Film and Media Arts Major’s Documentary Serves Up Family, Food, and the Future
For Christian Nguyen ’27, the 2024 Fall Semester at York College of Pennsylvania offered an opportunity to tell his story, one that’s been simmering just beneath the surface.
On any given day at Viet Thai, a family-owned restaurant in Springettsbury Township, diners will find Christian Nguyen ’27, a York College of Pennsylvania Film and Media Arts major, behind the sushi counter, slicing tuna or rolling maki with practiced precision. It’s a rhythm passed down through generations.
Christian’s grandparents, who fled to the United States from Laos during the Vietnam War, launched the first iteration of the restaurant decades ago. His parents built it into a local favorite that USA TODAY named one of the best restaurants of 2024. As Christian balances college life with work at the restaurant, he feels torn between honoring his family’s legacy and forging a career path.
That tension is at the heart of “Next Course,” his short documentary created for York College’s fall 2024 Documentary Filmmaking class taught by Assistant Professor Michael Rohrbaugh.
Finding the meaning behind the story
“My professor, his whole concept is you have to figure out a question, which is, ‘So what? Who cares?’” Christian says. “If there’s not a necessary meaning to what you’re talking about, there isn’t much point to making a video about it.”
In “Next Course,” Christian grapples with the tension that many second-generation Americans feel: the desire to chase their dreams while honoring their family's sacrifices and traditions. The result is a visually rich and deeply honest exploration of identity and duty juxtaposed against creative ambition.
“I needed to find the point of conflict,” Christian says. “When you make it a piece that tells a story about a family, it becomes a piece that a lot more people can relate to.”
‘Make a piece that matters’
Rohrbaugh required students to research, pitch, produce, and edit a factual or reality-based documentary project. His main directive was to “make a piece that matters.” For Christian, that meant delving deeply into the family stories behind the multigenerational restaurant and his perspective and struggles.
“I spent a lot of time thinking about how I want to do my own thing—edit, create film—but I have this whole entire lineage behind me working at this restaurant, putting everything into it,” he says.
The video explores the realization that Christian is the oldest member of the next generation still living in the area and working for the business and the fear that he, like his father, might get stuck in an occupation that he isn’t passionate about, either out of necessity or feeling he has a debt to pay.
“My dad always told me if he could realign his career path, he would rather be an architect or in real estate, something not as tolling as being in a restaurant,” Christian says. “They worked hard so me and my brother could have a better life but lost a lot in the process. It made me think about do I want something like that?”
A team effort
Creating the video came with challenges, especially for someone used to doing everything himself. Christian has been making videos since high school when he recorded and edited a review show for the school’s morning announcements. Usually, he preferred to work alone. While most kids involved with the announcements worked together at the school’s studio, Christian would set up a green screen at home, put his camera on a tripod, and record and edit his one-man show.
York College’s Film and Media Arts program forced Christian to collaborate. For this project, he worked closely with classmate and creative partner Logan McKeever. Since the subject was so personal, Christian had Logan conduct the interviews to help keep the responses more objective.
“We sat in the back of the class, notorious for being the dynamic duo,” Christian says. “We would work on almost every project together. We would go the extra mile to make sure it looked perfect. We motivated each other to be better.”
Condensing generations of stories
Christian’s documentary spans decades of family history, from the 1970s, when his grandparents came to the U.S., to the present in York. He had to condense all of it into six minutes or less. Through the process, Christian honed the skill of retaining only the most important parts of the story and cutting the rest.
“My professor encouraged me to keep trying to cut down,” he says. “When I finished it, I felt like I had all the important parts together.”
Creating “Next Course” helped Christian understand more than just the technical side of filmmaking. He became more aware of his family’s sacrifices and how his dreams might fit into that narrative.
While he’s unsure what the future holds, producing “Next Course” helped Christian see a path that could include his passion and his family’s restaurant, a scenario in which he could live in York and serve at Viet Thai while working remotely as a film editor.
The most important thing, Christian says, is for him to keep building a portfolio and stay creative outside the classroom. He often saw fellow Film and Media Arts students stop filmmaking as soon as summer vacation started. He’s keeping his creative juices flowing by working on his Presidential Research Fellowship project that focuses on horror films while working on side film projects with friends.
“Keep your passions in mind whenever you’re doing anything,” he says.
