Dallas, TX – Dallas based non-profit ATG Against the Grain Productions is honored to present Operation Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam at its Colorado premiere during the 2010 Vail Film Festival (VFF) in Vail, Colorado. The compelling documentary that won the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film at the Vietnamese International Film Festival and the Documentary Audience Choice Award at the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, screens twice. The first screening is at 2:45 pm on Saturday, April 3rd at Vail Plaza 1. Several members of the cast, including adoptees Jane Hopkins and Lucas Young and FFAC nurse Mary Nelle Gage, will be in attendance for the Q&A following the screening.
The encore screening takes place at 12 pm on Sunday, April 4th. Ticket and screening information are available at www.vailfilmfestival.org.
Operation Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam tells the significant, yet untold story of the $2 million U.S. initiative that airlifted over 2,500 Vietnamese orphans out of a war-torn country. These adoptees grew up facing unique challenges in America, including prejudice overshadowed by a controversial war and cultural identity crisis. Featuring compelling and insightful interviews of the volunteers, parents and organizations directly involved, the documentary takes a contemporary look at Operation Babylift and its relevance to international adoption today.
Several interviewees featured in the film are Colorado residents and will be present at the screening. Adoptee Jane Hopkins said, “Being adopted has always been a peripheral part of my life; although, it is a part of my identity, I have never felt like it has defined me or prevented me from being the person I am today. . . My story is only one of many adoptees. Operation Babylift provides us with a unique window into some of the lives and stories surrounding a war that had a tremendous impact on the US and Vietnam.”
Erin Sheppard, Vail Film Festival Documentary Programmer, said “Operation Babylift was the journey for identity that the adoptees went through–and continue to go through into adulthood… it is human nature to question who we are and where we come from, and this film comes at it from an under-heard group in the American population. Festival attendees will be able to relate to the questions and searching that the subjects go through during the course of the film, regardless of their backgrounds and cultural histories. This is an incredible story from the moment the group of Americans decided to move these children out of Vietnam and as it continues to unfold as each individual story branches out from their similar beginning.”
Producer/Director Tammy Nguyen Lee, a MFA graduate from UCLA’s Producers Program, added, “We’re so honored to have our Colorado premiere with the Vail Film Festival. To come full circle back to place where so many adoptees found their home and share this emotional and inspiring story is exciting and significant.”
Tammy Nguyen Lee is a first generation Vietnamese American who fled Saigon as a Boat Person more than 30 years ago. Lee founded ATG Against the Grain Productions, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, to promote Asian American cultural awareness through compelling media projects, while also raising funds for international orphanages. This is her feature documentary directorial debut. For more information please visit www.AgainstTheGrainProductions.com or www.TheBabylift.com.
