A Metafilms, National Film Board of Canada and Portage Films co-production
In Carol Nguyen’s feature debut, a family journeys to Vietnam, where together they face long-unspoken questions about an uncle’s mysterious death.
Short Synopsis
In her deeply personal debut feature, award-winning filmmaker Carol Nguyen charts her family’s first reunion since her uncle’s mysterious death. Travelling together to Vietnam, the family embarks on a revelatory—and at times uncanny—journey through intergenerational trauma and many-layered loss. With care and probing curiosity, Nguyen guides her loved ones as they navigate unsealed medical records and a decades-long silence, ultimately leading them back to each other. A metaphysical poem for complex mourning, Still Night, Burning House shows how storytelling can transform grief into collective healing.
Long synopsis
In her most personal work yet, filmmaker Carol Nguyen chronicles her family’s first gathering since her uncle’s mysterious death over a decade ago.
Travelling together to Vietnam, the family embarks on a transformative journey through intergenerational trauma, mental health and deeply layered loss. With profound care, trust and immediacy, Nguyen guides them as they navigate unsealed medical records and long-unspoken questions. How can we grieve if we’ve never been given the chance to be sad? Still haunted by guilt, Nguyen’s father’s search for answers via collective rituals and solitary meanderings soon leads him into the uncanny.
A companion to the award-winning short No Crying at the Dinner Table, Still Night, Burning House marks the feature debut of Vietnamese-Canadian filmmaker Carol Nguyen. A metaphysical poem for complex mourning, Nguyen’s film shows how storytelling can turn grief and regret into healing, hope and a kinship restored.
TW: This film contains discussions of suicide, and the effects on survivors of suicide loss. If you need support services, please call your local Distress Centre. If you need immediate help, please call or text 9-8-8.
Written and directed by
Carol Nguyễn
With the participation of
Ngọc Nguyễn
Jennifer Nguyễn
Phán Huê Tang
Jenny Tang
Hoàng Nguyễn
Thảo Nguyễn-Dương
Michelle Nguyễn
Nanette Nguyễn
Produced by
Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre
Robert Vroom
Ariel Nasr
Executive producers
Sylvain Corbeil
Nathalie Cloutier
Bob Moore
Anh Duy Võ Đình
Cinematographer
Juliette Lossky
Editor
Anouk Deschênes
Sound designer
Marie-Pierre Grenier
Original music by
Arie Verheul Van De Ven
Production managers
Anh Duy Võ Đình
Stephanie De Bem
Production coordinator
Emilie Serri
Production services – Vietnam
Spotlight Production
Script consultant
Annie St-Pierre
Location managers
Hùng Huỳnh
Đoàn Thanh Thống (Đa Sắc Màu)
Lưu Minh Chiến (Đa Sắc Màu)
Production assistants
Diệp Phương Uyên
Đạt Nguyễn
Hồ Anh Vũ
Đan Thy
Oxen conductors
Chú Tư and the An Bằng Locals and Friends
Production manager in development
Louis-Emmanuel Gagné-Brochu
Fixers in development
Hương Jooney Nguyễn
Steadicam operator
Trần Doãn Nam
Steadicam assistant
Lê Phước Thịnh
First assistant camera
Trần Doãn Nam
Nguyễn Trí
Nguyễn Phi Long
Émilie Desmarais
Additional camera – Toronto
Mark Klassen
Sound recordist
Tobias Haynes
Additional sound
Nguyễn Huỳnh Đạt (Trần Linh Sound)
Andrés Solis Barrios
Sara Vada
Music consultant
Olivier Alary
Re-recording mixer
Isabelle Lussier
Sound effects editor
Sandy Pinteus
Foley artist
Nicolas Gagnon
Foley assistant
Francis Dugas
Foley recording engineer
Geoffrey Mitchell
Voice recording engineer
Luc Léger
Image post-production
Cineground
Post-production manager
Nguyễn-Anh Nguyễn
Director of operations
Aurélie Carpez
Project manager
Claire Bellard
Colorist
Marc Boucrot
Post-production technicians
Thomas Le Lay
Marie Rodriguez
Image post-production
NFB
Technical coordinator
Daniel Lord
Technical support – editing
Pierre Dupont
Albert Kurian
Patrick Trahan
Online editor
Luca Di Gioacchino
Title design & VFX
Mélanie Bouchard
Additional VFX
Manuel Codina
Vietnamese translations
Vy Nguyễn
Carol Nguyễn
Thảo Nguyễn-Dương
Cantonese translations
Mickey Lai
Accountants
Mélanie Bouchard
Ian Jaquier
For NFB
Production administrators
Leslie Anne Poyntz
Isabelle Limoges
Line producer
Amanda Roy
Senior production coordinators
Yanis Ait Mohamed
Cheryl Murgatroyd
Senior marketing advisor
Kay Rondonneau
Marketing project manager
Andrea Elalouf
Marketing coordinator
Harmonie Hemming
Lead publicist
Jennifer Mair
Legal counsel
Christian Pitchen
For Metafilms
Administrative manager
Ian Jaquier
Office production assistant
Sophia Chan Kong Randriamalala
Portage Films
Line producer
Jeanne Dupuis
Additional music
“My Way”
Performed by Frank Sinatra
English adaptation by Paul Anka
Based on the melody of “Comme D’habitude”
Lyrics by Gilles Thibaut
Music by Jacques Revaux and Claude François
© Warner Chappell Music France and Jeune Musique
Courtesy of Frank Sinatra Enterprises, LLC
Rights clearance
Tram7
Camera equipment
Cineground
Sound post-production
Bande À Part
NFB
Insurances
Globalex Gestion De Risques Inc
Audit
Demers Baulne
The director would like to thank
My family, my crew, Cô Hậu & Chú Nhân, Hugo Garcia, the residents of An Bằng, Xá Lợi Temple & Thích Minh Giác, Anh Duy Võ Đình, Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre, Anouk Deschênes, Patrick Trahan, Simone Ling, Gitte Hansen, Jérôme Bretéché, Mikaël Huot, Judith Cayer, Dan Cross, Aziz Zoromba, Youmna Moacdieh, Miryam Charles, Mila Aung-Twing, Theo Anthony, Ellen Adams, Tâm-Đan Vũ, Rosalie Chicoine-Perreault, Swann Dubus, IDFA Project Space, Soup the Dog (AKA Bé Duy), Caspar Newbolt, Bác Liêm — Rest in peace
Produced with the participation of
Téléfilm Canada, SODEC – Société De Développement Des Entreprises Culturelles – Québec, Crédit D’impôt Cinéma Et Télévision – Gestion SODEC, Programme De Crédit D’impôt Pour Production Cinématographique Ou Magnétoscopique Canadienne