Trinh T Minh-ha: Surname Viet Given Name Nam

One of Trinh T Minh-ha's most well-known films, Surname Viet Given Name Nam (1989) ventures into a deeply personal dimension through its exploration of the role of women in Vietnam and the United States. Touching on themes of dislocation, exile, translation, violence and memory, the work reframes the dominant narrative of Vietnamese history through the lives of women in the resistance. Questioning the politics of interview and documentary, the film combines dance, printed text, folk poetry and dislocated sound.

Born in Vietnam, Trinh T Minh-ha is a filmmaker, writer, composer and Professor of Rhetoric and of Gender and Women's Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Her work includes eight feature-length films honoured in numerous retrospectives around the world, several large-scale collaborative installations including L’Autre marche (Musée du Quai Branly, Paris 2006-2009), and Old Land New Waters (3rd Guangzhou Triennale, China 2008) and numerous publications including Lovecidal: Walking with The Disappeared (2016), D-Passage: The Digital Way (2013), Elsewhere, Within Here (2011) and Cinema Interval (1999).

She has been the recipient of many awards, including the Wild Dreamer Lifetime Achievement Award at the Subversive Festival, Zagreb, Croatia, 2014, the Lifetime Achievement Award from Women's Caucus for Art, 2012 and the Trailblazers Award, MIPDOC, Cannes Documentary Film, France, 2006.

Surname Viet Given Name Nam, dir Trinh T Minh-ha, 1989, 16mm, colour, sound, 108 mins

Enjoy special multibuy prices to buy tickets to multiple films and events in the Trinh T Minh-ha season:

• Tickets for 2-3 screenings: £7 (full price) / £5 (concessions) / £4 (ICA Members) per ticket
• Tickets for 4-8 screenings:  £6 (full price) / £4 (concessions) / £3 (ICA Members) per ticket

Download the programme listing for Trinh T Minh-ha's retrospective programme here [PDF]