Oh, Saigon
Encyclopedia
Oh, Saigon is a 2007
autobiographical documentary
by Vietnamese American
director Doan Hoang
about her family's separation during the fall of Saigon
and her attempt to reunite them. Oh, Saigon was executive produced by Academy Award and Emmy winner, John Battsek
. Oh, Saigon won film grants from the Sundance Institute
Documentary Fund, ITVS
, the Center for Asian American Media
, and the Fund for Reconciliation and Development.
2007 in film
This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...
autobiographical documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
by Vietnamese American
Vietnamese American
A Vietnamese American is an American of Vietnamese descent. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American group....
director Doan Hoang
Doan Hoang
Doan Hoang is an award-winning Vietnamese-American film producer, screenwriter, and director who made the successful 2007 documentary "Oh, Saigon" about the life of her family after they left Vietnam, as it fell in the 1970s, how she and her family were carried out on the last helicopter on April...
about her family's separation during the fall of Saigon
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975...
and her attempt to reunite them. Oh, Saigon was executive produced by Academy Award and Emmy winner, John Battsek
John Battsek
-Biography:John Battsek is a UK documentary filmmaker. His most famous is One Day in September , the Oscar-winning feature-length documentary about the tragic events of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. At the 2007 Sundance Film Festival he launched three new feature documentaries, , , and , securing...
. Oh, Saigon won film grants from the Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981 that actively advances the work of filmmakers and storytellers worldwide...
Documentary Fund, ITVS
ITVS
Independent Television Service is a service in the United States which funds and presents documentaries and dramas on public television, new media projects on the Internet, and the weekly series Independent Lens and Global Voices on PBS....
, the Center for Asian American Media
Center for Asian American Media
The Center for Asian American Media was founded in 1980. The San Francisco-based organization, formerly known the National Asian American Telecommunications Association , has grown into the largest organization dedicated to the advancement of Asian Americans in independent media, specifically the...
, and the Fund for Reconciliation and Development.
Awards
- Recipient - Sundance InstituteSundance InstituteSundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981 that actively advances the work of filmmakers and storytellers worldwide...
Documentary Fund Award - Recipient - ITVSITVSIndependent Television Service is a service in the United States which funds and presents documentaries and dramas on public television, new media projects on the Internet, and the weekly series Independent Lens and Global Voices on PBS....
(Independent Television Service) Open Call Award - Recipient - Center For Asian American Media's (CAAM) Media Fund Award
- Grand Jury Prize – Best Documentary – Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, May 2008
- Best Documentary Award - 42nd Brooklyn Arts Council International Film Festival, May 2008
- Best Brooklyn Film - 42nd Brooklyn Arts Council International Film Festival, May 2008
- Best of the Fest – Austin Film Festival, February 2008
- Best Documentary Nominee - San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, March 2007
- Grand Jury Prize Nominee – Vietnamese International Film Festival, April 2009
Releases & showing dates
- 2008 Winner of Grand Jury Prize at its Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
premiere May 3, 2008 at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film FestivalLos Angeles Asian Pacific Film FestivalThe Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival – formerly known as VC FilmFest – is an annual film festival presented by Visual Communications . It was established in 1983 as a vehicle to promote Asian Pacific American and Asian international cinema. The festival fulfills a unique mission in...
. - 2008 Best Feature Documentary & Best Brooklyn Film at the 42nd Brooklyn Arts Council International Film Festival, and had its Brooklyn premiere at the Brooklyn MuseumBrooklyn MuseumThe Brooklyn Museum is an encyclopedia art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum holds New York City's second largest art collection with roughly 1.5 million works....
, Friday, May 9. - Nominated for 2009 Grand Jury Prize at Vietnamese International Film FestivalVietnamese International Film FestivalFirst started in 2003, the Vietnamese International Film Festival is a biennial film festival organized by the non-profits Vietnamese-American Arts & Letters Association and UCLAs VietNamese Language and Culture...
, May 2009. - New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
premiere at the MoMA - Museum of Modern ArtMuseum of Modern ArtThe Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
's Documentary Exhibition Fortnight on February 16, 2008 to a sold-out, standing room audience. - World premiere at the San Francisco International Asian American Film FestivalSan Francisco International Asian American Film FestivalThe San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival presented every March is the nation’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asian films, annually presenting approximately 130 works in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose, USA...
in March 2007, nominated for Best Feature Documentary. - UK Premiere at London's Trocadero Centerat Leicester Square at Raindance Film FestivalRaindance Film FestivalRaindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates from various cities including: London, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin and Brussels...
, October 2007. - Canadian Premiere in November 2008 at the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival.
- Spanish Premiere in April/May 2007 in Barcelona, Spain's Plaça Catalunya at the [Barcelona Asian Film Festival]
- Vietnamese Premiere at the Hanoi Cinemateque, HanoiHanoiHanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
, Vietnam in January 2009 - German Premiere at the BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
Asian Hot Shots Film Festival in January 2009. - Polish Premiere at WarsawWarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
's cinema Muranow & then cinema Kinoteka at the Vietnam Film FestivalVietnam Film FestivalThe Vietnam Film Festival , founded in 1970, is a film festival of Vietnam. It is considered as the major event of Cinema of Vietnam with awards for numerous categories ranging from feature film, direct-to-video to documentary film...
in October 2008. - Norwegian Premiere at the Mela Festival, November 2008
- San Diego Asian Film Festival in October 2008.
- Austin Film FestivalAustin Film FestivalThe Austin Film Festival was started in 1994 in Austin, Texas and is claimed to be "the first organization of its kind to focus on the writer’s unique creative contribution to the film and television industries"...
in Austin, TexasAustin, TexasAustin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
in October 2007 - Returned as an Austin Festival favorite to kick off the Austin Film Festival Documentary Series on Feb. 6, 2008.
Television
- World Television Broadcast Premiere April 15, 2008 on PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
. - Airs on PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
US nationwide. Check www.ohsaigon.com/broadcasts.html or with your PBS station. - [Yes TV] - Israel, 2009
- [Sveriges Utbildningsradio AB] (Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company) - Israel, 2009
Radio Broadcasts about Oh, Saigon
- Director Doan HoangDoan HoangDoan Hoang is an award-winning Vietnamese-American film producer, screenwriter, and director who made the successful 2007 documentary "Oh, Saigon" about the life of her family after they left Vietnam, as it fell in the 1970s, how she and her family were carried out on the last helicopter on April...
on National Public Radio's [New America Now]: http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=b065956c105587ceb07bb10d974c239cc239c - On "Subversity," the KUCI 88.9 FM Irvine Radio Show
- With historian & activist, Dan Tsang: mp3: http://kuci.org/~dtsang/subversity/Sv090406.mp3
Festivals
- San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival – March 2007
- Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Documentary Exhibition, New York, NY – Feb. 2008
- Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival – May 2008
- Barcelona Asian Film Festival, Barcelona, Spain – May 2007
- Austin Film Festival, Austin, TX – October 2007
- Raindance Film Festival, London, United Kingdom – October 2007
- Austin Film Festival Documentary Series, Austin, TX, - February 2008
- 42nd Brooklyn Arts Council International Film Festival, Brooklyn, NY – May 2008
- Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival, Toronto, Canada – November 2008
- Chicago Asian American Showcase, Chicago, IL – April 2007
- Vietnamese International Film Festival, Warsaw, Poland – October 2008
- Mela Festival, Oslo Norway – November 2008
- Berlin Asian Hot Shots, Berlin, Germany – January 2009
- Vietnamese International Film Festival, Irvine, CA – April 2009
- Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, Minneapolis, MN - April 2009
- Hay Quá Mini-Fest, New York, NY - June 2009
- PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, NY – April/May 2010
Museum, university and foundation screenings
- Smith College, Northampton, MA – March 2007, April 2008
- Giddings-Graham Gallery, Brooklyn, NY – April 2007
- Vietnam Relief Effort, New York, NY - September 2007
- Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY - February 2008
- Georgetown University, Washington, DC - April 2008
- University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA – May 2008
- Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY - May 2008
- University of Maryland, College Park, MD – December 2008
- New York University, New York, NY – Fall 2009
- Hanoi Cinemateque, Hanoi, Vietnam – January 2009
- Weisner Museum, Minneapolis, MN - March 2009
- Chapman University, Orange, CA – April 2009
- Yale University, New Haven, CT - May 2009
- New York University, New York, NY - October 2009
- University of Southern California, Los Angeles - January 2010
- University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, Bama Theatre - March 24, 2010
Reception
- "A remarkable story." – David Ansen of Newsweek
- "One of the Best Films of 2008." APA magazine
- "Authentic and doggedly tenacious." –San Francisco Chronicle
- "The most powerful documentary of the lingering effects of the Vietnam war on the Vietnamese."– Dr. Lois T. Vietri, Director, University of Maryland
- "Truly strong, human and brave." – William Sloan, curator, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
- "The best documentary we've seen in years." – Chi-Hui Yang, Director, San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
- "Symbolic of what war can do to the innocent." – Cheryl Eddy, San Francisco Bay Guardian
- "A sensitive, engaging, and sometimes painfully revealing story about what happens to people long after the guns of war go silent." – Tom Dorsey, Courier-Journal
- "Personally chronicles the last days of the Vietnam War through the eyes of a family." – TimeOut New York magazine
- "Hidden family secrets, crazy family dynamics, and all that juicy stuff tied into politics and more." – Hyphen magazine
- "Show the indomitable will of humans and their ability to face adversity, recover and change." – Jasper Sharp, Midnight Eye
- "Beautiful, clever and haunting. It rescues those meanings and those people from history's iconic moments of the Vietnam War." – Aaron Woolf, King Corn
- "Shows us the power of the inquisitive mind seeking understanding and resolution." – Duc Bieu Pham, Campbell Express News
External links
for the film "Oh, Saigon"- SF Film Festival - link for "Oh, Saigon"