Saturday, August 2
3-5 pm
FREE
Join us for the premiere of Taking Root, a community-organizer produced documentary series. Taking Root amplifies the untold stories of Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian refugees who resettled in Philadelphia after the U.S. Wars in Southeast Asia (commonly known as the “Vietnam War”).
Directed by Oanh-Nhi Nguyen and co-produced by VietLead, the series unpacks the refugee experience, provides critical historical context for Southeast Asians in the U.S., explores the intergenerational impacts of the “Vietnam War,” and calls present and future generations to engage in racial and economic justice.
Although set in Philadelphia and told through the perspective of 15 Southeast Asian community leaders, these are universal stories of rebuilding roots after experiencing displacement. Many groups across the U.S. can connect their own lived experiences to these tales.
This event is presented by the Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC), the Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants (CERI), New Light Wellness, and the Asian Prisoner Support Committee (APSC), and is sponsored by VietLead.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with VietLead’s co-executive director, Lan Dinh.
About the Panelists
Lan Dinh is the co-executive director of VietLead, and co-producer of Taking Root. At VietLead, she helps build leadership and power within Philadelphia’s Vietnamese and Southeast Asian communities through cultural celebration, youth organizing, and advocacy against deportation and displacement. Born in a Thai refugee camp and raised in West Philly, Dinh draws on her lived experience to center healing, land, and community in her work.
