Best Vietnamese documentary movies

Get ready to binge. We've found a collection of must-watch documentary films from Vietnam, now streaming on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Prime Video, and other top services!

  • Poster for Children of the Mist

    Children of the Mist 2022

    Di is a 12-year-old girl from the mist-shrouded mountains of northern Vietnam. She belongs to the Hmong, an ethnic minority in which girls get married at a very young age. This is often preceded by a controversial “bride-napping,” where the girl is abducted by her future husband on New Year’s Eve. Negotiations between the families follow. This also happened to Di’s sister and their mother, so it doesn’t seem strange that in preparation the women and girls discuss sex and married life without embarrassment. But Di also goes to school, where she learns very different values. And in her own way, even Di’s mother tries to warn her daughter about child marriage.

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  • Poster for Madam Phung's Last Journey

    Madam Phung's Last Journey 2014

    Endearing Madame Phung and her transvestite singers travel around Vietnam, sparking fascination and hostility from the local people.

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  • Poster for The First Swallows

    The First Swallows 2019

    The first air combat of Vietnam People’s Air force on April 4, 1965 in Ham Rong.

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  • Poster for The Glorious Pain

    The Glorious Pain 2020

    “The Glorious Pain” is a documentary film which features the journey of a small classical Vietnamese opera (Tuồng) troup and one of the very few left, as they travel and perform through the Western Vietnam countryside. The Royal characters, behind the closed curtains are commoners and peasants who struggle to make ends meet. The troup is on the verge of disbandment because the main artists were going through a hard time. What future awaits the troup and its artists? Would it disappear in the same way as many other traditional art forms?

    80
  • Poster for Saigon Metalhood

    Saigon Metalhood 2020

    Three generations of Vietnamese metalheads struggle against an indifferent culture to make their passion heard.

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  • Poster for Sky Tour: The Movie

    Sky Tour: The Movie 2020

    From the preparations to the performances, this documentary showcases Vietnamese pop idol Sơn Tùng M-TP and the passion behind his Sky Tour concerts.

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  • Poster for Living as One Should

    Living as One Should 1987

    A Vietnamese documentary on human suffering and the meaning of kindness.

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  • Poster for Hanoi in Whose Eyes

    Hanoi in Whose Eyes 1983

    Made in 1982 but banned until 1987, "Hà Nội trong mắt ai" is a Vietnamese documentary film using historical figures and stories intertwined with the history of the city to reflect its citizens' views on society at the time.

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  • Poster for KCBT

    KCBT 2015

    KCBT explores the shifting urban landscape and rapid economic growth of Hanoi, Vietnam through stenciled demolition ads that both visibly mark the entire city and internally mark its residents.

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  • Poster for No Gods, No Masters

    No Gods, No Masters 2017

    "No Gods, No Masters" quotes the slogan championing independent thought used by anarchists, feminists and workers in Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. The video juxtaposes images and sounds recorded at various locations in Vietnam and features two appeals expressed by two supposed ghosts: one is hearable via an audio production by the 6th Psychological Operations Battalion (PSYOP) of the US-Army during America's war in Vietnam, which was intended as a weapon to weaken the fighting morale of the Vietcong, distributed via loudspeakers over their supply routes. The other ghost makes herself heard using Sung Tieu's aunt as her medium.

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  • Poster for Tri Am the Movie

    Tri Am the Movie 2023

    Vietnamese pop queen Mỹ Tâm presents a behind-the-scenes look at her landmark Tri Âm concert in this emotionally charged documentary.

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  • Битва за Москву: «Агрессия» 1985

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  • Vĩnh Linh Steel Rampart 1971

    The story of the resistance of the people of the Vinh Linh area of Vietnam which was heavily bombed by the United States during the Vietnamese War. (Note: After shooting was complete the film crew itself was bombed and the footage lost. The director re-shot the film albeit in shortened form.) Documentary for the promotion of tourism in Vietnam and cultural diffusion, provided by the Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the Kingdom of Spain authorized for publication in vietnamembassy.es (impact6) (Propaganda Film)

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  • Phép thuật Winx "En Chan Tít" 2021

    A renovation of the Winx Club series that explores the deterritorialized flows of desires in a digital age of technology. Also, something about gay rights

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  • Wings Over Vietnam 1993

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