Youth Filmmakers

Honoring the history of youth filmmakers telling their first stories

Thursday, December 11, 2025 | 10am
Txuj Ci Hmong Language and Culture Upper Campus, 1363 Bush Ave, St. Paul, MN 55106

This screening honors more than three decades of Hmong youth picking up cameras and telling some of their first stories. Featuring youth-produced films created between 1990 and 2025, the program spans clay animation, music videos, action and adventure stories, and narrative shorts that offer a window into the experiences, humor, concerns, and imaginations of young Hmong filmmakers. Across generations, the works explore family, cultural expectations, identity, belonging, friendship, and community challenges while celebrating the importance of experimentation and the transformative experience of making a first film. Together, these works demonstrate how access to cameras, mentorship, and creative opportunity has helped generations of Hmong youth develop their voices and contribute to the evolving history of Hmong filmmaking in Minnesota.

kev hlub yog kev nco / Pheng Moua & Chao Yang / circa 1993

Kev Hlub Yog Kev Nco (Love Is a Memory) is a youth-produced music video exploring romantic love, memory, and the feelings of loss that accompany separation. Created by teenagers Pheng and Chao, the film carries an added meaning in retrospect: the two later married and remain together today, holding their own memories of creating this early work side by side.

I AM A Bird / Cindy vue / circa 2009

I Am a Bird is an imaginative short film by youth filmmaker Cindy Vue that explores Hmong migration from Laos to the United States through the curiosity of a young storyteller. The film reflects on the important role grandparents play in carrying memories across generations and keeping Hmong history and cultural knowledge alive. Through her own creative lens, Vue considers how young people can connect with a history they did not experience firsthand but continue to inherit through family and storytelling.

memory seeds / Dhoua Hli Vue / circa 2016

Memory Seeds is a short claymation film that explores a child’s experience of grief as she remembers and honors her deceased grandfather. Through the metaphor of “memory seeds,” the film considers how the stories, knowledge, and cultural teachings passed down by elders continue to take root after they are gone. As these memories grow within her, they become part of the child’s own understanding of what it means to be Hmong, offering a gentle reflection on loss, cultural inheritance, and the enduring connections between generations.

Family History / Kao Choua Vue / circa 2006

Family History is a poetic reflection on the Hmong diaspora and the experiences of the first generation of Hmong refugees who came to the United States following the Secret War in Laos. Weaving archival photographs with her own words delivered in poetic rhythm, the filmmaker gives voice to the displacement, grief, sacrifice, and overwhelming challenges experienced by a generation rebuilding their lives far from home. The piece honors the resilience of those who endured this transition while asking younger generations to recognize the histories, losses, and acts of perseverance that shaped Hmong American life.

the haunted playground / maniechan xiong / circa 2009

The Haunted Playground is a playful horror-comedy following three young girls who discover that an ordinary playground is inhabited by ghosts looking for someone new to join their games. What begins as childhood fun quickly takes a supernatural turn: if one of the ghosts tags you, you become part of their playground forever. Mixing youthful imagination, humor, and just enough fright, the film uses the familiar sounds of The Elmo Song to create a deliberately playful contrast with its spooky premise.

What is tobacco / KANG VANG. & the youth of Asian Meida access / circa 2012

What Is Tobacco? is a youth-produced public service announcement examining the impact of tobacco products on young people and the choices they face around tobacco use. Created by youth at Asian Media Access under the guidance of filmmaker Kang Vang, the project uses filmmaking as a tool for education, prevention, and peer-to-peer communication. The piece reflects an early example of Hmong and Asian American youth using media to address health concerns affecting their own generation and communities.

days after / Ty Vue / circa 2018

Days After is a deeply personal visual memoir by Ty Vue, created two years after the accidental drowning death of his sister, Ghia Nah Vue. Through carefully observed and highly visual imagery, Vue reflects on how he and his family continue to live with her absence, focusing not only on grief itself but on the everyday spaces, relationships, and moments forever changed by loss. Quiet and intimate, the film becomes a portrait of what is missing—and of the memories and presence that remain.

yUg los ua hmong / Gao Chi Vang / circa 2019

Yug Los Ua Hmong is a personal short documentary by Gao Chi honoring the grandparents who raised her and the profound influence they have had on her life. Through reflections on their love, care, and guidance, she explores the cultural knowledge and values they passed on to her and the role grandparents play in connecting younger generations to Hmong identity. The film is both an intimate expression of gratitude and a reflection on how family relationships carry culture, memory, and a sense of belonging from one generation to the next.

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