Facing the fish sauce test of cross-cultural love
By Linda Morris
March 7 2003

Pressure ... Amanda Jane Mikolajs and Phong Tran (who says in real
life he has only ever had a Vietnamese girlfriend) play star-crossed
lovers Jenny and Van in Fish Sauce Breath, a film about the problems
with parents when it comes to cross-cultural romance.

Jenny loves Van. Van loves Jenny. But the course of true love never
runs smoothly and when Van, a Vietnamese Australian, is asked over to
meet Jenny's parents, he discovers a problem: fish-sauce breath.

The multicultural take on the Hollywood comedy Meet the Parents will
open Sydney's first ethnic youth short film festival to be screened
in Darling Harbour on Sunday, March 16.

First-time director Thao Nguyen explores complex themes of cultural
identity in her satirical seven-minute film that follows Van as he
tries to win the acceptance of his girlfriend's VB drinking, truck-
driver father.

Filmed around western Sydney, Fish Sauce Breath features a Bruce Lee
sequence with chopsticks, shady dealings in back alleys and guest
appearances by Ms Nguyen's mother and little brother. "Meeting the
parents in any culture is very nerve-racking but in cross cultures it
is even more so and there is much pressure to convince parents that
you are right for their daughter or son," Ms Nguyen, 22, said.

She speaks from experience. Her own parents warned her at an early
age never to bring an Australian boy into the house.

"It's taken 20 years for them to accept the fact I may not bring a
Vietnamese boy home."

Fish Sauce Breath is one of 35 films to be showcased at the inaugural
Cross Currents Festival, which will also feature poetry, music, a
photography exhibition as well as music lessons and community murals.

Cross Currents co-ordinator, Kelly Nicholls, says the festival is the
initiative of the Ethnic Communities Council and is all about active
participation, sharing and celebration.

Apart from Fish Sauce Breath, debut films include I Miss
Marrickville, an ode to the original "wogs" suburbs, Behind the
Lines, a behind-the-scenes look at the life of Arab youth in
Hurstville, and Straight Ahead, workshopped by ethnic youth of the St
George-Sutherland area.

When members of the Kirinari Aboriginal youth hostel in Sutherland
pondered what film they should make, the boys wanted a gangster flick
with a fight scene. The girls agreed on condition they could win the
fight. The result is Kirinari Krew, a tale of how girls foil a plan
by street boys to hook them up on dates.

For Ms Nguyen, the making of her debut film has been carthartic and
she hopes her messages of cultural acceptance will win a broad
audience.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/06/1046826481448.html