Emmy night photos

Photos courtesy Merritt Grooms

..and the EMMY goes to: BOLINAO 52!

FABULOUS NEWS TO SHARE

BOLINAO 52 "swept' the Emmys on Saturday evening 5/16/09 winning:

1) Outstanding Achievement in Documentary to Duc Nguyen

2) Outstanding Music Composition to Mark Izu

In his acceptance speech, Duc dedicated the award to his mentor and the "Mother Asian American Film" Loni Ding, Prof. of Ethnic Studies @ UC-Berkeley, who is recovery from a severe stroke, since last we saw her at our home for POTLUCK & A DOC, in April. (Please send healing love to Loni for her speedy and full recovery!)

We also dedicate this award to the 2.0 million Vietnamese Boat People around the world who remind us of the 'high price' of freedom'.

Last but NOT LEAST, you have a few more opportunities to catch the B52 on PBS stations during ASIAN HERITAGE MONTH of May:

BUFFALO, NY- WNED:

TUE 05/19/2009 2:30 AM

SACRAMENTO, CA-KVIE:

TUE 5/19/09 @ 3am and 2pm

Corpus Christi TX- KEDT

WED  05/20/2009 11:00 PM

New York NY- WLIW

FRI 05/22/2009 12:00 AM and MON 05/25/09 4:00 AM

SAN FRANCISCO, CA-KQED WORLD:

SAT 5/30/09 11pm AND SUN 5.31.09 5am

Finally, Cheers and gratitude to the B52 Team whose love and faith brought VOICE & VISIBILITY to Vietnamese Boat People last night and for generations to come!

Gratefully,

Duc & Mai-Phuong

BOLINAO 52 IS NOMINATED FOR THE 38th ANNUAL NORTHERN CALIFORNIA EMMY AWARDS

We are excited to announce that BOLINAO 52 is nominated for the 38th Annual NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AREA EMMY® AWARD. The film is nominated for two categories: Documentary and Musical Composition/Arrangement. The EMMY® award is presented for outstanding achievement in television by The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The Emmy® statuettes will be presented at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco on Saturday, May 16, 2009.

For a complete listing of the nominees go to:
http://emmysf.tv/emmynom09.pdf

BOLINAO 52 COMING TO PBS NEAR YOU

In May, Bolinao 52 comes to a PBS station near you. Following is a current list of stations and airdates. We will keep this list updated as information are available. Please confirm with your local listing.

Missoula MT-KSKC 05/03/2009 Sun 5:00 PM, 05/10/2009 Sun 5:00 PM
Los Angeles CA-KCET 05/10/2009 Sun 2:00 PM
Washington DC-WETA 05/09/2009 Sat 11:00 PM
Denver CO-KBDI 05/10/2009 Sun 12:00 AM
San Diego CA-KPBS 05/04/2009 Mon 12:00 AM
Cincinnati OH-WCVN 05/11/2009 Mon 3:00 AM
Cincinnati OH-WKON 05/11/2009 Mon 3:00 AM
Louisville KY-WKPC 05/11/2009 Mon 3:00 AM
Louisville KY-WKZT 05/11/2009 Mon 3:00 AM
Lexington KY-KET 05/11/2009 Mon 3:00 AM
Lexington KY-WKHA 05/11/2009 Mon 3:00 AM
Lexington KY-WKLE 05/11/2009 Mon 3:00 AM
Lexington KY-WKMR 05/11/2009 Mon 3:00 AM
Lexington KY-WKSO 05/11/2009 Mon 3:00 AM
Charleston Huntington WV-WKAS 05/11/2009 Mon 3:00 AM
Charleston Huntington WV-WKPI 05/11/2009 Mon 3:00 AM
Paducah KY- Cape Girardeau MO- Harrisburg KY-WKMU 05/11/2009 Mon 3:00 AM
Paducah KY- Cape Girardeau MO- Harrisburg KY-WKPD 5/11/2009 Mon 3:00 AM
Evansville IN-WKMA 05/11/2009 Mon 2:00 AM
Evansville IN-WKOH 05/11/2009 Mon 2:00 AM
Bowling Green KY-WKGB 05/11/2009 Mon 3:00 AM
Harlingen Welasco Brownsville Mcallen TX- KMBH 05/12/2009 Tue 9:00 PM
Salt Lake City UT-KUEN 05/13/2009 Wed 9:00 PM 05/17/09 Sun 2:00 AM
San Jose CA-KTEH 5/13/2009 Wed 11:00 PM and Thu. 05/14/09 5:00 am
Indianapolis IN- WTIU 05/17/2009 Sun 11:00 PM
Chicago IL-WYCC 5/17/2009 Sun 8:00 PM
Corpus Christi TX- KEDT 05/20/2009 Wed 11:00 PM
Buffalo NY- WNED 05/19/2009 Tue. 2:30 AM
Sacramento Stockton Modesto CA-KVIE 05/17/2009 Sun 11:00 PM, 05/19/2009 Tue 3:00 AM, 05/19/2009 Tue 2:00 PM
New York NY- WLIW 05/22/2009 Fri 12:00 AM and 05/25/09 Mon 4:00 AM
San Francisco CA-KQED World 5/30/2009 Sat 11:00 PM and 5/31/2009 Sun 5:00 AM

BOLINAO 52 : Remembrance, Reconciliation and Healing

FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Duc Nguyen, Film Director
510-593-5395 or info@rhimp.com
www.bolinao52.com

SPECIAL COMMUNITY HOMECOMING SCREENING OF
BOLINAO 52 : Remembrance, Reconciliation and Healing
With a Special RECOGNITION AWARD presentation to honor
CORWIN AL BELL, Former USS MORTON Commander

SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2009- 1 – 4 PM
BOWERS MUSEUM
2002 North Main Street
Santa Ana, California 92706
www.bowers.org


$15 General Public
$12 Museum Members (Tickets available online at bowers.org or the museum’s box office.)

March 23, 2008 --- Following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, millions of refugees took the perilous voyage across the South China Sea to find freedom. Many died of drowning, starvation and thirst. Some were lost at sea for days while others were pillaged and raped by pirates. More than thirty years later, filmmaker Duc Nguyen, himself a boat refugee, retraces the odyssey of the Bolinao 52 – and reveals an incredible tale of survival, reconciliation and closure.

One hundred and ten refugees boarded a crowded boat one night in May 1988. Soon after leaving Vietnam, the boat’s engine died. They were ignored by over 20 passing ships. Nineteen days later, the USS Dubuque stopped but the ship’s captain refused to pick up the dying refugees. Facing death, they resorted to cannibalism. After 37 days at sea, only 52 people survived. Finally, humble fishermen rescued them to the coastal town of Bolinao in the Philippines. This is the true story of the Bolinao 52.

The event will culminate with a discussion panel on remembrance, reconciliation and healing that welcomes audience participation. A wine reception with light refreshments will cap off the program.

The panelists include:

Duc Nguyen, Filmmaker – A former boat person, the making of Bolinao 52 was a personal mandate for filmmaker Duc Nguyen to educate the world about the struggles of refugees. Due to the phenomenal response by international audiences to this film, especially from overseas Vietnamese viewers, he wants to use this landmark film to foster intergenerational and interdisciplinary dialogue and counseling.

Mai-Phuong Nguyen, MD, Associate Producer - Former co-chairperson of the student advocacy group, Project Ngoc-UC Irvine during the peak of the boat people’s plight against forcible repatriation back to Vietnam in the late 1980s. Dr. Nguyen brings extensive social and health advocacy experience along with her clinical expertise as a physician, to discuss how this film can be used to promote healing as well as cultural competency training for healthcare professionals serving immigrant populations.

Xuyen Dong-Matsuda, PsyD, Psychologist/Social Worker – A clinical consultant for the Orange County Asian Pacific Islanders Community Alliance and several other non-profit organizations with over 20 years experience serving ethnic communities, Dr. Dong-Matsuda will field questions. She has spoken on mental health issues on several Vietnamese radio and television shows and contributes regularly to print media. In 2004, the OC Register named her one of the Top 30 Vietnamese Americans to Watch.

BOLINAO 52 is a co-production of Duc Nguyen and the Independent Television Service (ITVS), produced in association with the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) and KTEH Public Television, with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Additional funding is provided by All Roads Film Project and Pacific Pioneer Fund.

Mourning Marion Dewar

I felt a jolt this morning. Not because of another California earthquake, but the news of Marion Dewar's passing. Exactly a month ago we got a chance to meet this legendary woman in Calgary.  Despite her colossal architect of bringing Vietnamese refugees to Canada through Project 4000 in 1979 (Photos of the Project 4000), she appeared to be a warm and fun-loving woman.  I could see the joyfulness in her while we were watching fireworks at the Global Fest 2008.  She immersed in our activities with any constraint due to her age, creed or past accomplishments.  She made us feel that we belong.

We all will miss Marion dearly.  In her memory, I would like to reflect on life, death and memory through this excerpt from Samuel Butler's writing (1835–1902), British author.

Memory and forgetfulness are as life and death to one another. To live is to remember and to remember is to live. To die is to forget and to forget is to die. Everything is so much involved in and is so much a process of its opposite that, as it is almost fair to call death a process of life and life a process of death, so it is to call memory a process of forgetting and forgetting a process of remembering. There is never either absolute memory or absolute forgetfulness, absolute life or absolute death. So with light and darkness, heat and cold, you never get either all the light or all the heat out of anything. So with God and the devil; so with everything. Everything is like a door swinging backwards and forwards. Everything has a little of that from which it is most remote and to which it is most opposed and these antitheses serve to explain one another.

O Canada, EH?

Calgary- As we set foot on the Canadian soil in the airport, a band of people in red vests and white Stetson hats held a sign with our names waiting. They poured over along with the Vietnamese Canadian organizers of the screening event to greet us. Surrounded by the volunteer greeters, we were given white Stetson and participated in a White Hat ceremony, which we sworn to extend Calgary's "Western hospitality to all folks and critters."

On this occasion, Bolinao 52 was double-billed with Marion Dewar, Ottawa's former mayor from 1978 to 1985, and a member of the Parliament of Canada from 1986 to 1988, who was instrumental in opening the floodgate for Southeast Asian resettlement in Canada. Marion is the subject of the book, "Gift of Freedom," written by Brian Buckley about her effort in resettling up to 4000 refugees to Ottawa in 1979. The endeavor, named "Project 4000," was a groundbreaking grassroots movement that helped increase the quota in refugee acceptance in Canada. Practically, within days Project 4000 went from a vision to reality with support from the public and community leaders. Buckley wrote in his book: "In less than three weeks, Project 400 had grown from an offhand comment at a private meeting to a full-blown social movement."


Marion Dewar's keynote speech

As significant as her legacy accomplished, Marion is as down-to-earth as she could be. For the few days we spent with her, this woman is full of spirit, easy going. And more significantly, she loves life. Well into her golden years, Marion's eyes lit up when we talked about progressive social ideas. She tried all Vietnamese dishes we introduced. Kept up the pace when we marched our foot expedition in downtown Calgary. Listened to our conversations in Vietnamese even though she didn't understand much of it. Marion is a model for leadership. She took risk not for self aggrandizing purpose or political gain but as an agent for change. In fact, by taking on visionary ideas such as Project 4000, Marion faced great political risk. In our first meeting, she told us that during the implementation of Project 4000, she received an anonymous phone call which the caller threatened to kidnap, tie her up and fed her with Chinese food until she exploded.

During this trip, we met many wonderful people who are dedicated to community empowerment. Tuyet Lam, a tireless organizer who anchored the Bolinao 52 screening event in Calgary. The Son (Antoine) Nguyen and Phuong Anh (Anne Marie) Pham, founders of Calgary Vietnamese Youth Group, provide the leadership for younger Vietnamese Canadians. We came away this event with a sense of accomplishment. Not because we have another screening of Bolinao 52, but this sense of accomplishment comes from witnessing the intergral part of community building in these Calgarians. As we sat down for a celebration meal after the event, there were three parts of the whole presented- past, present and future. In one table there were the pioneers that provided the wisdom. In another tables were the organizing leaders giving guidance and the others belong to the young volunteers who are holding the torch. All that spelled UNITY for the Vietnamese community in Calgary.

Duc Nguyen Interview with Seattle's KBCS

During our trip to Seattle for a fundraiser to benefit Asian Counseling and Referral Service, Irene Noguchi of KBCS's One World Report interviewed me about Bolinao 52.  Here is the link to the audio of the interview broadcast on July 24, 2008.  

One World Report

Click to listen or download full story (by right-click, save target as)

The Bolinao 52

In 1988, a boat of Vietnamese refugees found themselves stranded on the ocean. A U.S. naval ship refused to pick them up, and without food and water, the refugees began turning to more desperate means to survive. When Duc Nguyen heard the story, he decided to turn this intense journey into a movie. The director screened his documentary of the boat people, called Bolinao 52, in Seattle last week to help raise money for a new building for the International District-based organization Asian Counseling and Referral Service. Irene Noguchi spoke with Nguyen at his hotel on Sunday, and found out why this story is so personal to him. 
Producer: Irene Noguchi 

Letter to Governor Schwarzenegger

As bill AB2064 moves to the governor's desk, the campaign to get this bill passed is focused on the governor himself. Following is letter from me. Using the template circulating by Southeast Asia Resource Action Center and Assemblyman Juan Arambula's office, I inserted some of my personal input. I recommend you to add your personal stories. Here are the addresses you can send the letter to:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capital Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-445-2841 Phone
916-558-3160 FAX

District Offices:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Fresno Office
2550 Mariposa Mall #3013
Fresno, CA 93721
Phone: 559-445-5295
Fax: 559-445-5328

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Los Angeles Office
300 South Spring Street
Suite 16701
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Phone: 213-897-0322
Fax: 213-897-0319

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Riverside Office
3737 Main Street #201
Riverside, CA 92501
Phone: 951-680-6860
Fax: 951-680-6863

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
San Diego Office
1350 Front Street
Suite 6054
San Diego, CA 92101
Phone: 619-525-4641
Fax: 619-525-4640

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
San Francisco Office
455 Golden Gate Avenue
Suite 14000
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: 415-703-2218
Fax: 415-703-2803

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Washington D.C. Office
134 Hall of the States
444 North Capitol Street NW
Washington D.C. 20001
Phone: 202-624-5270
Fax: 202-624-5280

7/23/2008

The Honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger
Governor of California
State Capital Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:

I am writing in strong support of Assembly Bill 2064, which would require the State Board of Education to ensure that the history-social science framework and instructional materials include instruction on the Vietnam War, including the “Secret War” in Laos, the role of Southeast Asians in that war, and the refugee/immigrant/new American experience as a result of the war.

Throughout the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, many courageous Southeast Asians including many Hmong, Lao, and Mien people were actively recruited and trained by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to take up arms against the communist regime in support of U.S. national security objectives—this was known as the “Secret War” in Laos. In 1975, after the U.S. pulled out of Southeast Asia, groups who allied with the U.S. faced life-threatening hardships and persecution, forcing them to flee their homes as refugees. Many of these Southeast Asian communities are now residing in countries around the world, and throughout the U.S. where California is home to the largest Southeast Asian American population numbering well over 700,000 (2000 Census). Southeast Asian Americans continue to be integral contributors to the cultural, civic and economic well-being of California and the U.S.

As a Vietnamese American and former refugee from Vietnam, I strongly feel that it is essential to have our voices and stories told in educational setting to allow more understanding of Southeast Asian history. Therefore, I have dedicated several years of my life to make a documentary to preserve the history of the Vietnamese boat people. The documentary, “BOLINAO 52,” has been broadcast on the San Francisco Bay Area PBS stations and international film festivals. We are slating to be broadcast the film on national PBS stations this coming May. We received many praises and gratitude for the significance of this film. It allowed children to understand their parents’ struggle. And parents could relate their stories to children. Here is a comment from a young viewer: “It's very touching even though it's hard to listen to this kind of story. My parents were boat people, and my mom used to tell us stories of how "life" was on the boat, but I think I was too young to really grasp the gravity of the situation.” As a person who worked in the entertainment industry for so many years, I’m sure you realize how important stories are to people’s lives. I’m including the DVD of the film along several news clips and written materials about the documentary. I hope you get a chance to see what it took for some of us to be here. So I urge you to sign this bill into law. It is a right thing to do.

Given that Southeast Asians are one of the fastest growing populations in California, we must craft our schools' curriculum to convey their history, including the events that ultimately forced them to flee their countries as refugees. California students, including American-born Southeast Asians, need to be taught about the sacrifices these groups have made to ensure the security and prosperity of the U.S. Furthermore, research shows that embracing native language, traditions and histories—also known as culturally-based teaching—increases student success and aids in reducing the achievement gap between students of color, including Southeast Asian Americans, and their peers.

The next framework update will begin in 2009, so it is extremely important that you sign this bill when it reaches your desk. Your signature this year will ensure no real costs to California for including this vital part of our history in the 2009 curriculum framework update.

I strongly urge you to sign AB 2064 this year.

Respectfully,



Duc Nguyen

Bolinao 52 in Seattle

The first appearance in the Pacific Northwest for Bolinao 52 brought warm reception and strong bonding with the Asian local community.  We were invited by Chris Tran, an event coordinator, to Seattle for a fundraiser to benefit Asian Counseling and Referral Service, www.acrs.org.  ACRS, in its 35th year, was set up to provide services for Asian Pacific community in and around the Seattle area. They provide programs that assist primary low-income, immigrant, refugee, American born Asians and Pacific Islanders.  ACRS helps their clients in various programs to attain the highest level of self-sufficiency in western society, while maintaining their cultural identity.

The screening took place at the Seattle Town Hall, an old converted church in downtown Seattle.  Guests speakers such as Salman Rushdie, Robert Sheer and Cindy Sheehan passed though here.  Without flashy, modern decor and

 stylized architecture, the Town Hall held a mystic feel to it. A VIP reception started the evening with light appetizers and wine.  This event was also to commemorate the new home of ACRS, a 82,000 square feet facility in  the Rainier Valley area. I spotted the small bottles of water and wine bottles with the Bolinao 52 image on them.  Chris Tran, the detail maven, made labels from the poster of the event.  And he had the items imprinted with these labels.  I felt flattered for the details but a bit uneasy about the commercial implication.  

We had approximately 175 attended the screening.  What more significantly was the discussion portion following the film.  Almost everyone stayed and asked in depth, good questions.  The film made an impression on many people in audience which was diverse.  Some were Vietnamese Americans.  A man stood up and said he was a boat person himself and now working on a book about his own experience.  Another woman gave me a book about Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome suffered by Vietnam War veterans and explained that the film does draw a correlation.  I felt that this film has something for everyone in the audience.

Me and Elisa Del Rosario, Capital Campaign Director of ACRS 

Pike Place Public Market