Cindy Tran: From Here to Here

Cindy Tran: From Here to Here is part of In The Making, a documentary shorts series from American Masters and Firelight Media follows emerging cultural icons on their journeys to becoming masters of their artistic disciplines.

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Director Statement from Xinyan Yu

I first met Cindy Tran at an anti-Asian hate vigil in New York City in 2021, when she read her poem “True American Sentences” in the aftermath of the Atlanta spa shooting. At the time, I was still working as a journalist, trained to chase news and facts. Yet Cindy’s poetry moved me in a way no statistics or press conference ever could. Her words pierced the air with such raw honesty that moved so many Asian American women in the crowd, myself included, to tears. There was something in her eyes, vulnerable and fierce, that drew me to her world, a world where emotions are not hidden but given shape, where grief and resilience can coexist.

Years later, having made my first feature film, I found myself craving stories that moved beyond headlines into the depth of human emotion. Cindy stayed with me, not just because of her poetry, but because her journey as a woman, immigrant, and artist echoed my own questions about belonging and identity. I knew I wanted to make a film about her, about the mind behind the poems that had first captivated me on that cold, windy day.

This film is both narrative and lyrical. One strand follows Cindy’s family history: her parents who arrived in the United States as refugees, and her estrangement with her family. The other strand builds a dreamy world that mirrors the cadence of her poems. Cindy often begins with small, ordinary things – a banana, a broccoli or a potted orchid – and through them, she reveals emotions that are hidden, complex, and profoundly human. In this dreamscape, the texture of city streets, the hush of winter air, or the roll of a dim sum cart all become part of her poetry.

Cindy first began writing poems on Yelp, turning reviews of restaurants into observations and sometimes conversations. What started playfully became a way to express what was difficult to speak aloud. She writes across English, Teochew, Vietnamese, and Cantonese, expanding poetry beyond language and holding space for anyone who encounters it.

As the film moves deeper, Cindy’s poetry takes us into the terrain of difficult experiences. From menopause to estrangement, it invites the readers to linger in what I see as an “in-between space”, a place where life and death, estrangement and forgiveness, and grief and resilience, can sit side by side.

Cindy’s work does not force us to reconcile or offer us resolutions. Instead, she asks us to stay in that space with her, to listen, to breathe, and to discover that poetry can hold us there. That is what drew me to Cindy years ago, and what I hope audiences will feel now: the quiet, transformative power of her art.