Join Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center for an evening of poetry and film, featuring Cathy Linh Che's poetry book "Becoming Ghost," a finalist for the National Book Award and the short documentary film "We Were the Scenery," winner of the Sundance Jury Prize for Nonfiction Short Film, shortlisted for Cinema Eye Honors and DOC NYC.

Both projects are based on Che's parents' experiences as refugees who escaped the Vietnam War and then were cast as extras in Francis Ford Coppola's film Apocalypse Now.

"Becoming Ghost" uses persona, speculation and the golden shovel form as a means of moving Vietnamese voices from the periphery to the center. The speaker’s disownment raises questions about the challenges of using parents as poetic subjects, telling familial stories to a broader public, and the meaning of forgiveness. We Were the Scenery was filmed on location in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Long Beach, CA. The documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2025.