Bà nội (grandma)
The mission of the Centre d'art et essai de la Cinémathèque québécoise (CAECQ) is to primary program Quebec-made documentaries and independent fiction, as well as international documentaries, animated and foreign films, while encouraging opportunities for meetings between the public and the artists. Its programming is presented in conjunction with the Cinémathèque québécoise’s under the label New releases.
Followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker, Khoa Lê, hosted by Charlotte Selb
Winner of the Best New Talent From Quebec/Canada Award, 2025 RIDM
The filmmaker chronicles his trip to Vietnam, visiting his remote family for the end of the year festivities. Places and faces, both familiar and foreign, the said and the unsaid. Time has passed, miles too. With the colorful personality of the grandmother, portrait and self-portrait mingle with much humor and emotion. Little by little, the individual quest turns into a sensory experience through a dreamlike mosaic of kinship, memory and identity.
Khoa Lê
Khoa Lê is a Quebecois multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker born in Vietnam. His works explore plural identities, intimacy, and the human experience in all its diversity. This first feature documentary, Bà nội (grandma) (2013), premiered at Visions du réel. Khoa won the Pluralism Award from the Inspirit Foundation at Hot Docs festival in 2013, as well as the Best Quebec/Canada Newcomer Award at the Montreal International Documentary Festival that same year. His most recent work, Má Sài Gòn (Mother Saigon) (2023) also made its mark at Visions du Réel, Hot Docs and RIDM. Between marginality and tradition, and always with the same strong and unique signature, Khoa reveals the reality of LGBTQ+ communities in Vietnam.
Bio: pixelleX
Photo: Gabrielle de Fontenay
