XTR Boards 'Y Vân: The Lost Sounds of Saigon' as Oscar Campaign Builds

XTR, the global nonfiction studio, has joined Y Vân: The Lost Sounds of Saigon as the documentary accelerates its campaign for Oscar recognition. The move lands days after the film won the Audience Award at the New Orleans Film Festival, adding to a prize list that already spans four festivals.

The studio's involvement takes a concrete form: XTR founders Bryn Mooser and Justin Lacob join the project as executive producers. Mooser carries awards credibility of his own — he is a two-time Academy Award nominee for Lifeboat and Body Team 12. His presence on the credits signals a serious qualifying and campaigning operation behind the title.

What is the film about?

Directors Khoa Hà and Victor Velle follow Khoa Hà as she searches for the lost recordings of her late grandfather, the Vietnamese composer Y Vân — a figure the film calls "The Quincy Jones of Saigon." Y Vân ranked among Vietnam's most prolific and famous composers during the 1950s, 60s and 70s, but by the end of the war most of his original recordings had been lost or destroyed.

The film blends vérité filmmaking, archival discoveries and poetic animation to trace the search across generations, continents and Vietnam's history. According to the synopsis, Vietnamese communities across the United States have given it strong reviews, and summer screenings drew large crowds and sold-out shows. Audiences have spanned multiple generations — kids, teens, parents and grandparents.

Mooser framed the appeal in direct terms, calling the film "entertaining, visually stunning, and full of adventure. A profoundly important film for Vietnamese-Americans and the world at large, reminding us that love, family, and music can heal the wounds of war."

How strong is the awards record?

The documentary premiered in competition at DOC NYC in 2025 and placed among the Top 10 Most Popular Films at that festival. Its honors now include:

• Audience Award, New Orleans Film Festival (won over the past weekend)
• Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature, Atlanta Film Festival
• Best Feature Film, Viet Film Festival
• Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature and Audience Award for Best of Festival, San Luis Obispo International Film Festival

That combination of jury and audience prizes across regional festivals gives the campaign a measurable footprint heading into qualification season.

What comes next?

A theatrical release is set for early 2027. Alongside it, the film team will release the newly recovered, restored and remastered original recordings of Y Vân through exclusive vinyl pressings — a companion release that extends the film's story beyond the screen and into the catalog its director set out to find.

The Pink Cloud produces. Khoa Hà and Victor Velle direct, and Douglas Emerson produces, with Mooser and Lacob now aboard as executive producers.

A studio with two Oscar nominations on its founders' record has now attached itself to a film with five festival prizes and a 2027 release date.