Toward Archiveology: Regarding Nguyen Trinh Thi’s Essay Films

This chapter focuses on the cinematic practices of Vietnamese moving image artist Nguyen Trinh Thi. Her methodology of mixture and hybridity underlines her various engagements with the archival materials, which become the focus of this study. The chapter argues that her media practices seek to disturb and defy the easy differentiation between documentary and fiction, and between the subjective and the objective. The author examines how Nguyen Trinh Thi’s essay films challenge the traditional understanding of archives and how her works contribute to the development of archiveology.