Underplayed Gems

Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom

Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom poster
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The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

This documentary examines two Vietnamese families whose histories are connected by a famous photograph from the Vietnam War. It traces how the image shaped their lives across generations.

reflectivesomberpersonalhistoricalpoignantmeditativeintimate

What happens

Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom (French: Une photo à Saigon : coups de feu sur deux vies) is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Kim Nguyen and released in 2026. The film profiles the two Vietnamese families whose lives and histories have been indelibly intertwined by Saigon Execution, the infamous photograph of a Vietnamese man being executed by a police officer during the Vietnam War. In a personal essay for the Cutaways column on CBC Arts, Nguyen described the film's genesis in a long-dormant idea about a man whose job was to recover dead bodies and figure out who they belonged to, and how it ultimately turned into Saigon Story after he was approached about a man living in Montreal who had a personal family connection to Saigon Execution. The film premiered at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, where it was the winner of the Best Canadian Feature Documentary award. It was subsequently screened at the DOXA Documentary Film Festival on May 1, where it was the winner of the Colin Low Award. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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