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After
17 years of separation, Hieu Tran Phan made a bittersweet return to
his Vietnamese homeland. Hieu, the nephew of the last South Vietnamese
president, fled the country in a terror-filled boat journey at the age
of eight. When communism overtook the south, his military captain father
committed suicide, his loved ones plunged into poverty, his family spent
years trying to flee oppression. Now, how would he feel upon returning
to Vietnam? Would it be the same nation he left? Would he be able to
reconcile his lost childhood and father? During the trip, I became the
eyes for Hieu's journal. The feelings he conveyed to me are represented
through images of change, seen in a nation's burdens, conflicts and
dreams -- and his melancholic impressions of it all.
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