Indie Short Film 'Saigon Kiss' Is a Quintessential Saigon Queer Love Story
Is there a meet-cute more characteristically Saigon than a motorbike breakdown and subsequent friendly assist from a stranger?
Linh Phạm in Trích or Triết
In Xuân Diệu's Tender Poetry, a Reminder to Love Honestly and Courageously
“Tenderly, fondly, Xuân Diệu held on to my wrist, caressing it up and down. Our eyes locked in affection…Xuân Diệu loved me.”
Pete Walls in Travel
For the Freshest Fish of the Day, Head to Hội An's Coast Before Sunrise
The alarm goes off at 3am. By 3:30am, scooters laden with empty crates and baskets are already moving through the dark lanes and sandy passages towards Hội An's coast. Long before the old town wakes, the beaches along the shore are coming alive with engines, head torches, waves, and fishermen preparing to return to land. Thankfully, coffee is readily available almost anywhere.
From the Mind of 'Mekong Review' Comes ‘Yellow,’ a New Lit Mag Focused on SEA
“Cooped up in my apartment-cage in Tân Định, I created, with scissors and glue, dummy after dummy of a cosmopolitan rag positively pumping with scandals and half-truths. I was having a lot of fun dreaming of a magazine that I would never be able to do. And buried somewhere in that detritus on the floor—advertising cutouts and newspaper clippings—was Yellow … Once I knew I had the name, the magazine more or less made itself, as though the name determined the rest, ie, form and content,” writes Minh Bui of the birth of Yellow, his “what-do-I-do-after-Mekong Review magazine.”
In Saigon's Bửu Long Pagoda, a Meditative Escape and Pan-Southeast Asian Architecture
It all started with a sparkle on the horizon, a beam of solar brilliance bouncing off a garish metallic surface.
On Reading Ocean Vuong and Thinking About the Sniff Kisses of My Family
Having always been a little brother, I had to learn to be a big one when I was 10 years old. In the midst of the confusion of this new role, I found myself pressing my nose to this newborn’s head and inhaling as hard as I could. This “sniff kiss” was not an action I invented. Rather, it was an instinct forged through mimicry: I started noticing from this point that my father and grandmother both did the same thing to me.
Paul Christiansen in Music & Arts
Meet Th.ink Room, the Tattoo Collective Bringing New Life to Old Artworks and Onto Skin
Tattoo Therapist, dr.99hz, cd.cadao, goc.viet, Solarist and Baby Nepotism: listing the artists that call Th.ink Room home feels like shouting out the members of a rap clique. Indeed, tattoo artists, more than any other visual artists, are akin to rappers in their use of pseudonyms, so to employ a common hip-hop refrain, Saigoneer became interested in Th.ink Room because “game recognize game.”
Khôi Phạm in Film & TV
A (Literally) Brief History of Vietnamese Representation in 'Mean Girls' (2004)
Written by Saturday Night Live alum Tina Fey and premiered in 2004, Mean Girls is often heralded as a sharp, self-aware comedy that was ahead of its time, yet still holds up surprisingly well today. Alas, its depiction of Asians has aged a little more poorly, even though at the time of its release, the Asian representation was shockingly accurate for its time, despite some haphazard characterizations.
Saigoneer Chats With Suboi, Saigon’s Queen of Hip-Hop
Suboi recently returned from a series of successful US shows and wall-to-wall American media coverage. We sat down with Saigon’s “Queen of Hip-Hop” to ask about her experiences in the US, whether...
Hue’s Heritage Threatened By Development, Time
In a recent piece for The New York Times, Edward Wong warns that many of Hue’s World Heritage sites and perhaps its very soul are slowly deteriorating as a result of development and environmental fact...
[Video] Nha Trang Driver Learns Why Lessons Shouldn’t Be Done On City Streets
This video should serve as a friendly reminder that novice drivers should avoid busy streets when trying to up their skills. You probably shouldn’t be driving a fancy Mercedes SUV either...
An Interview With Jazz-Fusion Trio The Drops
Forming in 2008, with Guitarist Frederico Casagrande, saxophonist Christophe Panzani, and percussionist Tom Poor, Casagrande and Panzani sought to continue a previous partnership in a new band. After ...
[Video] Short Film Perfectly Captures Slices of Life in Vietnam
Unlike some of the more pensive Vietnamese travel videos we’ve come across in the past, Oliver Astrologo’s “Reverie of Vietnam” is a short film composed almost entirely of quick and explosive cuts.
New Web Series Highlights Viet Kieu Who Have Found Themselves, Success In Vietnam
“Employed Identity” is a new web series created by Vietnamese American director, Bao Nguyen, for the Center for Asian American Media and PBS.
May Movies At Saigon’s Alternative Film Venues
There’s a bit of everything in store this month at Saigon’s alternative film venues, from some recently acclaimed independent films and genre classics to the two most talked about documentaries from t...
Vietnamese Artist’s Spin On A Classic Piece Of Propaganda Art
Triet Nho, the artist behind the stop motion banh mi video we posted back in February, has been trying his hand at a different medium – watercolor.
Saigoneer Sunday Rewind
Saigoneer's staff highlight their favorite articles from the past week.
Vietnam Photo Tips: The Juxtaposition
When taking photos of people in a dynamic environment (and here I am talking specifically about Southeast Asia), it is very important to keep one’s photos as simple as possible. Capturing something to...
Pop Superstar Katy Perry Coming To Saigon Next Month
American pop star, Katy Perry, will be making her way to Saigon next month to attend an event organized by Forbes Vietnam.
7 Incredible 360° Panoramas Of Saigon
These spiraling photos are the work of Hồ Ý, a graphic designer who moved to Saigon in 1999.
Saigoneer Sunday Rewind
Saigoneer's staff highlight their favorite articles from the past week.
Film Screening: March: Art Walk Presents “Ánh” and “Mùi”
Part of Sao La and Freeland’s community art project, March: Art Walk, aims to bridge the gap between Saigon’s contemporary art scene and the general public. To that end, on March 11, the project scree...
Brian Letwin in Film & TV
This Film Beautifully Captures The Daily Life Of Vietnamese
Wander in Vietnam is not your typical Vietnam travel video as this short film’s beauty lies in its simplicity.
Saigoneer’s March Art Picks
Last month was, without a doubt, the most extravagant (artistically speaking) in the past four years; Saigon was a theatre unto itself with a variety of art shows and exhibitions. Here are some of our...
Saigoneer Sunday Rewind
Saigoneer's staff highlight their favorite articles from the past week.
Forgotten Vietnamese Communities Come To Life At Sao La
Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai’s latest thought provoking and socially conscious exhibition, Day by Day, is currently on view at Sao La.
[Video] Chinese-Vietnamese Gang War Erupts in Australia
Chinese-Vietnamese relations are still a bit frosty from the oilrig that caused a geopolitical fracas last year, and by the looks of it, this animosity has manifested in the diasporas of these countri...
Zelda Goes To The Gallery: World in My Mind
For his first exhibition, The World in My Mind, now on view at deciBel Lounge, Saigon-based concept designer and illustrator Hoang Trung has assembled nine medium-scale digital paintings inspired by h...
