ACTRESS KELLY MARIE TRAN, PULITZER PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR VIET THANH NGUYEN, AND OSCAR NOMINATED PRODUCER SU KIM JOIN "WE WERE THE SCENERY" AS EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS

THE SUNDANCE AWARD-WINNING FILM WILL BE AVAILABLE 

ON THE CRITERION CHANNEL STREAMING NOW

Los Angeles, CA – November 3, 2025 – The award-winning documentary short film WE WERE THE SCENERY, directed by Christopher Radcliff, gains momentum with the addition of Kelly Marie Tran (RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON; STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI), Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen (THE SYMPATHIZER), and Oscar® nominated producer Su Kim (HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING; FREE CHOL SOO LEE; THE TUBA THIEVES) as Executive Producers. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2025, where it qualified for the 97th Academy Awards® by winning the Short Film Jury Award: Nonfiction. It will be available beginning November 1 on The Criterion Channel.

WE WERE THE SCENERY explores the real-life experiences of writer Cathy Linh Che's parents, two Vietnam War refugees who were background extras in Francis Ford Coppola's APOCALYPSE NOW in 1976 while living in a refugee camp in the Philippines. The film traces their journey through their memories and perspective, navigating between past and present, truth and fiction, life and cinema. 

“We are thrilled to welcome Viet Thanh Nguyen, Kelly Marie Tran, and Su Kim as Executive Producers to WE WERE THE SCENERY,” said Cathy Linh Che and Christopher Radcliff in a joint statement. "Viet Thanh Nguyen's writing continues to reshape the narrative around the Vietnam War. Kelly Marie Tran's work continues to break new ground in American cinema. And Su Kim brings decades of invaluable experience in amplifying gorgeously crafted migration stories and underrepresented voices. To have three powerful Asian American storytellers lend their vision and support to WE WERE THE SCENERY is an immense honor, and we know their guidance will be transformative for the film."

Kelly Marie Tran said, “In WE WERE THE SCENERY, we are invited into the home of Cathy Linh Che's parents as they detail their experience as Vietnamese refugees forcibly displaced due to war. Their story of resilience, perseverance, and hope, reminds us that oftentimes, the voices we need to hear most belong to those who have been historically relegated to the background."

Viet Thanh Nguyen said, "Cathy Linh Che's parents have a remarkable story, one of many among so many stories of Vietnamese people and Vietnamese refugees that do not get told or amplified in the West. How lucky we are that Cathy is a brilliant poet and storyteller who has delivered to us this stunning film, which is both an account of her parents' surreal experience as extras in APOCALYPSE NOW and is also an indictment of an American memory that continues to silence and erase Vietnamese experiences. Any time that someone mentions APOCALYPSE NOW from here forward, they should also acknowledge WE WERE THE SCENERY, since the Vietnamese were not so much the scenery but the very reason why Americans were in Viet Nam to begin with."

"WE WERE THE SCENERY is a powerful testament to the resilience and untold stories within the Vietnamese diaspora. Cathy's deeply personal approach to filmmaking honors her family's experiences while illuminating larger truths about war, historical narratives, and identity. I'm honored to support this essential work, and to help ensure that these voices are heard and amplified," said Su Kim.

The film has screened at over 60 film festivals worldwide including the Sundance Film Festival and Visions du Réel. WE WERE THE SCENERY has recently been announced on the Shorts List on the 2025 Cinema Eye Honors Awards and showcased on the 2025 DOC NYC Shorts Shortlist. It has won numerous awards including Best International Short Dox at DokuFest in Kosovo, Special Jury Prize for Documentary Short at Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Best International Short Documentary at Galway Film Fleadh, and Excellence in Short Filmmaking Documentary Award and Audience Award for Short Documentary at the NY Asian American International Film Festival. 

The film is directed and edited by Christopher Radcliff (THE STRANGE ONES), written and produced by Cathy Linh Che, cinematography and produced by Jess X. Snow, executive produced by Su Kim, Kelly Marie Tran, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Sevasti Buford, Akemi Look, David Moon Ki Lee, Andreas Nicholas, Anthony Dinh Tran, Mingran Yamira Yang, and Adrian Yu. Festival distribution by Travelling Distribution.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Christopher Radcliff an award-winning mixed Chinese American filmmaker based in New York City. His work has screened worldwide including at Sundance, SXSW, Visions du Réel, and Rotterdam film festivals, at The Shed in New York City, and online via Criterion, Short of the Week, Vimeo Staff Picks, and Lé Cinema Club. His first feature film THE STRANGE ONES was released theatrically in 2018, and was named by John Waters as one of the top ten films of the year.

Cathy Linh Cheis the author of the poetry books BECOMING GHOST, a Finalist for the National Book Award, and SPLIT, winner of the Norma Farber First Book award from the Poetry Society of America. She has received awards from MacDowell, Artist Trust, and New York Foundation for the Arts. She teaches at the low residency Creative Writing MFA program at Antioch University in Los Angeles and works as Executive Director at Kundiman, a literary nonprofit organization nurturing writers and readers of Asian American literature.

Jess X. Snowis a Chinese Canadian writer/director, producer, and artist committed to lyrical fiction and nonfiction storytelling that unveils the interior lives of Asian immigrants. After receiving their MFA from the graduate film program at NYU, they were named one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film. They have written and directed five short films that have screened at over 50 festivals including BFI London, SFFilm, Ann Arbor and Durban (Special Jury Mention) and are coming soon as a collection to the Criterion Channel. They are in pre-production for their debut fiction feature; WHEN THE RIVER SPLIT OPEN, a surreal road movie romance developed with support from Canada Council for the Arts, and labs at Cine Qua Non (Mexico) and Film Independent (USA). 

Su Kim is an Academy Award–nominated, two-time Emmy and two-time Peabody Award–winning producer and executive producer known for her compelling nonfiction storytelling. Her acclaimed work includes HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING (Oscar nominee), FREE CHOL SOO LEE (Emmy winner), BITTERBRUSH, and MIDNIGHT TRAVELLER (Emmy winner). Her films have premiered at top-tier festivals such as Sundance, Berlinale, Tribeca, Telluride, and the New York Film Festival, and have been distributed by PBS, Hulu, The Criterion Channel, Magnolia Pictures, Cinema Guild, and MUBI. Kim is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, BAFTA, the Television Academy, and the Producers Guild of America. She is a former Women at Sundance Fellow and the recipient of the 2022 Sundance Amazon Studios Nonfiction Producers Award. Her recent projects include SANSÓN AND ME, SUBURBAN FURY, and THE TUBA THIEVES, continuing her dedication to bold, resonant, and  impactful filmmaking.

Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel THE SYMwon the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His other booksare Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War(a finalist for the National Book Award in nonfiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award in General Nonfiction), the bestselling short story collectionThe Refugees,The Committed, the sequel to The Sympathizer,To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other, andRace and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America. He is the Aerol Arnold Chair of English and a Professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity, and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California. He has been the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundations, and le Prix du meilleur livre étranger (Best Foreign Book in France). HBO turnedThe Sympathizerinto a TV series in 2024, directed by Park Chan-wook. 

Kelly Marie Tran is best known for her breakout role as Rose Tico in Star Wars Episode VIII and IX. She made history by voicing Disney’s first Southeast Asian Princess in Raya and the Last Dragon. She recently starred opposite Lily Gladstone and Bowen Yang in Andrew Ahn’s The Wedding Banquet, which made its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. She also starred in Shal Ngo's Control Freak, which premiered this past spring on Hulu, and Jing Ai Ng’s Forge which had its world premiere at SXSW 2025. Up next, she will star in Vera Miao’s horror film Rock Springs opposite Benedict Wong and Jimmy O. Yang. Tran has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter’s “Next Generation,” People Magazine’s “Ones To Watch,” Variety’s “Breakout Performances of the Fall,” and ABC News’ “Actors to Watch.”