An aspiring Vietnamese-American director, who has been catapulted to fame after his documentary shedding new light on a beloved American TV series opened the Tribeca Film Festival, believes he belongs somewhere between the two cultures. 

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Bao Nguyen, 31, has just returned to Vietnam, his home country, after his debut long documentary – “Live from New York!” – was selected to open the Tribeca Film Festival, one of the U.S.’s largest annual independent events.

The festival took place late last month.

Nguyen is the first-ever American director of Asian origin to earn the honor.

His “Live from New York!” delves into the early years of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), an experiment from its creator Lorne Michaels when he was young and his cast of unknowns, and reflects on it as a living time capsule, which encompasses decades of American politics, media, tragedy, and popular culture with an irreverent edge, according to the documentary website.      

The documentary interweaves archival footage with exclusive commentary from SNL journalists, hosts, musical guests, crew, and others influenced by the comedy giant.

SNL is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol.

The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975 and is in its 40th season of laughs and enchanting performances this year.

Bao Nguyen (left) poses at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival with producer of his documentary "Live from New York!" and American television actor Tom Broecker. Photo: Reuters

Bao Nguyen is pictured being interviewed by FOX at the opening of the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival. Photo courtesy of Bao Nguyen

Oscillating between two cultures

Born in the U.S. to Vietnamese parents, Nguyen graduated from New York University and went on to obtain a Master’s degree in documentary making at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

In 2008, during his university years, Nguyen was selected as part of a paid group of media workers in Barack Obama’s presidential election campaign.

He then decided it was high time he made his way back home, where his parents have been living for the past 15 years.

With a handful of short documentaries which claimed prizes at international film festivals and were screened on major American media channels, including HBO, the New York Times, and MTV under his sleeve, Nguyen made his homebound trip in 2011, when he worked as photography director for “Saigon Yo!”

Directed by Stephane Gauger, a director of French and Vietnamese origin, “Saigon Yo!” offers a fresh perspective on youth in Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City as it is now known. The film won three prizes at film festivals for Asian directors in the U.S.

Nguyen has shuttled between the U.S., Vietnam, and other countries for his film projects since.

In 2013, he worked as a producer and cameraman for “Nuoc” (2030), an internationally acclaimed film by expat Vietnamese director Nguyen Vo Nghiem Minh.

A brilliant combination of different genres (apocalyptic film, sci-fi, thriller and romance), “Nuoc” is set in 2030, when most of the cultivable land in southern Vietnam is below sea level due to extreme climatic changes.

Inspired by the success of his expat Vietnamese predecessors, including Ham Tran and Charlie Nguyen, Nguyen is set on carving out his own niche in the local film industry.

He has recently finished a project, “Employed Identity,” featuring a series of shorts, along with five other expat Vietnamese showbiz insiders, including director Ham Tran, composer Duong Khac Linh, and actress Kathy Uyen.

The project is meant to mark the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.

Nguyen said he has several things in common with these five artists.

“One of the resemblances is that we are sometimes not sure which culture we belong to. However, that cultural combination does help build our artistic identity,” he divulged.

His cultural fusion was one of his competitive edges over his contenders which landed him the invitation from Michaels to direct a documentary on the high-profile SNL show.

“Perhaps the show producer appreciated the different perspectives from a Vietnamese-American director on the show,” Nguyen said.

Maiden feature film in the making

His different outlooks include his own ways to address such controversial issues as cultural diversity, women’s rights, racial discrimination, the Vietnam War, and post-September 11 America.

Thanks to these approaches, Nguyen’s documentary “Live from New York!” does not ramble on the events or milestones discussed in the show.

To complete his 82-minute documentary, Nguyen conducted over 50 interviews with celebrities who have appeared on SNL.

A scene from Bao Nguyen's "Live from New York!"

Michaels highly regarded Nguyen’s outlook on his show.

Respected Hollywood film star Robert De Niro, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival, also introduced Nguyen’s film at the festival’s opening, with 3,000 people in the audience looking on with great admiration.

The film created quite a stir in the American media.

Nguyen said “Live from New York!” will also be screened at a few other documentary festivals in the U.S. and Canada and will hit cinemas in 14 American cities next month.

The young director and his partner are currently working on the final phase of another long documentary which delves into the life of members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual community.

He disclosed that he has also embarked on his maiden feature film.

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