Baby Jackfruit Baby Guava

Director NONG Nhat Quang | Producer KANG Sarah, DAD Thi Minh Trang  | Vietnam, Korea | 90min / 52min | Delivery Date: January 2025

Project Description

Production Schedule

Synopsis

Respected pharmacist/strict tiger mom CUC has devoted her life to maintaining a perfect family image. She wants her children to have stable careers, get married, and have children like others. However, her dream shatters when her daughter MAI is diagnosed with schizophrenia and her son QUANG comes out to her. While MAI struggles with her visions—at best whimsical but at worst violent—QUANG gradually distances himself from the family constraints that prevent him from being himself. Dysfunctionality becomes the norm Dysfunctionality becomes the norm until MAI gets pregnant, unexpectedly. Seeing the formation of a new cycle of motherhood, QUANG picks up his camera and starts making a time capsule—this very film. He documents how the trio prepares to raise the baby and opens a portal to the past through their diaries. Will they be able to learn to understand and accept each other through this process?

Director's Note

Baby Jackfruit Baby Guava is a portrayal of three different perspectives on normalcy in my family as we prepare for a new baby. My mother CUC, who has always followed society expectation, often lament about how her past life karma punished her to give birth to a "crazy daughter" and gay son. On the contrary, I see neurodiversity and queerness as natural. Each of us has a different idea of what’s considered normal, and yet here we are, living together under the same roof. How normalcy will look like for Baby Guava depends on how the adults learn to co-exist, so I hope that this film can help bridge the generational gap, and perhaps we can show Baby Guava a more understanding and better world.

	Nong Nhat Quang is a filmmaker based in Hanoi. He started as a videographer in a content agency, creating documentaries for British Council, before taking part in the Queer Asia docuseries, where he directed two documentaries about queer culture in Vietnam, Our Queer History and Dating with Dan Ni.		Trang Thi Minh Dao currently works as a professional screenwriter, director and producer for both commercial and independent film, and is intensively involved in producing TV programs in Vietnam for European channels. Her feature documentary #NeverBeenKissed won an award as Most Promising Project. She is the co-founder of doc cicada, a Vietnamese initiative for documentary.		Sarah Kang's recent film, Queer My Friends, premiered at Hot Docs and is now preparing theatrical release in Korea. Another film, Ayena won Best Documentary at the Oslo International Film Festival, screening at multiple festivals. In 2022, she founded Breathing Films to collaborate with directors who open up their vulnerability towards the world.
Director  NONG Nhat Quang		Producer  DAO Trang Thi Minh		Producer  KANG Sarah