Filmography
:: Vietnam: The Vu-Tang Clan
:: When I'm Hungry, I Eat. When I'm Tired, I Sleep.
Vietnam:
The Vu-Tang Clan
Directed by: Xuan Vu
Starring: Tuan-Anh (Andrew) Vu
Approx. Runtime: 15 minutes / Color / © 2006
This independent narrative documentary film follows an 18-year-old
Vietnamese-American boy, Tuan-Anh Vu, through his first visit to his motherland,
Vietnam. Thoroughly Americanized and spoiled by his parents, Tuan-Anh
struggles through the first few weeks of traveling, a trip that his uncles
bribed him into.
The family spends their first week in Saigon, a crowded, noisy, and chaotic
city. Tuan-Anh can't stand it and wants to go home. The second week they
take a bus to Nha Trang, a beach town, and go on a boat tour. On one ride,
a woman and her nephew beg Tuan-Anh for money. Then they make their way
to Dalat, a mountainous region. The family goes biking and stops for a
meal, where Tuan-Anh gets a taste of home: Pepsi Cola. The third week
they go to Phu Quoc, a resort island, where Tuan-Anh spends his time pumping
iron. By the time the family goes back to Saigon, Tuan-Anh feels comfortable
enough to get his haircut in a seedy little barbershop and play a game
of basketball with the locals. In the end, he admits to wanting to come
back to visit again.
This film documents the change that occurs in Tuan-Anh as he learns to
integrate his American culture into his experience of Vietnam.

When I'm Hungry, I Eat.
When I'm Tired, I Sleep.
Directed by: Xuan Vu & Josh Weinstein
Starring: Nicholas Doolittle and Tiffany Reed
Approx. Runtime: 23 minutes / Color / © 2006
This independent narrative documentary film is an ethnographic case study
that focuses on the daily life of two residents of the Cambridge Zen Center
in Cambridge, MA, which is a lay community of approximately 30 members
who practice the Korean Zen tradition. The premise of the film: 'Is Zen
easy or difficult?'
The film begins with a brief introduction into the history of the Center
and the practice. Then the viewer meets the two residents, Nicholas Doolittle
and Tiffany Reed, who engage in a variety of communal activities in the
Center, such as cleaning and cooking meals. They also have their own personal
lives: Nick is applying to graduate schools for social work and plans
to move out of the Zen Center after being a two-year resident. Tiff just
moved in six months ago and is currently a graduate student at the Harvard
Divinity School. Nick keeps busy with his applications, guitar-playing,
and hair-cutting, while Tiff keeps busy with her schoolwork and caring
for her plants. It is not until halfway through the film that we find
out that they need to balance all of these activities with their Zen practice,
which involves waking up every morning at 5:15am for 108 bows, chanting
and sitting meditation practice. So is Zen easy or difficult? Through
these two individuals, the viewer may find either both answers or neither.
Click here for more info on
the subjects, on Zen, or on ethnographic documentay filmmaking
For
more info on Joshua Z Weinstein, please visit: www.joshfilm.com
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