Nhang (2026)

A young Vietnamese-American mother prepares the annual đám giỗ ceremony with her young son, guiding him through the precise rituals of ancestor worship — lighting incense, bowing, offering food. As the smoke rises, she is transported to her own childhood, watching her grandmother teach her the same gestures with exacting patience. The memories reveal a gap in what she thought she remembered, forcing her to confront what it means to honor tradition when pieces of it have slipped away.