Reel Citrus has acquired North American rights to the Vietnamese period drama Madame in Saigon, with a red-carpet premiere set for Los Angeles on August 26 and a theatrical opening across the United States and Canada on August 28, 2026. The deal, first reported by Variety, was struck through a partnership with Live On, a Ho Chi Minh City-based studio that has spent more than a decade producing Vietnamese films across multiple genres.

For Live On, this is a first: the company's debut collaboration in the U.S. and its first step into the North American theatrical market. For Reel Citrus, a distributor founded in 2025, it is the latest in a small but growing slate of Vietnamese and Vietnamese-diaspora titles — the company previously led theatrical marketing campaigns for Leaving Mom and Ancestral Home, with Summer School, 2001 slated for October.

Directed by Thắng Vũ, Madame in Saigon is set in 1960s Saigon and based on a true story. It follows Cầm Thanh, a dancer who climbs through the city's nightlife scene and into a power struggle with Madame Sắc, the owner of the Kim Đô nightclub. Thanh Hằng, who rose to fame as Vietnam's preeminent supermodel in the 2010s before shifting into dramatic film roles, plays Cầm Thanh. She also served as a longtime judge on Vietnam's Next Top Model. Hồng Ánh plays Madame Sắc. The cast includes Lương Thế Thành and singer-actor Văn Mai Hương.

The film has already had a journey. Live On presented it in Berlin on January 26, 2026, before its Vietnamese theatrical run, which began on June 19 following a launch event the day before. It opened across Vietnam in June. The North American version carries the title Madame in Saigon; the Vietnamese title is Mesdames Thanh Sắc.

Reel Citrus is backing the release with a marketing push that reaches well beyond standard advertising. The campaign will span digital platforms and include support from content creators, as well as partnerships with Vietnamese Student Associations across the U.S. and Canada — the communities most likely to drive word of mouth for a Vietnamese-language period drama. After the Los Angeles premiere, Thanh Hằng will join a press junket in Orange County alongside local community organisations.

Brittany Tran, Reel Citrus's executive director, is leading the campaign. The company's track record is short but focused: diaspora-cinema releases aimed at audiences that mainstream distributors have historically underserved.

What sets this release apart is the cross-border machinery behind it. A Ho Chi Minh City studio with no prior U.S. footprint has placed its film with a North American distributor barely a year old, and that distributor is building a marketing strategy around student associations and community groups rather than relying on a broad platform push. Whether that model fills theatres on August 28 will be one to watch.