Daddy Tran: A Life in 3-D

47 min / color video
Canada 2008
Directorirectorirector: Siu Ta
Daddy Tran: A Life in 3-D is a 47-minute documentary about a man’s lifelong obsession with photography and the lengths he will go to leave a legacy of 3-D photos.
At 65 years of age, Hai Tran is on a mission: to leave a mark on the one thing that has given him the most joy all his life – photography. He worked as a photographer in Vietnam to support his young family.
But with the impending war between China and Vietnam, he was forced to flee his country on a small boat. Along with his family, he packed up his valuables – one suitcase of his most cherished photographs and 3 cameras. During the voyage, one of the cameras was used to save his family. Arriving in Calgary, Alberta, in February 1980, he worked for minimum wage at a photo lab. And for the next 17 years, he saved every hard earned dollar to open “Vintage Visuals”, the largest used camera store in western Canada. Then seven years ago, he discovered 3-D photography. It is through these “three-dimensional” photographs – of places that he has been to, of his family and of his most prized possessions – for which he wants to be remembered.
Through vivid accounts of his childhood, marriage, children, boat refugee experience and early years in Canada, a portrait of a unique man is revealed, one whose fears, insecurities and volatile personality are balanced out by his tenacity, charisma, love of life and passion for photography.