Meet Corey Nguyen, the 23-year-old cinematographer based in Los Angeles and Orange County. He found his calling for cinematography after experiencing an incident on a big TV pilot. He had his first breakthrough with a documentary he shot in 2019 called "Frat House" (directed by Nancy Nguyen), which was about the last gay bar in the town of Garden Grove, California. The film was featured in The Advocate and the LA Times and had its premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival. Since then, Corey’s films have played at festivals such as the San Diego Asian Film Festival and the Philadelphia Asian Film Festival. He's shot documentaries in Paraguay and South Africa, and in a few months, he’ll be traveling to Vietnam, which brings us to his feature-length documentary, "Son of Vietnam: Nguyen Duc Quang," currently in pre-production.

This upcoming film is about his grandfather, Nguyen Duc Quang, who captured the hearts of millions as a singer-songwriter in Vietnam during the 60's and 70's. His music, which called for community service and patriotism, is still recognized to this day.

Despite his grandfather’s dazzling reputation decades ago, Corey was never educated on his grandfather’s history. So now Corey is determined to chronicle his grandfather’s experiences, and although there will be many hurdles to overcome, he believes that after 10 years of waiting, he’s finally ready to share his grandfather’s story.

Before you hear my full chat with Corey, I invite you to grab a drink of your choice, and let’s spend happy hour together.

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(Music from Epidemic Sound)