When a mother arrives home with her young son to find her father in the kitchen, the simple act of preparing dinner prompts her to confront her childhood and cultural identity. As her father prepares spring rolls, a traditional Vietnamese meal, both are challenged to find common ground. And what ultimately brings them together is the youngest generation’s creative fusion.

“Spring Roll Dream” is a stop-motion short film directed and animated by Mai Vu while she was enrolled at the National Film and Television School in Buckinghamshire, England. The narrative follows a single mother named Linh, who has forged a life for her family in the U.S. But when her father visits from Vietnam, a statement says, “Linh is confronted with the past and culture she left behind and the question of where it belongs in her family’s new life.”

The figures, scenes, and foodstuffs emerge from sculpted paper, and the film’s dialogue captures bilingual interactions that shift between generations. Interiors glow in the evening light and uncanny happenings induce Linh to reconsider her relationship with her heritage.

“Spring Roll Dream” took home the Lights on Women Award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Watch now on Vimeo.