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Dreaming of Peace: Vietnamese Filmmakers Move from War to Reconciliation

Dreaming of Peace: Vietnamese Filmmakers Move from War to Reconciliation

Visions and Voices: The USC Arts & Humanities Initiative

  • Date:
    Saturday, January 23, 2010
  • Time:
    2:00 PM to 6:45 PM
  • Campus:
    University Park Campus
  • Venue:
    Eileen Norris Cinema Theatre
  • Room:
    Frank Sinatra Hall
  • Cost:
    Free

    Photo: Courtesy Doan Hoang
  • Email:
    visionsandvoices@usc.edu

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Summary:

A moving and provocative event explores the legacy of the Vietnam War, through two new Vietnamese films.

Description:

Schedule


2 p.m. Screening of Don’t Burn!
4 p.m. Panel Discussion
4:45 p.m. Reception
5:15 p.m. Screening of Oh, Saigon
6:15 p.m. Discussion with filmmakers Doan Hoang and Dang Nhat Minh

Join us for a screening and discussion of two new Vietnamese films, Don’t Burn! by Vietnam’s most acclaimed filmmaker, Dang Nhat Minh, and Oh, Saigon by award-winning documentary filmmaker Doan Hoang.

Don’t Burn! is based on the Vietnamese best-seller Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram, written by a young female doctor from North Vietnam who was killed during the war. The film tells the moving story of her personal experiences as well as the tale of how her diary, discovered by an American serviceman, narrowly escaped burning and was eventually returned to Vietnam, where it became an international publishing sensation. This is the first Vietnamese film shot in part in the United States.

Oh, Saigon tells another side of the war story, focusing on a Vietnamese family who fled Saigon on the last civilian airplane to leave in 1975. After 30 years in the United States, the family returns to visit relatives, some of whom fought on the other side of the conflict, and to make amends with one daughter left behind.

A discussion about the legacy of the Vietnam War will feature filmmakers Dang Nhat Minh and Doan Hoang. Minh, Vietnam’s premier film director, has made more than a dozen films, featured at festivals throughout the world. Hoang is a Vietnamese-born filmmaker whose film Oh, Saigon won the Best Documentary award at the Asian Pacific Film Festival in Los Angeles.

Organized by Janet Hoskins (Anthropology) and Viet Nguyen (English and American Studies and Ethnicity). Co-sponsored by the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network, Asian American Studies, the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the Center for Trans-Pacific Studies.