Today we’d like to introduce you to Hanh Nguyen.
Hi Hanh, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
As a four years old immigrating to the US, my toddler view of the world expanded exponentially. I was dropped into to a new country, a new culture, a new language, and had to very quickly learn to balance both. This experience is always at the core of how I see and experience the world – this understanding that really communicating and telling your story goes beyond the just the spoken word. Throughout my life, I’ve always loved creating things with my hands and telling stories, through a piece of sculpture, a painting, or a documentary, or my new “pandemic hobby”, a crafted meal. It brings me joy and deep satisfaction to be able to share a bit of myself in everything I do.
Through Running Reel Films, my production company, I get the opportunity to focus on makers and help share their perspectives and work with a wider audience. I am constantly in awe and inspired by the people I meet and how their unique experiences drive them to create things that could only come from them.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I learned early on that if I wanted to be a director, a cinematographer, an editor or a producer, I have to create those opportunities for myself. So that’s what I did. I decided to make a feature documentary about coffee, called “Caffeinated”. I partnered up with Vishal Solanki, whom I had just met on a previous shoot. We had the same drive and hunger to prove ourselves. We shared every role in that production. We would work at our day jobs and meet up at a cafe in Hollywood every night to do pre-production until 1-2 am. We would work, save money, take our film a little further, and repeat. It took us five years to finish our first feature documentary film and I couldn’t be more proud of it. We’ve made so many mistakes, good ones and bad ones, but we were able to secure a distributor (Gunpowder & Sky) through our screening at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and to this day have helped us get Caffeinated to the wider audience.
What I’ve cherished most about this experience is that I’ve gained a trusted partner, collaborator and a brother in Vishal. To have someone you trust with your vision with or without you on set takes a special bond.
Having been self-employed for over 10 years out of school, it’s been a rough road driven forward only by passion and commitment. Having people in my life who believe in me and support me helped me continue to believe in my goals.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Running Reel Films is a digital content production company. We specialize in documentary films, branding videos, architecture videos, and photography. We want to help every person, every company, every place finds the story they are waiting to tell.
We focus on highlighting makers. Whether you’re a musician, composer, artist, architect, craftsman, engineer, farmer or an educator, we all have our unique voice. Running Reel Films help present your voice and your story in a cinematic way with grace and a lot of heart.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Keep learning. Keep challenging yourself. Put yourself in situations and obstacles that will help you grow. Develop a good network of people you can trust, rely on and work well with. And be persistent. The only way to achieve your goals is to not quit.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://runningreelfilms.com/
- Instagram: @runningreelfilms
