︎Xen Nhà︎︎

documentary maker + writer


Highlights

︎Fly in Power


︎disorganising Workbook


︎In Living Memory 

︎thương


︎mình


About


Mark

About




I am a documentary maker and writer with a background in creating intimate dialogues and storytelling across film, radio and texts. I am interested in the play between personal and collective narratives, the responsibility of listening, as well as language making and its relationship with the body and lineages. You can find me in on unceded Wurundjeri Country (Melbourne, ‘so-called-australia’).

Currently, I am the Producer for the feature-length documentary film Fly in Power, which won Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the LAAPFF23. Fly in Power follows the Asian immigrant massage parlour worker community organising under Red Canary Song in NYC. You can also find me on air at 3CR Community Radio, where I produce for the feminist radio program, Women on the Line

 In 2019-2020 I was a Collaborative Studio Fellow at UnionDocs (NYC). In 2021, I was the Editor for disorganising, a project between Bus Projects, West Space and Liquid Architecture, where I edited the award-winning disorganising Workbook. Since 2019, I’ve been curating annual queer lunar new year zines and events for the queer and trans Asian diaspora in Narrm and internationally through my publishing project, Red Pocket Press.

Right now I am interested to work on projects that involve film production, writing and editing, audio editing and interviewing. I am most interested in projects that are localised and community-driven.    

︎ xennhai [at] gmail [dot] com



Sound


  • composition of soil – a meditation – K(NOT) – Arts Gen – 2022
  • visiting rites, I take off my shoes before I enter – Mclelland Gallery x Liquid Architecture sound commission – 2021
  • Dramageddon x Melbourne Writers Festival Special – Podcast Producer – 2020
  • Thalweg – Sound Designer – Trail of Lights Festival – 2019
  • When Love Wins podcast – Podcast Producer – Switchboard – 2019
  • 2222 – Audio Producer – Emerging Writers Festival x State Library Victoria – 2019
  • A Mile in My Shoes –  Amy’s Story – Empathy Museum x Arts Centre Melbourne pop-up installation – 2019
  • Border Stories – Podcast Producer – Writers Victoria and VALiD –2018
  • The Digital Writers Festival Podcast – 2017
  • 27 – KCRW's Radio Race – Producer – 2018
  • Remotely Intimate – CBAA Documentary Series – 2016
  • ReachOut Australia's Real Stories: Abusive Relationships – Script Writer and Researcher – 2015
  • We Weren't Born Yesterday – Producer + Project Coordinator – 2015
  • Women on the Line – Producer + Host – 3CR Community Radio – 2018-present 
  • Queering the Air – Producer + Host –  3CR Community Radio – 2013-2018

Films


  • Fly in Power – Producer – Dir. Yin Q and Yoon Grace Ra – 2023  
  • The Unshakeable Destiny 2.0 – Production Assistant – Dir. Nikki Lam – 2023
  • Malamadre – Sound Recordist – Dir. Liang Luscombe – 2022
  • In Living Memory – Supervising Sound Editor – Dir. Quyên Nguyen-Le – 2022
  • flutters through skin – Editor + Sound Designer – Dir. Nundrisha Wahkloo – 2020

Writing


  • Memories Land – ‘The Urge to Know’ (issue 03) – Debris Magazine – 2023
  • thương – Sanctuary – Liminal Magazine – 2022
  • A Dedication to Lisa Bellear – Part Two – Liminal Magazine – 2020
  • How does a journey start? – collaborative text with H.Mur – FCAC Writes – 2020
  • Correspondence: Thanh Hằng Phạm + Jeannine Ventura – New Life Quarterly, Issue 4 – 2018
  • Holding the Lens onto Myself – Peril Magazine – 2016

Zines


  • mình vol.i (2014) + vol.ii (2016)
  • speaking bitterness – self published – 2017
  • chị và em – self published - 2014
  • Spectra – 2015
  • Queer Lunar New Year Zines – Editor – Red Pocket Press – 2019 - 2022 

Editorial


  • disorganising Workbook and website – Editor – Liquid Architecture, Bus Projects and West Space – 2021
  • Red Pocket Press – Editor and Founder – 2018 - present

Workshops


  • Sound Storytelling workshop for Resonant Voices Lab – Victoria University – 2022
  • Signal Summer presents Sound + Spoken Word workshop with Xen Nhà and Thabani Tshuma – 2022
  • Regenerate: Paper collaging + Gratitude Altar for Year of the Ox – Red Pocket Press x AAA – Makers Window – 2021
  • Art Agititators Podcast Workshop – Bunjil Place – 2019
  • The Things We Did Next Podcast Creative Development Workshop – Audiocraft – 2019
  • Yummy ngon quá 好吃 – a Red Pocket Press zine workshop – RMIT Pride Week – 2019
  • 'Shh, we're podcasting' – SIGNAL Arts –2018
  • Sound Bodies: A workshop on the power and practice of radio – Women's Center for Creative Work – 2018
  • Writing and Creating Sound Collages – Women's Center for Creative Work – 2017 

Study


  • Film Futura Student – No Evil Eye Cinema – 2021
  • Collaborative Studio Fellow – UnionDocs – 2019/2020
  • Air Media Full Spectrum Fellow – 2018