NARRATIVE SHORT
APRIL 21, 2022
USA | 5 minutes | 2020
Drama short film directed by Lana Nguyen
Starring Tom Dang, Tiffany Rothman
Fresh Peaches
Circa 1977. When his grandmother is falsely accused of stealing a tube of lipstick, a Vietnamese boy named Binh must try to diffuse the rising, heated altercation.
Lana Nguyen’s beautifully directed Fresh Peaches is an emotional feat and a stark reminder of how Asians in the US have always been viewed as outsiders. Though the film is set in the late seventies, the situation depicted continues to be prevalent today, especially as we see a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in the US and around the world.
The film takes place in 1977, just two years after the Vietnam War came to an end, and follows a Vietnamese boy, Binh (Tom Dang), and his grandmother (Tiffany Rothman) on a trip to the supermarket. The grandmother finds herself admiring a lipstick that brings her back to memories of her childhood in Vietnam.Though she tells Binh it’s too expensive, he decides to buy it for her anyway – but the lipstick falls into her purse. What began as a routine trip soon turns into an ugly encounter with rising tensions when the pair are accused of stealing the lipstick that Binh had always intended to pay for.
Nguyen accomplishes plenty in the short five minutes, hitting all the right emotional beats and touching on the Vietnamese refugee experience. The film is well-shot and paced, and brings to the forefront both the complexities of being Vietnamese in the US as well as the touching moments between a grandson and his grandmother.
Fresh Peaches is one of the many great projects shared with CineAsian Films through our submissions process. If you’d like to join them, submit your project.
Credits
Director, Writer: Lana Nguyen
Producer: Cameron Kostopoulos
Cinematographer, Editor: Daphne Daniels
Composer: Jaimie Pangan
Also featuring: JC Henning, Venessa Verdugo, Andy Pessoa
CineAsian Films 