Yai Nin | ยายนิล

Directed and Edited by Champ Ensminger

Poster art by Dohee Kwon

Yai Nin is a short film documentary about Thai grandmother and boss woman extraordinaire - Ninlawan Pinyon - whose business of making and selling Thai sausages enabled her family to create a life in America. Directed and edited by her grandson Champ Ensminger, the film follows the incredible businesswoman through her life in Chiang Mai as she narrates gaining success through her trial-and-error naem (a Thai fermented pork sausage) recipes, the loss of her husband and how she stays in touch with her children and many grandchildren through technology while also playing a maternal role to those who work with her.

Yai Nin with her daughters and grandchildren, Champ pictured bottom right (via @yainindoc)

As she walks through vegetable markets in her smart suits, using iPads to keep watch over her factory and giggles over 'country dog' pictures her family sends to her over Whatsapp - it's hard not to fall in love with this matriarch who has hustled her way to seeing her grandchildren now navigate being American and Thai at the same time.

Yai Nin (Yai meaning grandmother in Thai and Nin short for Ninlawan) has won several awards at film festivals since its release in 2020 including Best Documentary Short at Seattle Asian American Film Festival 2020, DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival 2020 among others. 

Thai American filmmaker and Yai Nin's grandson Champ Ensminger created this film hoping to touch a chord with people interested in stories about Asian Americans and of course, grandmothers. Born in Chiang Mai and brought up in Spokane, Washington, he has worked at Vimeo, and in Chiang Mai as a workshop instructor and volunteer for the nonprofit Documentary Arts Asia in the past. Currently he is based in Seattle, working on branded content for World Famous.

Ninlawan Pinyon & Champ (via @yainindoc)

You can watch more of Champ’s work here.