Story

In her short story, “At Ma's Salon,” Huong Nguyen summarizes: “This shop's four walls endure, preserve and hold in all the emotions of every woman who has ever walked in.” Published in August 2003 in the Silicon Valley De-Bug journal, the text and imagery of the story inspired the director to develop a short screenplay based loosely on the characters and conversations seen and heard in a hair salon.

Immediately, when the director visited La Petite Salon, she was ignited by the surroundings' the wall palette, the furniture materials, and the exclusive location. The remote space shed light on the multitude of Vietnamese images, characters, and dialogue that are evidence of the invisibility of Vietnamese Americans in American media. La Petite Salon is a reflection of her connection with the Vietnamese community. In turn, the project will convey the complexities and the struggles of Vietnamese Americans who are negotiating between two different cultures, sometimes at odds with each other, sometimes opposite, but always challenging.

Disclaimer: La Petite Salon is a work of fiction. It is not affiliated with its namesake hair salon. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.