Which Way is East: Notebooks from Vietnam

When two American sisters travel north from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, conversations with Vietnamese strangers and friends reveal to them the flip side of a shared history. Lynne and Dana Sachs' travel diary of their trip to Vietnam is a collection of tourism, city life, culture clash, and historic inquiry thats put together with the warmth of a quilt. The film starts as a road trip and flowers into a political discourse, combining Vietnamese parables, history and memories of the people the sisters met, as well as their own childhood memories of the war on TV. (The Independent)

Sundance Film Festival; Atlanta Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize; Museum of Modern Art; San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival; Whitney Museum of American Art

"Subtly explores and challenges Vietnam's place in the American mind, an ideal discussion generator." Prof. Peter Zinoman, Dept of History, UC Berkeley

"A sophisticated work that captures the essence of a country in transition. Recommended for students of the war and Southeast Asia." Prof. Robert Brigham, Dept of History, Vasser College

"Brings up questions about what we see, how we see it, and who's doing the seeing. An honest, and vividly sensual film." San Francisco Bay Guardian

What comes through is such a strong sense of the place you can almost smell it.
The Chicago Reader

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Which Way is East
• Lynne Sachs
• Vietnam
• documentary
• experimental documentary
• New Day Films
• essay film
• Hanoi
• Saigon
• Ho Chi Minh City
• Natrang
• Vietnam War