Vietnamese journalist-turned-filmmaker Phanxinê remembers exactly when he decided to make movies in his native country rather than Hollywood.
It was in 2008 but it could have been a satirical scene out of the Vietnam Era-novel “The Sympathizer.” Someone from a movie studio visiting his University of Southern California film class told him his story pitch about a Vietnamese American woman traveling the U.S. would only work if the heroine was white.
Having a white star would give the film “a broader audience,” Phanxinê recounts being told.
“It is the moment I realized that if I want to stay in America, I have to do a movie about Caucasian people,” said Phanxinê, who goes by a one-name moniker professionally. The reason I want to be a filmmaker is because I want to tell the story that I know the story about my people, my country, my culture.”
Now, over 15 years …