Vietnamese Honored as 'Young Australian of the Year'
Nguoi Viet 2, News Report, Jami Farkas, Posted: Feb 05, 2005
Khoa Do can’t say that he ever expected to win one of Australia’s highest honors.
After all, this Young Australian of the Year award is prestigious. It’s huge. It’s something citizens can aspire to only in their wildest dreams.
Especially if you’re an artist.
“This award is very well-known in Australia, and I guess it’s not something that you ever think about or ever strive for,” said Do 25, a filmmaker who was born in Sài Gòn but has lived in the land down under since he was a toddler. “It’s often presented to sports stars and charity founders, and I’m the first person with an arts background to have received it. I guess it’s great news for my fellow peers, that a filmmaker is being awarded this. Finally, our profession is being recognized as a real one.”
Do was presented with the honor last week by Prime Minister John Howard on Australia Day, a national holiday and the country’s biggest day of celebration. Previous winners include tennis star Lleyton Hewitt and Olympic swimming idol Ian Thorpe. Do called adding his name to a list of such celebrities “fabulous.”
“It’s a huge honor, and I’m really thrilled, especially for all my family and friends who have given me so much support over the years,” he said. “This is shared with all of them. Also, I just hope that myself receiving this might inspire other young people, from all backgrounds, to find their own way in life and to hopefully make a difference.”
It wasn’t a surprise to those who know him.
“Khoa is one of those people you recognize as special from the first moment you meet,” said Trung Dòan, the general secretary of the Vietnamese Community in Australia. “He’s smart, hard-working, highly motivated and full of ideas. We saw those qualities and his achievements, and three years ago the VCA awarded Khoa the ‘Young Vietnamese Australian of the Year’ award.”
Do received a scholarship to attend high school at St. Aloysius, a prestigious day school, then went on to study Arts-Law at the University of Sydney. While in college, he taught English and volunteered to help youths learn job-seeking skills.
In 2001, Do was nominated for an Australian Film Institute award for his screenplay for the movie “Delivery Day.” The picture tells the story of a girl and her struggle to balance school, her family and her family’s backyard sweatshop. A year later, he started volunteer work with underprivileged children. He was asked to teach filmmaking to the youngsters and decided the best way would be to make a film together.
The end result was “The Finished People,” an award-winning production that features the same boys and girls he worked hundreds of hours with.
In 2004, Do was nominated for two AFI Awards, three Film Critics’ Circle Awards and two Australian Writers’ Guild Awards for this movie and for his community theater.
“I try to make films which look at social issues and which open the door for the audience into a world which they’ve never seen before,” he said. “I think that a lot of the problems we face are due to a lack of understanding and empathy between people of different backgrounds, whether that be cultural, religious or socio-economic, and I use films to try and bridge this gap, to increase awareness and insight among people.”
Work in the community is ingrained in Do's life.
He has volunteered with the Vietnamese Students Association, the VCA and other groups to follow his goals. He has helped organize events that highlight the artistic talents of Vietnamese Australian youths and to bring them together for gatherings focusing on the importance of their culture and history. Currently, he’s working on a tsunami benefit concert that would unite youth organizations and youth talent to raise money.
Dòan, for one, said Do, win will draw attention to the accomplishments of Vietnamese Australians, who make up about 200,000 of the 19 million people in Australia.
“Khoa stands out from the crowd,” he said, “both in his personal qualities and in his achievements. “And it is most fitting that Khoa receives this award this year, because it symbolizes the hard work and contributions that the Viet Australian community has made to the Australian nation in the last 30 years. Khoa’s award shows that in Australia, you can make it if you work hard and smart, regardless of your ethnic background.”
Do said he sees the significance for his community.
“I think it’s important in the sense that it says a lot about our country,” he said. “The fact that an Australian who was born in Vi?t Nam, lives in the poorer areas of Sydney and works in the arts has received the ‘Young Australian of the Year’ award sends a message, I hope, to Australians from all backgrounds — that our country is embracing people from all backgrounds, be it cultural, occupational or socio-economic. The message this award is sending is really positive and hopefully will serve to be inspirational.”
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