MINH ANH NGUYỄN
FILM / WRITER AND DIRECTOR

Minh Anh Nguyễn is a German-Vietnamese filmmaker. Born to Vietnamese contract workers who fled from former Czechoslovakia to Germany, she initially studied sculpture and video at the Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe before completing her film studies at the University of Arts and Design Karlsruhe in 2025. Since 2021, she has been a scholarship holder of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes), and in 2025 she was awarded the Prize of the Federal Competition for Art Students (27. Bundeswettbewerb für Kunststudierende). She lives and works in Hà Nội and Cologne, and is currently completing her postgraduate studies in film at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.

Nguyễn’s work explores trauma, silence, and memory across fiction, documentary, and hybrid cinematic forms. Her films disrupt linear narratives to make visible what has been repressed or forgotten, transcending cultural and identity boundaries to create a shared canvas for empathy.



FILMS



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SO MUCH WATER, SO CLOSE TO HOME
2026 / 45 min
Essay Film

As a child, Minh Anh Nguyễn was sexually abused. Her film is an attempt to put words onto this difficult part of her life, to speak the unspeakable and regain a sense of self through the reflection and projection that the act of filmmaking allows. It reveals intimate conversations between the filmmaker and her mother, navigating the challenging process of bringing this trauma into the public sphere. The film moves through a wounded intimacy — blending fiction, archival footage, and documentary in search of a language to articulate the past and embrace the future.

Instagram
@somuchwaterfilm

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ONKEL THUẬN
UNCLE THUẬN
2026 / 60 min
Pilot Episode of a Documentary Series

Thuận and Thúy, two former GDR contract workers from Vietnam, have been running a restaurant in Germany for over 20 years. After hours, musician Thuận connects with the world via livestream, while Thúy keeps family and business together, despite the toll of many years of hard work. Their daughters, Hà Linh and Hà Vy, both born in Germany, search for a connection to their family’s story. Through archival footage and quiet, intimate observation, the film explores the Vietnamese diaspora in Germany – and the intergenerational challenges of identity, relationships, and belonging.

Instagram
@onkelthuan.film

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EINE MASCHINE FLIEGT IN DIE LUFT
ALL STARS BURN OUT EVENTUALLY
2025 / 49 min
Tragicomedy

Mr. Seins is the top student at the Butler Academy. His achievements are nothing short of outstanding, while many of his classmates struggle with the high expectations of the director and the constant pressure of competition. But slowly, an unspeakable horror lurking behind the academy’s structure begins to unfold. Seins’ precisely structured world starts to unravel.

2025
29th Filmfest Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel
FILMZ – 24th Festival of German Cinema in Mainz

2026
25th Independent Days International Filmfestival in Karlsruhe
Danger Zone Independent Film Festival in Hamburg

Instagram
@butlerfilm

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TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT
2021 / 71 min
Tragicomedy

The brunette meets the macho. Their shared odyssey takes them to an island, a swimming pool, and a Dionysian bathroom. Too bad she’s a fish who’s afraid of the water. The redheads meet on the dance floor and speak as if with one voice. Magic sweeps them away — but why does the schizophrenic have to show up just then? And then there’s the night porter, secretly dancing in the hotel staff restroom. He’s clearly infatuated with the pretty waitress from the diner around the corner, but while he admires her over the pages of his Camus novel, the stranger suddenly appears — and everyone takes a different path …

2022
51. Sehsüchte International Student Film Festival in Babelsberg

2023
Award for Best Film Score at the 22nd Independent Days International Filmfestival in Karlsruhe

2024
Beyond Filmfestival in Feuchtwangen

Instagram
@storyshort.film

NEXT



▷
WHAT WE HEARD, YET NEVER SAW
15 min / Essay Film

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SUMMON SPIRITS IN HÀ NỘI
90 min / Docu Fiction



CONTACT
nguyen.minh-anh@web.de




©2025 MINH ANH NGUYỄN