Abstract:

Being Hmong Means Being Free highlights the history, culture and identity of Hmong immigrants and refugees who settled in the United States between 1975 and the early 1990's. The documentary looks at Hmong life in this country as seen through the eyes of the seventeen-year-old program host, Lia Vang. As a second-generation Hmong immigrant, Lia recalls the historical events that brought her family to the United States and the struggles faced by her parents and people of their generation after they were forced to leave their homeland and re-establish their lives in a culture far different from their own. || "Colorful but also thoughtful, probing rather than mindlessly upbeat, it's greatly enhanced by the candor and energy of its young narrator, Lia Vang." - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel