Ashley Da-Lê Duong is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, originally from Calgary, Alberta, and currently based in Montreal, Quebec.Thomas Szacka-Marier, "This filmmaker screened her documentary in a Borneo living room to the community that inspired it". CBC Arts, September 14, 2017.
A graduate of the environmental studies program at McGill University, Duong began her film career shooting footage of Canada's national parks for Parks Canada.Annemarie Cutruzzola, "Artist of the Month: Ashley Duong Brings Her Father’s Memoir to Life in ‘Ba’s Book’". She Does the City, September 10, 2026.
Her debut documentary feature, A Time to Swim, was a profile of Mutang Urud, a Malaysian activist now living in Canada as a refugee. The film premiered in 2017 at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize,John Hazelton, "Five rising Canadian filmmakers to watch at this year’s TIFF". Screen Daily, September 10, 2026. and later won the award for Best First Feature at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival.Rouven Linnarz, "Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival Announces 2018 Awards". Asian Movie Pulse, November 21, 2018.
She subsequently worked principally in television for a number of years, including episodes of Exhibitionists, Canada's a Drag and Inside Felix & Paul Studios, and was a producer of Kinga Michalska's 2025 film Bedrock.Jamie Casemore, "Zacharias Kunuk’s Uiksaringitara to have world premiere in Berlin". Playback, January 16, 2025.
In 2024 her father, Anh Duong, published Dear Da-Lê: A Father's Memoir of the Vietnam War and the Iranian Revolution, a memoir of the difficult youth experiences, both growing up in Vietnam during the Vietnam War and then witnessing the breakout of the Iranian Revolution while attending university in Iran, which he had often struggled to share openly with his children.Eric Volmers, "Breaking the silence: Calgary father recounts harrowing past in Vietnam with new memoir". Calgary Herald, October 3, 2024. Ashley's Vietnamese name, Da-Lê, is the name of the village where Anh was raised.
Following the book's publication, Ashley began working on Ba's Book, a documentary film about her family travelling back to Vietnam to stage a theatrical adaptation of the book.Pat Mullen, "TIFF Docs Line-up Returns with Hot-Button Topics and Wide-Reaching Slate". Point of View, August 5, 2026. The film premiered at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.Matthew Carey, "TIFF Docs Lineup Revealed: Rapinoe, Said, Love, And A Scent Of Musk". Deadline Hollywood, August 5, 2026.
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