Marlo Poras’
documentary, “Mai’s
America,” is the
story of an outspoken
yet deferential child
of Ho Chi Minh’s
revolution who trades
cosmopolitan Hanoi for
a year as an exchange
student in the United
States. Aspiring to
bring honor to her
family with an
enhanced education,
she arrives in rural
Mississippi, where her
media-fed dreams of
life in America are
shattered. Mai
endeavors to form
relationships with the
self-proclaimed “red
necks” of the area,
and later, at Tulane
University, she
struggles financially
to make ends meet.
Throughout, Mai
unabashedly expounds
on her evolving
beliefs about Viet
Nam, America, and
herself.
First-time
filmmaker Marlo Poras,
herself a former
exchange student, had
been living in Hanoi
producing AIDS
education video for
Vietnamese teens when
she was inspired to
make “Mai’s
America.”
How did come up
with the idea to make
this film?
I met a group of
exchange students
through one of my
friends who was
teaching them in Hanoi
the year before they
came to the States. We
would have these pizza
parties for them and
talk to them about
America. I thought
there would be a lot
of animosity and
resentfulness, but
there wasn’t; they
had won the war
against the United
States -- a superpower
-- so they actually
exhibited a certain
cockiness towards us.
At the same time, they
had a fascination
about all things
American, and I
thought, “Wow, that’s
a really interesting
mix.” I knew that it
would be a fascinating
subject, so I met with
the woman who
organizes the exchange
program in Hanoi and
said that I wanted to
make a film about one
of the students who
was going to the
States. To get access
to them, I asked her
if I could teach them.
I ended up teaching
English, and
simultaneously I
taught these exchange
students about
American culture …
about dishwashers, and
using a fork and a
knife, and prom, and
football and slang.
How did you
choose Mai as your
subject?
Initially, I chose
four girls out of the
23 students. I tried
to get a boy also, but
the boys were really
shy. I ended up
following those four
girls for two months
in Hanoi, and then
when they came to the
States I went and
visited each one of
them for a week. One
of them was placed
with an Iranian woman
in Washington State,
one was placed with a
Christian family who
lived in a farming
community in Illinois,
another was placed on
a Hopi Indian
Reservation in
Arizona, and Mai was
placed in rural
Mississippi. I
realized very quickly,
however, that it would
be unaffordable for me
to film all four of
them, and that the
storytelling would be
too complicated. Mai
stood out as a
complete and utter
natural in front of
them camera. She loved
being filmed, she had
no qualms, and she
didn’t care where I
went with her or what
I did. After I started
looking at the footage
I realized that, to
make the best film, I
would have to narrow
it down to her.
A story that
unfolds like this one
is unpredictable. Were
you able to anticipate
any portions of the
narrative?
I tried to anticipate
as much as I could.
With this type of
filmmaking you want to
figure out what to
follow, which is
confusing sometimes.
The easiest thing to
anticipate was what
would happen with Mai’s
first host family,
because, from the
beginning, I doubted
that she would be able
to spend the whole
year with them. So I
tried to get as much
of that story as I
could. I knew she was
thinking about
changing families, but
I had no idea when.
She didn’t call and
tell me she had
changed families until
after it happened.
The other evident
story line was at
school. I tried to
capture what would
happen in her history
class, because I knew
it was an American
History class and that
they would be covering
the Viet Nam war. Once
I met Mai’s history
teacher, Mrs. Dunham,
I knew that tracing
their relationship
would be really
interesting. Mrs.
Dunham was so generous
and wonderful to Mai,
and so appreciative of
her, which Mai was not
used to. In Viet Nam,
it’s just lecture;
you take notes and
there’s no
questioning. So they
had a great connection
and there were lots of
positive things going
on there that I wanted
to counterbalance with
the difficulties she
was having with her
host family.
How about story
lines that surprised
you?
Her meeting Chris (a
drag queen) was a
total surprise to me!
That was so exciting
… I couldn’t have
scripted it any
better. He was the
first person she
connected with, other
than Mrs. Dunham, and
she thought he was one
of the most thrilling
people she had ever
met. I think that’s
partly because she had
grown up as a tomboy,
and, as she says in
the film, gender roles
in Viet Nam are so
strict that she was
never able to explore
that. Their
relationship opened a
door for her; they
bonded as outsiders,
and that became an
obvious story line to
watch.
Chris’s later “conversion”
was also something I
did not anticipate.
Those themes of giving
in to societal
pressures and changing
for other people
became interesting
layers of the story.
Mai dealt with that on
her own, having always
made her decisions for
her parents instead of
for herself.
Did you have any
trouble getting people
used to the camera?
Remarkably, no. I
think that’s because
it was just me. I didn’t
have a crew, and I
worked hard to put
people at ease. I
explained to them what
I was going for in the
film and they
understood. The only
people who were
somewhat uncomfortable
were the first host
family, so we worked
out an agreement that
I would only film them
when they felt like
being filmed.
Otherwise I wouldn’t
bring the camera
anywhere near them.
You mentioned
that you didn’t have
a crew. In fact, you’re
responsible for
filling almost all of
the roles associated
with creating and
producing this film.
Why?
Part of the reason is
that I didn’t know I
could do it any
differently than that!
At first, when I
started the film,
there was no one else
who was interested in
working on it with me.
Then it became
financial. I could
hardly pay for myself
to do anything, so
there was no way I
could get anyone else
involved in it.
How did you
handle that?
It was hard not having
somebody else to work
off of. When I was in
Mississippi, I
sometimes felt I wasn’t
telling the story well
enough, or capturing
the scenes well
enough, or that I didn’t
have perspective. But
I learned to trust my
instincts, and that
was a good thing. I
really looked at it as
film school, so
playing all those
roles was my “education.”
But eventually
you did get outside
funding for the film.
What was your
fundraising experience
like?
Well, I knew that I
didn’t have a chance
of getting any money
unless I had a trailer
put together, because,
as a first-time
filmmaker, I didn’t
have any other work to
show. So I waited to
apply for funding
until about
three-quarters of the
way through Mai’s
year in Mississippi.
Because I shot on a
Sony VX 1000 mini-DV,
and because it was
just me, making the
film was not
prohibitively
expensive up until
that point. Then, with
all of the footage I
had shot, I had a
friend create a
trailer for me, pro
bono.
What happened to me
next was an absolute
dream. The bulk of the
funding came from ITVS,
and I think they were
really going out on a
limb funding a
first-time filmmaker,
which I’m incredibly
thankful for.
It sounds like
your trailer had an
impact. ITVS must have
been able to see the
potential for your
film.
They did. I also think
the proposal was very
strong. Actually, I
had met someone from
ITVS early on who I
pitched the project
to, and I did a
horrible pitch! He
said, “My advice to
you is to make the
story jump off the
page.” I thought,
“Well, of course!”
So I had everyone I
know who’s a good
writer look at it. I
didn’t hold it close
to me, I went to
people for advice and
I used their feedback.
That was really
helpful. I was
ultimately able to get
across what a unique
and fresh depiction of
Viet Nam and America
this film would
portray. I think that
that’s what excited
ITVS, that “Mai’s
America” looked like
a documentary that
would meditate on
different issues, but
that it was also a
really dramatic,
entertaining film.
Did you envision
a certain audience
when you were making
this film?
Not really. But I’ve
held screenings at
local schools and
universities with
Vietnamese-American
groups, and I’ve
realized that that’s
an audience that I
want to target, the
younger
Vietnamese-Americans.
Watching a film about
a North Vietnamese was
a completely new
perspective for them,
because most their
families are from
South Vietnam and they
grew up with very
anti-communist South
Vietnamese communities
in the States. It was
mind-bending for them
to hear the story of
Mai, a North
Vietnamese, who was
actually as
open-minded as most of
them are, even though
she grew up with
communist rhetoric
while they grew up
with anti-communist
rhetoric. They
responded really well
to it.
There have also
been a lot of college
professors and
teachers who have seen
the film and have
thought of ways to use
it for all different
kinds of curriculum.
While it presents a
foreigner’s view of
the United States, it’s
also presents American
attitudes that are
foreign to a lot of
Americans.
What about the
distribution of this
film? Are you looking
at certain film
festivals for “Mai’s
America?”
It was accepted at the
Santa Barbara
International Film
Festival which will
begin at the end of
February. The
organizers have been
wonderfully supportive
of the project, and I’m
going to have a couple
of screenings there,
my “World Premiere!”
It’s also been
accepted at the
Philadelphia Film
Festival. I’m hoping
it’ll get into some
other ones.
you would pass
on to other first-timeWhat
have you learned from
this project
that filmmakers?
which is
actually a pretty good
shooting ratio; but
definitely, if you’re
doing this type of
film, try to figure
out what story is that
you’re following and
where it’s going,
and try to shoot
efficiently. Also,
find an experienced
advisor to get
feedback from. That’s
the role my Executive
Producer, David
Sutherland played for
me. He asked all the
right questions that
would allow me to
figure out things on
my own, and he helped
me stay focused. You
can’t ask for more
than that.
Bob Connelly
teaches “Survey of
Gay and Lesbian
Documentary” at
American University.
He is completing the
documentary film, “Silver
Cities of Yucatan,”
about the 1926 Mason-Spinden
Expedition to search
for Mayan ruins in
Mexico.
