Over the years, Raul Ries, a military veteran (US Marine Corps) has reached out to those who are serving or have served in our armed forces. He has spoken to countless men and women from various theaters of military conflict, after their return home. In 2006, 40 years after fighting in the jungles of Vietnam, Ries experienced flashbacks for the first time. Subsequently, he found three of the men closest to him, who fought alongside of him in the Marine Corps unit ALPHA 1/7, and have suffered the consequences. Together again, they are taking the hill and finding healing.
A pacifist apolitical documentary about North-Vietnam.
Documentary short following French-Vietnamese artist Marcelino Truong on his journey back to Vietnam for the research on his 'roman graphique' 'Une si jolie petite guerre' (A Lovely Little War). Truong looks back to when his family lived in Saigon from 1961 to 1963 when his father served as a translator to then president of the Republic of Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem. The film follows Truong as he ruminates over memories, photos and films, and also conducts a host of interviews with Vietnamese relatives and officials to present a personal and long awaited Vietnamese perspective to the war.
Three young Texans try to adjust to small-town life after experiencing the emotional toll of combat in the jungles of Vietnam.
A portrait of three single mothers living in Hanoi who are bringing the very first changes to the core values in the development process of the Vietnamese culture.
The first Vietnamese feature-length film.
This foreign, English-subtitled film dramatizes the effect of the Vietnam War on a single South Vietnamese family, the inner conflict of decisions by each member of the family whether to remain in Vietnam or leave with the imminent advance and fall of Hue and eventual fall of Vietnam. Dat Kho, who's cast includes the beloved Vietnamese inconic anti-war songwriter/poet/artist Trinh Cong Son (1939-2001) who posthumously won the World Peace Music Award in 2004, is a story of the love of family, love of homeland, love of the culture and language of Vietnam and the ethereal love of the ingenue daughter for her fiance, foiled by the antagonistic forces of the ever-present war. A thought-provoking film.
A quarter of a million drug addicts —one of the most serious consequences of the Vietnam War. These addicts were the citizens of the South, and of Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon. Shot in 1981 by three Australian women, Changing the Needle was the first in-depth film to be made about Vietnam’s unique approach to drug rehabilitation at a time when few foreign film crews had access to Vietnam at all.
Nearly Really Me follows the story of Karla, a 35 year old professional who knows her life is fine, and yet feels that fine isn't good enough, she wants to feel alive. Trouble is, she has no real idea how to go about it. So she outsources her existential crisis to an internationally respected medium for direction and soon finds herself embarking on a trip to Vietnam for their 5 day spiritual conference, where participants gain knowledge, wisdom and insights delivered unlike any other in the world.
A Hundred Years of Happiness; an observational documentary, is a personal portraiture of a Vietnamese farming family and their daughter Tram. While her father instils in her the importance of familial obligation to care for one’s ageing parents, her mother desires a secure future devoid of economic hardship. Determined to fulfil both her parent’s wishes, Tram pursues a new life in South Korea as a migrant bride, but her fast-tracked journey leaves little time for reflection.
A Hmong guide's daily life in the mountains of Sapa, North Vietnam.
Living by a river, a father and son make their living by fishing every day. The little boy, Ca, contracts a serious illness. The treatment is very expensive. Will the father be able to catch enough fish to pay for it?
To provide for his young family, a food vendor searches for customers in the ancient city of Hue from sunset until the early morning. An insight into the the life of a banh bao vendor. Hoa, 42; a farmer by day who has been selling banh bao on Hue’s streets for 12 years. Hoa cycles from his country home to Hue every afternoon to sell a barrel load of the Vietnamese dumplings and provide for his young family.
A US Air Force produced film that follows a group of F-105 pilots as they pass their hundredth mission during the Vietnam War.
The prophecy of Khoa Lê’s 93-year-old grandmother (bà nôi) burdens his unknown future and reflects the roots of his past. Born in Vietnam but raised in Canada, Lê’s homeland pilgrimage is measured parts self-portrait, ethnography and an ethereal quest for identity. His bà nôi is funny and forthright in a matriarchal manner, as one with little time to worry about what others think. Stark observations of her home life and family visits contrast visually stunning dreamlike sequences of fog-laced silhouettes and twilight vistas that echo an unpredictable path. As he celebrates New Year’s events with family traditions and rituals steeped in superstition, fortunes and horoscopes, it’s clear Lê is seeking signs of destiny as he poetically captures a soul floating between two worlds.
This is the original version of the much heralded "Raising The Bamboo Curtain" narrated and produced by legendary travel filmmaker Rick Ray. (Rick later sold partial rights to this program to another producer who hired Martin Sheen to narrate - that cut down and rewritten version is not the same). Sneaking his cameras past Burmese and Cambodian customs officials and getting around the country to produce one of the best travel docs ever made, Rick has outdone himself - again!