A 9-year-old's first Australian friend group hits different when kindness wears a mask.
Adapting to her new home in Melbourne, Vietnam War immigrant Hanh (9 years old) mistakes the cunningness of her new “friends” as an act of kindness, forcing her to come to terms with the reality of human betrayal through the loving and tender guide of her family - especially her father, Quan.
Acting
Keria Au's face will wreck you—no dialogue needed.
Direction
Mitchell makes 20 minutes feel like a lifetime of memory.
Production
Period-perfect 1970s Melbourne detail without nostalgia goggles.
Director
Cameron Mitchell
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Cameron Mitchell based Hanh's story on his own mother's arrival in 1970s Australia; the porcelain repair technique shown is traditional Vietnamese kintsugi-adjacent practice.
The zero TMDB rating reflects festival-circuit obscurity, not quality—this short has swept Australian independent awards despite near-zero mainstream visibility.
AU
