560 - What Happens When A Daughter Sneaks Back To The Vietnamese Village Her Father Fled? - Ashley Da-Le Duong

How do we heal intergenerational silence when our parents refuse to look back at the past? In this episode, Ken sits down with filmmaker Ashley Đã-Lê Dương to talk about her hybrid documentary, Ba's Book (Bố’s Book). Named after her father’s home village of Đạ Lê in Central Vietnam, Ashley shares how a secret solo trip to Vietnam prompted her engineer father to write a series of letters detailing his unimaginable life story—from surviving the Vietnam War to being a student in Iran during the 1978 Revolution, to a chance encounter with Canadian diplomats during the hostage crisis. Kenneth and Ashley discuss the "meta-film" process of building movie sets in Vietnam, casting family members as younger versions of their parents, using creative collaboration to navigate residual war trauma, and why second-generation creators are fighting to rebuild communication before it's too late. Inside the Episode: (00:15) – The Meaning of Đạ Lê: Being named after a village her parents refused to visit. (01:24) – "Dear Yat Le": How a secret trip to Vietnam inspired a father’s memoir. (03:21) – Growing Up in Calgary: Language isolation, secret family codes, and residual trauma. (06:24) – The Language Barrier & Silence: Why immigrant parents hold back their pasts. (10:16) – The "Forrest Gump" of Asia: Discovering a father's secret 5 years in revolutionary Iran. (13:03) – Escaping the Hostage Crisis: Drawing a Canadian diplomat to secure passage to Canada. (15:50) – A Hybrid Meta-Film: Using sets, reenactments, and real-time family direction to tell history. (21:06) – Filming in Vietnam: Typhoons, 20-person crews, and navigating logistical chaos. (23:47) – Mental Health & Ethics: Navigating trauma, therapy, and intergenerational communication. (33:35) – Healing the Present: How making a film transformed a quiet father-daughter relationship. (38:22) – Road to the Oscars: Qualifying for the Academy Awards and sharing private stories publicly. Connect & Follow: Guest: Ashley Da-Lê Dương (Director of Ba's Book) The Vietnamese Podcast: Instagram / TikTok @thevietnamesepodcast -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Many of you still have the chance to record and preserve the legacies of your own families. I’ve sat with families now for interview sessions to record the rich histories of parents and explore the lives of the generations that preceded them. Don’t let your family stories go untold! Take a moment to reach out and together we will bring out your family’s story on a recorded journey. - Kenneth Nguyen Visit https://www.vietnamstorybank.com/ today for more information! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy