'Mam' Director Nan Feix and Chef Jerald Head on Their SXSW Film

Mar 12, 2026 8:15am PT ‘Mam’ Director Nan Feix and Chef Jerald Head on the San Sebastián-Winning Film Born From Their NYC Vietnamese Restaurant, Now at SXSW, Clip Unveiled (EXCLUSIVE) By Naman Ramachandran Plus Icon Naman Ramachandran Latest Ranveer Singh’s ‘Dhurandhar’ Returns to Cinemas Worldwide Ahead of Sequel Release 4 hours ago Netflix’s Eyeline Studios Opens Hyderabad Facility in Major Long-Term India Investment 5 hours ago ‘Leviticus’ Star Joe Bird Joins Catherine Laga’aia in Australian Gen Z Thriller ‘Crashout’ (EXCLUSIVE) 5 hours ago See All Loveboat Nan Feix’s feature “Mam,” a documentary-inflected fiction set in New York’s Chinatown that stars the real owners of a celebrated Lower Manhattan Vietnamese restaurant, will screen at SXSW. Variety has an exclusive clip from the film. The film centers on Jerald, a self-taught chef from small-town Texas whose passion for Vietnamese cuisine drives him to New York City with dreams of opening his own restaurant. Short on cash and time, he finds an unexpected partner in Nhung, a Vietnamese waitress, and the two scheme their way through street hustles and underground cooking operations in pursuit of his goal. Related Stories Alberto Barbera to Remain Venice Film Festival Artistic Director Through 2028 It’s a story grounded in genuine friendship and culinary obsession – values that extend well beyond the screenplay. The film stars Jerald Head and Nhung Dao Head, the American-Vietnamese couple behind Mam, the Vietnamese restaurant at Forsyth Street that inspired the project. Popular on Variety For Feix, the road to the film ran through his longtime friend and the film’s casting director, An Nguyen Xuan, a French-Vietnamese New Yorker who spent nearly two decades running his own Vietnamese restaurant before the two began developing the project together. An earlier short film by Feix, “Banh Mi Quest,” set in Chinatown and shot on Super 16mm, laid the groundwork for the aesthetic approach he would bring to the feature. “‘Mam’ is a fiction that draws all its elements from reality,” Feix tells Variety. That commitment to the real shaped every aspect of production. Working with cinematographer Matt Batchelor, Feix shot the film over 16 days with a six-person crew, on Super 16mm and entirely under natural light. Every member of the cast – from leads to background players – was drawn from the neighborhood itself. On set, Feix capped each shot at two takes, a constraint he describes as essential to the film’s energy. “I like that sense of danger, of walking a tightrope,” he says. “It makes the moments feel stronger and more intense.” His touchstones are telling: the sensory, elliptical filmmaking of Wong Kar-wai and Tsai Ming-liang on one hand, the kinetic street-level tension of the Safdie Brothers on the other. Feix says he is drawn to “that thin line between documentary and fiction, because it makes the storytelling feel intense, almost visceral.” For Jerald Head, stepping in front of the camera meant approaching an entirely new discipline with the same mindset he brings to the kitchen. “I approached the entire thing like a job,” he says. His path to owning Mam was similarly pragmatic: what began as a weekend pop-up at Nguyen Xuan’s restaurant in 2020 quickly outgrew its origins, and by the summer of 2022 Head and Nhung had negotiated a deal to take over the lease entirely. The couple now run Mam alongside a wine bar, and Head has spent the past two years building out “Phê,” a Vietnamese coffee and banh mi shop with an in-house bakery, set to open on the same block. “Mam” is produced by Loveboat, the company co-founded by Nicolas Winding Refn, Greg Panteix and Fred Fiore. The screenplay was co-written by Feix and producer Marine Garnier, collaborators of more than 15 years. Editing is by Sophie Fourdrinoy and Ludovic Talnet, with music by Grégoire Musso. The film won the Culinary Cinema Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and screened at the Cork International Film Festival ahead of its SXSW debut. “This film is about tolerance, hope, friendship and building family,” Feix says. “We are stronger together. Today, that message feels more true and more important than ever.” Watch the clip here: Jump to Comments ‘One Battle After Another’ and ‘The Studio’ Among American Society of Cinematographers Award Winners JavaScript is required to load the comments. Loading comments...