„Child of Dust”, directed by Weronika Mliczewska, has won the Audience Award at the Maine International Film Festival in the United States. The recognition comes shortly after the film’s recent success in China, adding another international accolade to its growing festival journey.

Held from July 10 to 19, the Maine International Film Festival (MIFF) has been celebrating the best of American independent and international cinema since 1998. Organized by the Maine Film Center, the ten-day festival presents nearly one hundred films each year while also highlighting some of the most innovative filmmakers from Maine and the New England region.

The festival screening also became a meaningful opportunity to reconnect with audiences through Sang's story. His voice was represented by Melissa Soong, who worked with the production as an interpreter during filming. Since production wrapped, she has remained in close contact with Sang, supporting him together with the Vietnamese community where he now lives in Florida. During the festival, Melissa shared updates on Sang's daily life, the challenges he continues to face, and his hopes for the future.

"Child of Dust" follows Sang, one of countless children fathered by American soldiers during the Vietnam War. Throughout his life, he has endured rejection, discrimination, and the lasting stigma of a conflict that deprived him not only of his father but also of a sense of belonging. When he unexpectedly locates his terminally ill father in the United States, Sang decides to meet him, despite the enormous personal sacrifice this decision requires. To pursue that chance, he leaves behind his beloved wife, daughter, and grandson in Vietnam and relocates permanently to the United States. There, he struggles to find his place both in a society that continues to view him as an outsider and within an American family that had never known of his existence. Through Sang's deeply personal journey, Weronika Mliczewska's documentary explores the enduring consequences of war, the complexities of cultural identity, and the universal search for belonging.

More information can be forund here.

JULY 2026