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Ba’s Book is Ashley Duong’s 2026 hybrid documentary about trying to understand her father, Anh Duong, through the stories he recorded in a memoir. It follows the family as they revisit his childhood in wartime central Vietnam and his years studying in Iran during the Iranian Revolution—not only through staged scenes, but through the conversations and corrections that happen while making them.
What is Ba’s Book about?
The film grows out of a gap between what Anh Duong had lived through and what his daughter knew. Canadian Press reported that Ashley Duong had not known her father studied at a university in Iran during the revolution until she encountered his memoir. He had felt pressure as the eldest son to succeed and provide for his family while war raged around their home. The film approaches that history as a family story, shaped by memory, reticence, displacement and the effort to understand one another across generations.
Its historical scope is specific: Anh’s experiences growing up in central Vietnam during the Vietnam War and studying in Iran during the Iranian Revolution. The available accounts do not establish a broader political role for him in either conflict, and his time in Iran should not be confused with the later Iran-Iraq War.
How does the film bring family memories back to life?
Rather than simply illustrate a finished memoir, Ba’s Book shows both reconstructed scenes and the present-day work of making them. The British Film Institute describes participatory recreations in the family’s ancestral village, where relatives and community members help stage memories and revisit their meaning. That makes the line between lived experience and remembered experience part of the film itself.
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Reenactments that relatives can revise
Duong first planned to interview relatives, but they were reluctant to speak directly about the war, according to Canadian Press. After traveling to Vietnam and meeting aunts and uncles, she persuaded her father to return to the country of his birth for the first time since he was 22. Casting two cousins as younger versions of Anh and his aunt gave relatives a scene they could respond to together.
In one example reported by Canadian Press, Duong’s grandmother corrected a recreation by noting that children at the time did not wear shoes. In another, an actor playing young Anh picked up cigarettes tossed by American soldiers as soon as they landed. Anh stopped the action: he said he had waited until the soldiers were gone because he resented them and did not want them to see him bend down. The details show how a staged scene could prompt family members to add, correct and interpret a shared account.
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A daughter’s way of understanding her father
Duong has described the project as a way to understand why her father had seemed mysterious while she was growing up, and as a chance to collaborate creatively with him. She has also discussed using the making and discussion of art as an indirect way to communicate. The film’s focus, then, is not only what happened decades ago; it is also what happens when a family tries to approach difficult memories together.
What memoir inspired the film?
The companion book is Dear Da-Lê: A Father’s Memoir of the Vietnam War and the Iranian Revolution, by Anh Duong, with a foreword by Ashley Da-Lê Duong. The director’s project page describes the film as inspired by the memoir and links to the publisher’s product page: Ashley Duong’s Ba’s Book project page. Canadian Press reports that the memoir was written in English, which some relatives could not read. The film’s collaborative process offers another route into that family history.
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Who made Ba’s Book?
Ba’s Book is a 2026 Canadian hybrid film directed by Ashley Duong and written by Duong and Steve Sych, as listed by the BFI. The director’s project page credits Steven Sych. It features Duong, Anh Duong and Nguyen Hoang Duy. The BFI lists a runtime of 103 minutes and languages of Vietnamese and English, with English subtitles. The official project description calls it a hybrid of live action and documentary.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where can you watch Ba’s Book?
The director’s project page lists a world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and an international premiere at the BFI London Film Festival, along with 2026 screenings at Lunenburg Doc Fest, Calgary International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, Windsor International Film Festival and RIDM in Montreal. The BFI listing places the film in its 2026 London festival context. These are festival listings, not confirmation of a general release. The sources available do not establish a theatrical release beyond festivals, a streaming service or a home-video edition; check the festival or distributor’s current listings for screenings and ticket availability.
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