Lucy Vang & Ricky Vue
Qhia Dab Neeg Spotlight FilmmakerS
“Don’t be scared if you think you’re doing this alone…It’s always going to be scary, but the more and more you do it, the less it gets scary and the more fun you actually have.” - Ricky Vue
Lucy Vang and Ricky Vue are a Twin Cities-based creative team whose partnership brings together visual storytelling, production, and technology. Vang is a Hmong photographer, filmmaker, editor, and creative director whose work is strongly influenced by music, popular culture, and her experiences as a Hmong American woman. She developed her filmmaking skills through hands-on mentorship and training with the APIA film program and In Progress, working with artists including Kazua Melissa Vang and Kang Vang. Her creative practice includes photography, narrative filmmaking, music videos, post-production, and collaborative projects that seek to empower Hmong women and younger generations of artists.
Vue works alongside Vang as a production partner, assisting with lighting, equipment, technical problem-solving, logistics, and the many behind-the-scenes needs of a production. Largely self-taught, he has also explored digital media and livestreaming and brings a technology- and business-oriented perspective to their partnership. Together, Vang and Vue demonstrate the collaborative nature of filmmaking, combining different strengths to support one another’s creative ambitions while encouraging emerging storytellers to take risks, use the tools available to them, and begin telling the stories that matter to them.
Qhia Dab Neeg: 50 Years of Hmong Film in Minnesota has been financed in part with funds provided by the State of Minnesota through the Minnesota Historical Society from the Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.