Ba’s Book

Runtime: 105'

Expected release: September 2026

Production stage: Post-Production

Budget: €787,000 (95% in place)

1st feature: No

Looking for: Festivals, Sales Agents, Distributors

Synopsis:

When a filmmaker receives her father’s memoir about the Vietnam War and the Iranian Revolution, she answers with a film. Returning to her ancestral village, she collaborates with her father and relatives to film participatory re-creations of their past. A true hybrid of live-action and documentary, Ba’s Book offers a disarming look at how a family moves forward from divisions caused by displacement and war.

Director’s Profile:

Ashley Da-Lê Duong is a Tiohtià:ke/Montréal-based filmmaker. Her directorial debut, A Time to Swim, earned the Special Jury Prize for Best Feature Documentary at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Ashley notably directed Space Explorers: Moonrise on the ISS, a documentary created from over 300 hours of footage filmed on the International Space Station — the largest production ever filmed in space. Her producing credits include Bedrock (Berlinale 2025). She is currently in post-production on the hybrid feature Ba’s Book. With over a decade of experience as a director and editor, Ashley’s practice spans documentary, hybrid, and live-action cinema with a wry, observational edge. Informed by a background in environmental studies, her work often explores how people and environments shape one another.

Producer’s Profile:

Ina Fichman, Oscar®, BAFTA, Emmy nominated and Peabody Award-winning producer, Intuitive Pictures, has been producing high-profile documentary and fiction films, and interactive projects for close to 30 years. Many of her creative documentaries have been released in theatres in Canada and abroad and have played at festivals including Sundance, Berlin, Hot Docs, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, CPH:DOX, Venice, SXSW, Tribeca, TIFF and others.
Recent films include Coexistence, My Ass!, Uvalde Mom and Everest Dark. Ina produced the Oscar-nominated documentary Fire of Love, which had its world premiere at Sundance 2022. Other films include Adrianne & the Castle, 7 Beats per Minute, The Bones, Stray, The Gig Is Up, Once upon a Sea, Blue Box, The Oslo Diaries, Inside Lehman Brothers, Gift and Laila at the Bridge, Amer Shomali’s The Wanted 18 and Monsoon (Canada’s Top 10).