings .

To kick off the 2023 festival, the Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Assn. has partnered with podcast host Kenneth Nguyen for a launch party at the Circle OC — a nightclub on Warner Avenue in Huntington Beach, the city where last year the festival’s in-person screenings were held at the Bella Terra.

The party, which Nguyen says is more akin to a mixer than a party, will begin at 8 p.m. on Sept. 16 and include the official reveal of the festival’s set list and its nominees for Best Feature, Best Short, Best Actor, Best Actress, the Inspiration Award and the Spotlight Award. The celebration is expected to conclude at around midnight.

It’s open to the general public, though Nguyen noted the nightclub has an 800-person capacity. Tickets are available at eventbrite.com/e/viet-film-fest-launch-party-presented-by-vaala-x-the-vietnamese-podcast-tickets-687016263137. Organizers hope to bring out as much of the creative community as possible.

A still from “Refuge After War,” which will play at the Viet Film Fest.

(Courtesy of Viet Film Fest)

Viet Film Fest organizer Ysa Le said Nguyen reached out to the festival through a mutual friend in May to collaborate. Nguyen said he’s held a big party every year for the last three years for Vietnamese Lunar New Year — Tet.

“I am collaborating with the film festival to do this. I am in charge of hosting and calling and inviting all of my guests and the people that I know in my circles. The whole goal is to bring the [Los Angeles] entertainment community and the O.C. entertainment community together,” Nguyen said.

“We want to do this event annually, so that we can get the Vietnamese community in Southern California and the U.S. to galvanize behind moving the needle for representation,” he said.

As it was in 2022, the Viet Film Fest will largely be presented online but will include in-person screenings at the Frida Cinema in Santa Ana on Oct. 6 and 7. The festival will open with a screening of “The Spectacular Adventure of Little Prodigy” on Oct. 6 and close with a screening of “The Accidental Getaway Driver,” which will make its Orange County and Los Angeles premiere.

A still from “The Accidental Getaway Driver,” which will make its Los Angeles and Orange County debut at the Viet Film Fest.

(Courtesy of Viet Film Fest)

The film was principally filmed around Orange County and is based on the real life story of Vietnamese cab driver Long Hoang Ma, who was kidnapped and held hostage by three escaped Orange County inmates in 2016.

“Our mission and [Nguyen’s] goals align. He is all about interviewing filmmakers and artists of Vietnamese descent and diaspora,” Le said. “He’s doing what we want to do too — highlighting the achievements of the artists. We joined forces, and I think we can extend our network and get more visibility for our artists and filmmakers.”

With respect to the ongoing Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes, organizers stated that they are not sponsored by any companies targeted by strikers and released a statement in solidarity with both unions on Aug. 10.

“Viet Film Fest [organizers] express our solidarity with WGA, SAG-AFTRA and our community of creatives. Writers and actors unequivocally deserve a living wage, and actors deserve the absolute right to own their likeness, without compromise or exception,” the statement reads.

“For over 30 years, VAALA has uplifted artists in screen, literature, music, theater, and visual arts in the Vietnamese creative community. Through 20 years of Viet Film Fest, VAALA has strived to spotlight and highlight those in both the independent and international spaces. Given our work and the history of Vietnamese people and the Vietnamese diaspora, we understand how important artists are in telling our stories, our experiences, and, most of all, our history. There is no film and television industry without the valuable contributions of writers and actors.”

For more information on the festival and its 11 features and 44 short films, visit vietfilmfest.com. The event begins Sept. 30 and continues through Oct. 15.

A still from “Good Chips,” a short film that will be shown at the Viet Film Fest.

(Courtesy of Viet Film Fest)