Profile
Nguyễn Trinh Thi is a filmmaker and artist from Vietnam. Nguyễn Trinh Thi’s work delves into the relationships between memory, history, representation, power structures, the legacies of colonialism and war, and the erasure of indigenous Vietnamese cultures. Using a montage technique, she is a pioneer of the moving image medium in Vietnam and incorporates found footage, still images from postcards, photography, newsreels, Hollywood films, and ethnographic footage, alongside her own audio and visual recordings. This convergence of diverse media creates a sense of multiplicity, exploring how we perceive and create images, as well as what remains unshown, unsaid, or unheard.
In 2009, Nguyễn Trinh Thi founded and directed Hanoi DocLab, an educational centre and production studio aimed at nurturing a new generation of independent Vietnamese filmmakers and video artists, while also building an audience for documentary films. Some of her notable works include “Landscape Series #1” (2013), “Letters from Panduranga” (2015), “Fifth Cinema” (2018), and “How to Improve the World” (2021). Her films have been featured at prominent festivals and exhibitions like Documenta, Artes Mundi, the Oberhausen Short Film Festival, the Singapore and Thailand Biennale, and the Biennale of Sydney.
