Y Vân: The Lost Sounds of Saigon

Official Selection, 2025 DOC NYC
Official Selection, 2026 Atlanta Film Festival

Growing up in the United States, Khoa Hà knew her grandfather by reputation. The rest of the Vietnamese diaspora, especially the elders who escaped war, knew him by songs they hummed to themselves and keep in their hearts from oceans away. He is the legendary Y Vân, the composer who wrote the hits for Vietnam’s rock ‘n roll generation, and whose sprightly tunes and earworm ballads defined the era, before they were sent underground and overseas by an incoming regime that saw in Y Vân’s compositions a nostalgia for western decadence. And like that, the ubiquitous songs became mere traces.

Knowing there is more to the story – musically, emotionally – Khoa sets off on a journey to Vietnam to uncover those traces. With the help of family and historians, she travels across the country in the ultimate vinyl collecting expedition. An artist herself, Khoa knows the power of picture and sound to make history come alive. Y VÂN: THE LOST SOUNDS OF SAIGON is a vibrant, buoyant, colorful documentary about historical recovery but also remixing the past for newer generations to find in her grandfather’s music a clue to their identities in the present.

–Brian Hu