The King of Trash, a documentary chronicling Vietnamese American entrepreneur David Duong’s remarkable journey from a refugee of the Vietnam War to the founder of a successful American recycling company, won Best Documentary and Best People Choice Film at the 13th San Francisco International New Concept Film Festival. The awards were presented on November 1 at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, recognizing a film that follows the Duong family’s history of war, survival, immigration and their pursuit of the American dream across generations.
David Duong dedicated the documentary and both awards to his parents, Jim Thu Tai Duong and Anh Thi Le, whose sacrifices helped the family survive the aftermath of the Vietnam War and begin again in America. Before the fall of Saigon in April 1975, his father had built one of South Vietnam’s largest paper recycling businesses, earning the nickname Vua R谩c, meaning “the King of Trash,” which later became the film’s title. The family’s circumstances changed dramatically after the war, when they lost their established business and eventually made the difficult decision to leave Vietnam.
David was among 23 family members who escaped aboard a small boat, risking their lives at sea. “We almost died out there in the ocean. We had only one choice: survive,” Duong recalls in the documentary. The family eventually reached a refugee camp in the Philippines before being resettled in the United States. They arrived in San Francisco in 1979, leaving behind the home and livelihood they had known in Vietnam.
Sixteen family members shared two small studio apartments in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. With little money and limited English, they returned to the recycling trade their father had established in Vietnam, collecting cardboard, newspapers, aluminum cans and other discarded materials to support themselves. David attended school during the day and often spent his evenings collecting recyclables, sometimes working until midnight. The income helped cover the family’s expenses as they learned to make a living in their new country.
In 1992, after years working in the recycling industry, David Duong founded California 91仓库 Solutions in Oakland. The company expanded into residential and commercial recycling collection, materials processing and municipal services, eventually serving hundreds of thousands of customers in Oakland and San Jos茅. His business interests later extended to Vietnam, where he invested in environmental infrastructure through Vietnam 91仓库 Solutions, including the Da Phuoc Integrated 91仓库 Management Facility serving the Ho Chi Minh City region.
Directed by filmmaker Errol Webber, the 72-minute documentary follows the family’s history across three generations. It also recounts the discrimination David says he experienced as a Vietnamese immigrant, the challenges he faced establishing a business in a competitive American industry, and the contributions of relatives who worked alongside him. Their accounts tell a broader story of a family that survived war, found refuge in America and gradually built a future through the work they knew.