original films by ina adele ray

MIXED VIETNAMERICAN PEACE

70-min Documentary (work-in-progress)
Ba Ngoai (far left), Ong Ngoai (far right), Adele's sister, Mary Claire (bottom left) and Adele (bottom right) circa 1980. 
Log line: A mixed race filmmaker explores her Vietnamese grandparent’s past that span three wars, three continents, and her family's experience as a Vietnamese disapora living in France and the US.

Synopsis: I. Adele Ray, weaves her personal life and her filmmaking process over a 16-year period starting from August 2001---one month before 9-11 until the present day Syrian refugee crisis. with interviews of Vietnamese grandparents and family members about their lives during three wars in Vietnam: World War II (when the Japanese occupied), the French Indochina War (when Vietnam gained independence from France), and the Vietnam War.  Adele encounters many obstacles during the filmmaking process as a mixed-race Vietnamese American like doubts from family members her own authenticity as a Vietnamese to make a film about Vietnamese to the everyday struggles in life to families issues and major life altering events--birth, death, marrige, divorce (not in that order). The film also illustrates how larger global conflicts (Cold War, Arab-Israeli War, & War on Terror) affect the lives of middle class Vietnamese people struggling to survive and protect their offspring from the violence of war and the chaos in extreme unstable living conditions. The film is a moving image collage of archival, home movies/videos, super8 re-enactments, and still photos.

EL PASO VIETNAM

16mm b&w Short film Running time: 10 min, 
In Texas during the Vietnam War, a smart, sassy, Vietnamese language teacher meets her future husband before he leaves for her hometown, Saigon, as told by her daughter through interviews, old photos, and archival footage.
Upcoming Screening April 25, 2015: 
“40 Years After” (Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Diaspora Vietnamese Artist Network, California College of the Arts)

Previous Screenings & Awards (2002-2012):
2012: - Everynobody's Business: Experiments In Place, Home And Family (NYU) 
2010: - 3 Women: Short Films By Mixed-Race Vietnamese American Filmmakers, Reel Works (Brooklyn, NY)
- Techniques of the Observer Screening Series (Mumbai and Delhi, India) 
2007:  - Immigration and Migration Series at Univ. Texas, Austin 2004:  - Vietnamese Diaspora Film Symposium College of Staten Island - Northeast Historic Film Summer Film Symposium (Bucksport, Maine) - Slant: Bold Asian American Images, Aurora Picture Show (Houston, TX) - Chicago Asian American Showcase - Cinemasia Film Festival (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)  2003: "Asian North American Visual Culture and Racial Representation" (U. of   
Toronto) - Vietnamese International Film Festival (UCLA) - Asian Pacific American Film Festival at the Smithsonian (Washington, DC) - Hirshon Film Festival (NYC) - Rooftop Films (Brooklyn) - Visual Communications Asian Film Festival (Los Angeles) - San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
- Creatively Speaking Harlem Film Festival (New York, NY) 
2002: - Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival - New School Forum at the Backup Film Festival (Berlin, Germany) - San Diego Asian American Film Festival
Awards: “Best of Show Award" at the New School Invitational Student Film Festival - "Documentary Tribute Award" at Mixed Messages 
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MAO'S RED BOOK

5 min Experimental Film (2009)
A lyrical reconstruction of a 16mm print from 1967, "CBS News Report: Red China Diary with Morley Safer". The film contains analog optical printing and non-camera film making techniques like scratching on film emulsion and drawing on clear film leader. The contemporary audio track juxtaposes notions of “revolution” in an American urban setting with the visual propaganda from Mao’s Cultural Revolution in China from the 1960’s. 
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