Join us for the inaugural film screening and artist talk presented by the Portland’5 Centers for the Arts Department of Culture and Community, where artists of color are celebrated in an immersive experience of their work.

Local director, Kevin Truong, will showcase and guide audience members through his short-cut of the feature length documentary, Mai American, filmed over the course of 10 years. With Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month in mind, Kevin’s artist talk will also include a meal share and interview with Portland’5 Youth Arts + Culture Manager, Lillyanne Pham. The event space will further materialize memories and environments within the film.

Mai American | Documentary Film

A 70-year-old Vietnamese American refugee living in Oregon writes down her life story, indelibly shaped by the War in Vietnam. As she shares what she has written with her filmmaker son, they begin separate but parallel journeys confronting the traumas of their past and the emotional divide in their present.

Filmed over the course of 10 years, Mai American is a personal documentary that explores the intergenerational trauma within families, the mythologies that are built within family histories and the dynamics between parent and child. Told against the backdrop of the broader Asian American and immigrant experience, and nearly 50 years after the end of the War in Vietnam, the film is an intimate portrayal of an American immigrant woman, her family and the power of a woman’s story—a power that can often be forgotten or overlooked by even her own children.

Kevin Truong | Director

Born in a refugee camp for Vietnamese boat people in Malaysia, Kevin was raised in Oregon and has a strong connection to the Pacific Northwest. As a filmmaker, he has received fellowships from both the Center for Asian American Media and BAVC Media, is a grantee of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and a proud member of A-Doc. Kevin’s projects have also received support and funding from the Regional Arts and Culture Council, California Film Institute, Haverford College and the MacArthur Foundation. As a journalist, Kevin has written stories for NBC News and Motherboard Tech by VICE and has worked as a producer with Student Reporting Labs at the PBS NewsHour.

Questions & Accommodation Requests

For questions and accommodation requests, email Lillyanne Pham, Portland’5 Youth Arts & Culture Manager.