Epilogue: Vaan Nguyen's Journey

The Journey of Vaan Nguyen screened on Monday, December 4, 2006, at 6:30pm.

Jordan Hassin, Cultural Affairs Officer at the Embassy of Israel, spoke with Duki Dror, the director of The Journey of Vaan Nguyen, to find out how Vaan and her family are doing now.


So, where is Vaan now?

About 3 weeks after we finished shooting in Vietnam, Vaan returned home to Yaffo. I think that her dream of returning to Vietnam became shattered as she felt more and more alienated in Vietnam, and understood how different she is. This was not an easy situation to be in, so she went back "home" to Israel, or to what feels more like home for her. I purposely wanted to end the film with Vaan in an ambiguous moment of her wandering in the streets of Saigon because ultimately I felt that as a character, she finds no home. In the television version of the film, it ends when she's back in Israel.

Did the father get any land back?

Of course not! This is too big of a challenge for one individual -- let alone one who is a refugee and a VQ -- to achieve in a Communist country. But even after this realization sunk in, he did not give up. Hoimai (the father) decided to buy a plot of land next to his brothers in Bong Song, and to build his home there.

What about the rest of the family?

The parents and the young sister came back to Israel six months later, after they spent all their money. All the family is now in Israel. Vaan is writing and publishing poetry, her middle sister (seen going to the Army in the film) has decided to convert to Judaism. Hung Waa (Vered) is excelling in her studies and was admitted to school for students. Hoimai, the father, is back and forth between working in Israel to save money and going to Vietnam to start working on his home -- so his dream didn't really die.


Visit the filmmaker's Web site for The Journey of Vaan Nguyen at http://www.zygotefilms.com/vaan.htm