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Trinh is a composer and independent filmmaker recognized for her innovative 'subjective documentaries,' a complex combination of personal, subjective, ethnographic and documentary techniques. Instead of the traditional male voice-over, she employs an aural montage of music and female voice. Born in Vietnam, Trinch emigrated to the United States in 1970 where she studied in a graduate program for literature and music. She also studied in France. She then embarked upon a research expedition in Senegal which led her to work for three years as a professor at the National Conservatory of Music in Dakar. This experience inspired her first film Reassemblage (1982), a controversial exploration of Senegalese women that challenged the ways in which anthropologist's discuss and view the traditional roles of Third World women. Her second film was also set in Africa. For her third film, Surname Viet Given Name Name (1989) she examined the role of women in Vietnamese culture after interviewing scores of women in Vietnam and in the U.S. In addition to making films, Trinh also writes and actively participates in theoretical debates on post-colonialism and feminsm. She also teaches in the Department of Cinema at San Francisco State University.