LONG BIO

Đoan Hoàng Curtis (née Hoàng Niên Thục-Đoan, also known as Doan Hoang) was born in the former Republic of (South) Vietnam to a South Vietnamese Air Force major from Saigon and a Mekong Delta socialite. Airlifted from Saigon during its fall in April 1975 at just three years old, Đoan was raised in Kentucky where her interest in documenting her family's war experience emerged early—writing her first book about their escape at age 9, creating her first war documentary at 12, and beginning family genealogy work at 13.

After graduating from Smith College in the mid-1990s, Đoan established herself in New York City's publishing world as an editor, writer, and fact-checker for prominent national magazines including Details, House & Garden, Spin, Travel & Leisure, and Saveur. During this period, she continued her Vietnam War oral history work while also performing as singer and guitarist in the riot grrrl band, Cheryl Tiegs and with avant-garde musician J. Graf.

In 1996, Đoan was interviewed for V's (formerly Eve Ensler's) "The Vagina Monologues," becoming a subject in the play. By 1998, she joined V/Ensler as an early co-founding board member of VDay, a non-profit that has raised over $120 million for anti-violence organizations worldwide. Đoan was actively involved with feminist and activist groups including the Guerrilla Girls, Bluestockings Bookstore, and Franklin Furnace.

Her breakthrough documentary "Oh, Saigon: A War in the Family" began production in 1999 in London where Doan lived. In 1998, Đoan had met cinematographer and associate producer of Oh, Saigon, Ham Tran. John Battsek of Passion Pictures, Oscar and Emmy-winning producer became executive producer along with Julie Goldman and Cactus Three, and Frank Campbell. Su Kim was added as associate producer to the project, Bret Sigler was editor. Composers Juan Buccella and Malcolm cross did the score, and music featured the band, Parlour. Noel Gallagher of the band Oasis sent a song for the film’s use. The seven-year project received funding from the Sundance Institute, ITVS, the Center for Asian American Media, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The documentary won the Grand Jury Prize for Non-Fiction Feature Film at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and Best Feature Documentary & Best Brooklyn Film at the 42nd Brooklyn Arts Council International Film Festival.

Oh, Saigon’s premiered at the San Francisco International Asian Film Festival in 2007. Its New York premier was at the Museum of Modern Art's Documentary Fortnight Exhibition to a sold-out, standing-room-only crowd, where curator William Sloan called the film "truly strong, human and brave." In London, the film opened at the Trocadero. Đoan was later featured in Minneapolis's Weisman Art Museum's 2009 exhibition "Changing Identities: Recent Work of Women Artists from Vietnam." The film has been translated into seven languages, had seven national airings on PBS, and streamed on major platforms including Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and international outlets and channels.

From 2010-2012, Đoan toured Spain and Vietnam with "Oh, Saigon" as a featured artist for the US Department of State. Her work has been featured on international media outlets including BBC World Service, NPR, and EiTB in Spain. Oh, Saigon is taught in university courses worldwide, including classes led by Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen at USC and Vietnam War scholar Marilyn B. Young at NYU.

Đoan's additional directing and producing credits include "Agent," "American Geisha," "Legacy of Denial," "Good Morning Captains," "Hard Times," "Nuoc," "On the Trail of Ho," and "A Requiem." She has directed music videos and commercials while consulting on numerous award-winning documentaries, including Oscar-nominated "If A Tree Falls," and "Nailed It."

In 2022, Đoan received the Firelight Media/National Endowment for the Humanities' Spark Fund supporting her work on "Oh America: Divided Country," exploring her family's second-generation political split—out of three child survivors of the Fall of Saigon, one became liberal while two marched on the US Capitol on January 6. Đoan has been conducting an extensive oral history project around the Fall of Saigon, involving both Vietnamese and American survivors, including the veterans who rescued her family.

Currently, Đoan serves as series producer on Netflix's five-part series "Turning Point: The Vietnam War," released April 30, 2025. She recently directed, produced, and appeared in "The Longest Walk" (2024), a documentary short about abortion access in Kentucky, part of a series by the Abortion Clinic Film Collective highlighting states that have banned abortion.

Đoan has been married to composer Philip Curtis since 2016, with whom she has collaborated on Oh, America and Scars for Eyes. Đoan divides her time between Los Angeles and New York City.

"Doan is a master. What a gift she has." — Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of "Eat, Pray, Love," "Coyote Ugly," and "Big Magic"

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Ms. Hoàng was born in the former Republic of (South) Vietnam to a South Vietnamese Air Force major from Saigon and a Mekong Delta socialite.  Raised in Kentucky, Hoang wrote her first book about her family’s escape during the Fall of Saigon at age 9; wrote, directed, co-produced and appeared in her first war documentary at the age of 12; and began her first oral history family genealogy at age 13.  

After graduating Smith College in Massachusetts in the mid-1990s, Ms. Hoàng spent years as a New York City editor, writer and fact checker, working for companies such as Conde Nast, Time Inc., American Express Publishing and Meigher Communications for national magazines such as Details, House & Garden, Spin, Travel & Leisure, and Saveur working on articles and books with diverse topics as politics, music, art, food and wine, gardening, fashion and culture as she continued her Vietnam War family oral history work. She was also a singer and lead guitarist in the riot grrrl band, Cheryl Tiegs, having been inspired by meeting the band Bikini Kill on several occasions as a teen.

In 1996, Ms. Hoàng was interviewed for V’s (formerly Eve Ensler’s) Vagina Monologues, becoming a subject in the play. In 1998, Ms. Hoàng joined V/ Ensler as an early co-founding board member of VDay, a non-profit which raise over $120 million dollars for grassroots anti-violence groups, rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, and safe houses, “shattering taboos and changing the way activists make change in their communities.” Ms. Hoang was involved with art and activist groups such as the Gorilla Girls, Bluestockings Bookstore and Franklin Furnace.

In 1998, while Ms. Hoang was living in London, she met then-cinematographer Ham Tran (director of Maika, Journey from the Fall) and artist Chris Sicat who were touring with the Vietnamese-American comedy troupe, Club o’ Noodles, beginning the documentary then called Nuoc/Country, then Homeland, then Oh, Saigon. In 1999, Ms. Hoang and Mr. Tran (who also became associate producer), traveled across the US and Vietnam to film the documentary. Ms. Hoàng returned to New York City to complete the project, adding John Battsek of Passion Pictures, Oscar and Emmy-winning producer to the project as co-producer and then executive producer. Julie Goldman and Cactus Three became executive producers, along with Frank Campbell. Producer Su Kim was added as associate producer to the project.

Oh, Saigon was a seven-year documentary project funded by (in order of involvement), the Sundance Institute, ITVS, the Center for Asian American Media, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, winning the Grand Jury Prize for Non-Fiction Feature Film at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and the Best Feature Documentary & Best Brooklyn Film at the 42nd Brooklyn Arts Council International Film Festival, and was nominated fora number of awards at multiple film festivals appearing in dozens of international film festivals.

In 2008, Oh, Saigon had its Manhattan premiere in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)’s Documentary Fortnight Exhibition to a sold-out standing room only crowd, where curator William Sloan called the film “truly strong, human and brave.” Ms. Hoàng was a featured artist in Minneapolis’s Weisman Art Museum’s 2009 exhibition, Changing Identities: Recent Work of Women Artists from Vietnam, again with another sold-out standing room only audience.  

The film has been internationally screened and televised in major cities in multiple countries and 5 continents, translated into seven languages, and in the US, had 7 national airings on PBS alone, along with cable, video on demand, streaming on Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, Roku, TubiTV and IMDB-TV. Oh, Saigon is also available on SBS Australia from June 4, 2021 to April 30, 2025.

From 2010-2012, Ms. Hoàng toured both Spain and Vietnam with Oh, Saigon as a featured artist for the US Department of State. In 2021, Ms. Hoàng was featured alongside Yoko Ono on the BBC World Service’s Cultural Frontline: the Art of the Vietnam War, on NPR’s New America Now with author Andrew Lam interviewing, on EiTB in Spain,and many others.

Ms. Hoang has screened Oh, Saigon and spoken at dozens of international universities, colleges, and institutions. Oh, Saigon is taught in college and university courses internationally, a staple in many film, Asian American studies and social work courses, including Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen’s USC course on American literature and film, Vietnam War scholar, Marilyn B. Young’s NYU course on America’s wars, and Mare Diaz’s Quinnipiac University course on truth and journalism.

Some of Đoan’s other directing and producing credits include Agent, American Geisha, Legacy of Denial, Good Morning Captains, Hard Times, Nuoc, On the Trail of Ho & A Requiem. She has directed music videos and commercials, consulted on numerous award-winning and documentaries such as Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman’s Oscar-nominated If A Tree Falls, Adele Pham and Adele Ray’s Nailed It, and consults for Emmy-winning Oscar-nominated producer/director Chiemi Karasawa.

In 2022, Doan was a recipient of the Firelight Media/National Endowment for the Humanities’ Spark Fund supporting her work on Oh America: Divided Country, about the second generation split in her family, She, her brother and cousin were child survivors of civil war and airlifting from the Fall of Saigon. Out of 3 children, one became a liberal and the other two children marched on the US Capitol on January 6. Hoàng has been working on an oral history project around the Fall of Saigon involving both Vietnamese and American survivors, including the veterans who rescued her family in the last airlift.

In 2024-2025, Đoan is series producer on the 5-part Netflix series Turning Point: The Vietnam War, releasing April 30, 2025, and making a follow-up to Oh, Saigon, called Đoan directed, produced, and appeared in The Longest Walk (2024), a documentary short that takes place in Kentucky, part of a series by the Abortion Clinic Film Collective, shorts about abortion taking place in the states that have banned abortion.

Đoan has been happily married to composer and Philip Curtis since 2016, with whom she collaborated on Oh, America and Scars for Eyes.. Đoan identifies neurodiverse and non-binary, and is based in Los Angeles and New York City.

For more

See Doan Hoang’s Curriculum Vitae

• Please note that currently, only Doan Hoang & Nuoc Pictures/Nuoc Productions, own any and all rights to publicly screen, lease, sell or license Oh, Saigon, the documentary film. (Some institutions such as universities and colleges are license to show the film for free classes under 50 and for their library borrowing but do not have additional public screenings rights. )
  
  * Note: ONLY Juan Buccella (no quiero) and Bret Sigler have received permission
  to show previews of OH, SAIGON on YouTube.)

• All other screenings, digital displays on any platform, ads made from, leasing,

  selling, or licensing, please contact Nuoc Productions for permissions at info(@)ohsaigon.com.