Screening of “Oh, Saigon”

Thu 02 Jun 2011, 7.30 pm
Cinematheque

From Friends of Vietnam Heritage:
You are invited to the film screening “Oh, Saigon”. The film has Vietnamese subtitle and won several awards including the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund Award, Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at Los Angeles Asian Film Festival and Best Feature Documentary Award at the 42nd Brooklyn Arts Council International Film Festival.

Synopsis:
Airlifted out of Việt Nam on April 30, 1975, Đoan Hoàng’s family was on the last civilian helicopter out of the country at the end of the war. Twenty-five years later, from Louisville, Kentucky she sets out to uncover their story. The documentary, which took seven years to make, tells the story of her family as they return to Việt Nam after decades of exile, where her father, a former South Vietnamese major, meets his brothers again to confront their political differences: one was a Communist; the other a pacifist. Meanwhile, Đoan’s mother tries to reconcile her difficult past with Đoan’s half sister, who was mistakenly separated from the family during the escape.

The main narrator of Oh, Saigon is Đoan, the connecting link among all the key characters. The narrator lets us into her confidence, revealing her thoughts and showing us her relatives who have been emotionally, physically, and even economically wounded by the war. Because of Đoan’s closeness with her family, viewers are given intimate access to the film’s subjects that only she could obtain.

Tickets:
Ticket price: 100 000 VND
Registration: Please email Thu at [email protected]. Please leave your mobile phone number so we can contact you in case of any last minute changes.

See film trailer, here.

Also, check out the program for June 2011 of FVH here.