{"id":447026,"date":"2026-05-13T17:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/447026\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T17:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:10:09","slug":"phuong-mai-nguyen-on-animation-critics-week-opener-in-waves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/447026\/","title":{"rendered":"Phuong Mai Nguyen on Animation, Critics’ Week Opener ‘In Waves’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tPhuong Mai Nguyen is opening Cannes Critics\u2019 Week with the animated film \u201cIn Waves<\/a>,\u201d about shy teenager AJ who falls in love with Kristen. She loves to surf, and slowly, AJ starts to appreciate it as well. But \u201cIn Waves\u201d isn\u2019t just about surfing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBefore making this film, I didn\u2019t have much of a connection with surfing or skating. When I heard about the story, I went: \u2018OK, this is about surfing, and I\u2019m not really into it,\u2019\u201d she tells\u00a0Variety. Later, she discovered the philosophy behind the sport she wanted to express.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen you\u2019re gliding into the water, you\u2019re connecting to something greater than yourself. It reminds us of our humility as humans in relation to nature.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tProduced by Silex Films, distributed by Diaphana and sold by Charades<\/a>, \u201cIn Waves\u201d is based on AJ Dungo\u2019s graphic novel \u2014 and his own painful experiences after discovering that his first love was gravely ill. Nguyen decided to dedicate the film to Kristen. \u201cIt\u2019s a very intimate story,\u201d she says. \u201cI didn\u2019t know AJ at first, but I realized I needed to meet him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDungo and Kristen\u2019s family welcomed her to California, where the film is set.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was really moved by the graphic novel, but also by this entire experience,\u201d she says. \u201cThey opened their doors and gave me a glimpse of their lives. This was my way of showing them how grateful I was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBuilding on Dungo\u2019s work, she wanted to ensure Kristen would be remembered.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe all wanted to honor the promise made to her \u2014 art keeps Kristen alive. I didn\u2019t know what she was like, but AJ depicts her in his drawings, which is why I use so many of them in the film. They helped me to fill in the gaps.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the movie, voiced by Stephanie Hsu and Will Sharpe, Kristen lifts AJ up. She also helps him overcome his fear of water.\u00a0\u201cShe basically teaches him how to live,\u201d says Nguyen.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was a stranger, but I could connect to AJ because he\u2019s an artist and he\u2019s dealing with grief through art. Ultimately, it was this connection that made me want to do it, because initially, I was very intimidated by how personal this story was. Also, we are both part of the Asian community \u2014 he\u2019s Filipino American \u2014 and we are children of immigrants. We actually have so many things in common.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHailing from Vietnam, Nguyen graduated from animation<\/a> schools Les Gobelins and La Poudri\u00e8re.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u2018Spirited Away\u2019 was the first animation that really blew my mind. That was the starting point of me wanting to make animation and I came to France to study art,\u201d she recalls.\u00a0\u201cI used to draw a lot as a kid. It became a way of expressing myself. Animation allows for more poetry: you can be less realistic. In the film, there\u2019s a moment in the hospital where the bed sheets become like waves, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFiguring out how to animate them was challenging.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWater is really one of the characters here. We had to find a way to create these waves, because I wanted them to have texture. I have to underline that I didn\u2019t use AI at all when making the film. It was done digitally and it was done by people,\u201d she stresses. \u201cThe waves are mirroring what everyone is going through \u2014 there are calmer moments, when the waves are soft and gentle, and then it gets stormy. It\u2019s as if the waves and the ocean had their own emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe added more color to the film, inspired by her time in California: \u201cI wanted to capture the light there. The first time I went there, I was shocked \u2014 the blue sky and seemingly endless horizon were so striking. I was amazed by it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNguyen tackles difficult topics in the film but she doesn\u2019t see \u201cIn Waves\u201d as being solely for adults.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSometimes you watch animation and you might not understand everything, but you are still attracted to the images. When I was very young, I remember watching \u2018The King and the Mockingbird\u2019 [an animated classic directed by Paul Grimault], which is very strange and very surreal. I didn\u2019t fully understand the story, but I was captivated by it,\u201d she says, adding: \u201cI love the idea that you can rediscover a movie later in life and notice new things about it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Phuong Mai Nguyen is opening Cannes Critics\u2019 Week with the animated film \u201cIn Waves,\u201d about shy teenager AJ…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[3621,2069,10532,194353,93,61,194354,60,270],"class_list":["post-447026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-animation","tag-cannes-critics-week","tag-cannes-film-festival","tag-charades","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-in-waves","tag-ireland","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}