NO CRYING AT THE DINNER TABLE
Carol Nguyễn | 2019 | Canada | 15’ | Documentary
An exploration of the common stigma in Asian families against expressing emotional vulnerability. The film centres on individual interviews the filmmaker conducted with her father, mother and sister, before sitting down at the dinner table to listen to the recordings together. In this cathartic documentary about things left unsaid, Carol Nguyen crafts an emotionally complex and meticulously composed portrait of intergenerational trauma, grief, and secrets.
Carol Nguyễn Carol Nguyen is a Vietnamese Canadian filmmaker, born and raised in Toronto, now based in Montreal. Her films often explore the subjects of cultural identity, silence and memory. Her film No Crying at the Dinner Table (2019) screened at TIFF alongside IDFA, where she was additionally invited as the Opening Night speaker. In 2020, “No Crying” received the Jury Prize for Short Documentary at South by Southwest (SXSW). Carol is a 2018 Sundance Ignite fellow and a TIFF Share Her Journey ambassador. Recently, her project The Visitors was selected for the IDFA Project Space 2022, a development lab for first and second-time directors. Today, Carol is writing and directing several projects, including two feature films as well as an animated short.