Meet Chi Tran | Director & Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chi Tran and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chi, what do you attribute your success to?
The most important factor behind my success as a director and producer is my genuine belief in the success of Asian-led stories. I want to challenge the conventional industry narrative that Asians and more specifically Vietnamese creatives cannot lead successful mainstream stories and genre; I have made it my central mission to challenge myself and take risk with many genres, from dark comedy to action to horror, all based on contemporary Asian issues and folklore, led by Asian and international creatives. I feel we have earned the right to tell our stories in our mother tongue, and the industry is ready to listen!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As a director/producer, I’ve always been drawn to the stories that make people uncomfortable — not for shock value, but because discomfort is where emotion lives. I work at the intersection of genre and cultural specificity: I’m not making Asian stories that are safe or palatable. Whether it be horror, dark comedy, action — stories with real teeth — I want to do everything that happens to be rooted in the Vietnamese and Asian-American experience. That combination is still rare, and I think that’s exactly why it resonates. The industry has a long memory for what it thinks “works,” and Vietnamese stories weren’t exactly at the top of that list in the past.
I overcame that the only way I know how: I made the work anyway. My previous short film VISA screened at Oscar-qualifying festivals and was featured on Deadline, before going viral on Instagram with nearly 5 million views across our episodes. Now I’m in production on Inhuma, a horror-drama born from one of the most personal experiences of my life, the death of my grandmother, the first Vietnamese female surgeon. What was supposed to be a celebration of her memory became a farcical, painful procession of cultural obligation and grief I didn’t know how to hold. That experience never left me, and it became the emotional core of the film. Additionally, I am also directing a romantic-comedy based on an interracial couple’s experiences with the immigration system. I hope that through these stories, I can show that Asian stories shouldn’t be limited to only drama, but that we can succeed in any genre, with any language and under any circumstances.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would take them to brunch at Republique Cafe, one of the best spots in town for a conversation, before going on a quick drive across Melrose, try to end up at Griffith Observatory by sunset, before running to K-Town for a Korean barbecue, and maybe a drink at the Phoenix. If we can squeeze a quick taco crawl (literally anywhere) that would be the dream!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My most regular collaborators are my leading man Benjamin Ting, my visionary DP Jason Wang, and my executive producer Benny Luo – I have collaborated with them on a multitude of projects, creating an exciting visual and thematic universe of challenging Asian narratives under my production banner Plus Seven Productions and Benny’s company NextShark Studios, who have helped distribute my projects to an incredible online audience.

Website: https://www.dchitran.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chitran_53/

Other: Film Social Media:
https://www.instagram.com/visa.shortfilm/
https://www.instagram.com/inhuma.film/

Image Credits
Sophie Chen