We recently connected with Heather Muriel Nguyen and have shared our conversation below.
Heather, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?
Sometimes, I wish that I had understood sooner that the filmmaking I loved since I was a child was something that I could make into a career. There was a film club in my high-school, but most of the films they watched were black-and-white and with an all-white cast, so I didn’t think filmmaking had a place for a queer Vietnamese-American kid like me. When I was applying for colleges, I checked out some of their Film major webpages and found the same trend of white-only/dominant films.
Only after college did I realize that I couldn’t wait for the stories and characters reflecting my and my communities’ experiences to be created, I had to learn on my own how to create them — in collaboration with an increasing number of phenomenal queer and trans folks of Color that I met along the way. If I had pursued filmmaking and acting sooner, maybe I would be more established in this industry.
But I’m grateful for the films and communities I’ve built around me at this specific time in my life, born from the chaos during and after the pandemic, as I continue to grow in confidence in my storytelling and filmmaking style.
Heather, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m an asexual non-binary autistic Vietnamese-American filmmaker (they/she) who creates visceral stories that center queer and trans characters and artists of Color. I got into the film/tv industry, because I wanted to contribute to more nuanced queer Asian-American media representation as an actor, and then quickly realized that I needed to make the stories and characters I wanted to see, through my own filmmaking and collaboration with other aspiring creatives from marginalized communities wanting to tell stories by and for us.
Since then, I’ve written three films that I produced and acted in (one of which I also co-directed and edited) and enjoy writing, producing, and editing films and reel scenes for fellow actors looking to showcase their talents, without waiting for a specific project to come their way.
My award-winning films are screening at queer and AA-NH/PI film festivals, such as CAAMFest and Outfest LA, where femmes of Color all across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum have told me that they feel seen and their experiences represented fully for the first time in my stories. I seek to continue making films and series that empower these communities with authentic depictions of our experiences. My films are streaming at the OutMuseum, Film Shortage, and Retrospective of Jupiter.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I began social media, Instagram specifically, as a way to capture moments that gave me joy throughout my journey as an actor and filmmaker. In 2021, I launched and ran my first Seed and Spark campaign, which was when I started to experiment more with Instagram stories (ex. the awesome gifs and fonts and colors) to engage my audience in a way that mirrored my vibrant filmmaking style. I particularly enjoyed reposting and celebrating the work of other creatives that I admired, and through this, I developed a more personalized look in my stories and built my audience.
I connect the most with people in Instagram DM’s about their work and everything I love about specific details in their films, as well as sending them heartfelt and joyful messages as responses to their stories.
I know one of my friends is the queen of Instagram comments, and she’d comment multiple times on the same post to help boost it. It’s a strategy that I haven’t gotten a hang of yet, but may help other folks build their social media presence!
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Being a creative makes room for communities and audiences to slow down, resist the capitalist status quo of constant hustle, assess their emotional well-being, and reflect on their relationships with each other, as mirrored in films and art. Of course, trying to survive our society means having to hustle and sometimes struggling to find ways to pivot to honor our self-care and boundaries, but when you’re able to create space for breathing and dreaming, it can not only be healing for yourself, but also for those around you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.heathermurielnguyen.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathermurielnguyen/
Image Credits
Daniel Daleon, Heather Muriel Nguyen, Anne Brashier, Xan Churchwell, Yuelei Song, Catalina Parra, Mike Maliwanag