Aria Inthavong

Biography: Aria Inthavong is an award-winning director, producer, writer and actor from Laos, currently based in Los Angeles. Aria’s work has amassed over 500 million views online and been featured by CNN, Vice, BuzzFeed, and more. In 2023, Aria’s directorial debut, “Nowhere Men,” an independent narrative feature, premiered and won top honors at the 2023 Micheaux Film Festival. Alongside being awarded “Best Actor” for his onscreen performance, the film was also nominated for “Best Writing” and won the “Panavision Award for Best Feature,” and an accompanying $60,000 grant. “Nowhere Men” was also selected for the 2023 Portland Film Festival, through which the film was made available for streaming via Comcast. Aside from Aria's narrative projects, his work in the non-fiction space, ranging from intimate documentaries to large-scale investigative exposés, have been viewed online over 350 million times. Arguably the most notable of these projects is “Serge,” a 2020 Academy Award-qualifying documentary short that Aria produced entirely from home during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. With over 6 million views on YouTube alone, the viral success of “Serge” was also bolstered by acclaim; being awarded as a 2021 Webby Award Honoree and selected for festivals such as the American Documentary and Animation Film Festival and Film Fund. Aria is currently in production on his first feature documentary, while also developing his next narrative feature.