More than a decade after her uncle’s mysterious death, Vietnamese-Canadian filmmaker Carol Nguyen gathers her family for a trip to Vietnam. In Still Night, Burning House, the journey becomes a return to what was never fully spoken. The family moves through unsealed medical records, old questions, collective rituals, and private attempts to understand a loss that has lived too long without shape. At the centre is Nguyen’s father, still carrying guilt and searching for an answer that keeps slipping into stranger territory.
A world premiere at TIFF Docs, Nguyen’s feature debut expands the emotional terrain of her award-winning short No Crying at the Dinner Table (2019). Not concerned only with discovering what happened, Nguyen’s film explores what silence has done to her family across time and distance, carefully letting grief surface through conversation, ritual, and memory. Still Night, Burning House is about delayed mourning and the possibility of moving forward as a family after years of not knowing how to begin.
Presented by
Media Partner
Ngoc Nguyen, Jennifer Nguyen, Phán Huê Tang, Jenny Tang, Hoàng Nguyen, Thao Nguyen-Dương
Canada
2026
In English and Vietnamese with English subtitles
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Sylvain Corbeil, Nathalie Cloutier, Bob Moore, Anh-Duy Vo-Dinh
Producer
Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre, Rob Vroom, Ariel Nasr
Screenwriter
Carol Nguyen
Cinematography
Juliette Lossky
Editor
Anouk Deschênes
Original Music
Arie Verheul Van De Ven
Carol Nguyen
Carol Nguyen is a Vietnamese-Canadian filmmaker based in Montreal whose films explore themes of cultural identity, family, and silence. Her short film Nanitic (2022) screened at the Berlinale and TIFF. No Crying at the Dinner Table (2019) was shown at TIFF, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, and South by Southwest, where it won the Jury Prize for Short Documentary. Carol is currently working on several projects, including a feature-length fiction selected for TIFF Writer’s Studio in 2025.
Photo by Romain Rabasa
Northern Lights
See more films in this series
Send the Rain
In Kaayla Whachell and Hayley Gray's tender drama Send the Rain, a young Okinawan-Canadian attempts to evacuate her stubborn grandmother from a wildfire zone, forcing both women to confront family history, responsibility, and the pull of home.
Relax, Open Your Eyes
Confronted with her husband's declining health, Carrie Radomski dedicates herself to building Canada's first cryonics facility in this intimate documentary about hope, conviction, and humanity's enduring quest to overcome death.
Pocket Mirror
Lonely, isolated, and haunted by the possibility her cat has been replaced with a replica, Maisie’s closest confidant is an AI chatbot. Pocket Mirror is a striking distillation of modern alienation with wry humour and underlying suspense.
Seventeen
Seventeen takes us through a rough day in the lives of three Indigenous sex workers, shining a light on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and telling a story of solidarity and love.
First Comes Love: Nakabingwit
An engaging hybrid documentary with a rom-com aesthetic, First Comes Love: Nakabingwit follows Canadian women in the Filipino diaspora as they search for the language to discuss race, privilege, and love with their white romantic partners.
Smudge the Blades
This rousing hockey drama centres on the Treaty 6 Blades, a team of Indigenous youth on a quest for redemption. Blessed with a terrific cast, this is a crowd-pleaser in which victory is about much more than winning the game.
In the Heart of the South
In the Heart of the South brings North of North co-stars Anna Lambe and Zorga Qaunaq back together for a propulsive, psychological meta-thriller about an Inuk multimedia writer possessed by her own narrative that carves deep into themes of appropriation.
Clubfoot
An adopted teen and his friend coerce a younger adoptee to go for a drive out to the countryside — but things turn violent. With a fragmented structure and unresolved questions, Clubfoot reflects the uncertainty and isolation that often follow adoption.
Ba's Book
A TIFF Docs world premiere and Cannes Docs award winner, Ba’s Book follows Vietnamese-Canadian filmmaker Ashley Duong as she brings her father’s memoir to Vietnam and recreates it with her family, blending documentary and staged scenes.
Strong Son
A bodybuilder returns home to care for his ailing father in Ian Bawa's debut feature. A moving exploration of masculinity, filial duty, and the emotional distance between first-generation immigrant parents and their children.
The Bryce Lee Story
A 13-year-old immigrant and aspiring filmmaker falsely claims he's related to Bruce Lee in this Vancouver Island–set film. The Bryce Lee Story is a heartfelt coming-of-age tale about identity, family, and the search for belonging.
A Safe Distance
Following a camping trip gone awry, a woman is rescued by a free-spirited couple living off the grid. As she warms to the pair, she finds herself becoming dangerously entangled in their psychosexual affairs in Gloria Mercer’s red-hot crime drama.
Still Night, Burning House
A world premiere at TIFF Docs, Still Night, Burning House follows Vietnamese-Canadian filmmaker Carol Nguyen and her family to Vietnam to try and understand her uncle’s mysterious death and the grief left unspoken.
Turtle Island Rap
Taking us into the world of Indigenous hip-hop, this soulful doc profiles three up-and-comers in the genre. Exploring its subject’s personal lives as well as their career moves, the film is a work of complex human portraiture — and the music is terrific.
Lifeline
When a Somali youth worker is assigned a high-stakes case, her professional responsibilities pull her back toward a community — and a past — she has worked to leave behind. Lifeline is an intimate exploration of belonging and responsibility.
The Gymnasts of Fisherman Colony
The Gymnasts of Fisherman Colony follows a group of young female gymnasts in Pakistan's Machar Colony, a highly conservative fishing settlement. Habiba Nosheen's deeply empathetic documentary is a celebration of girlhood, resilience, and self-expression.
