"OPERATION BABYLIFT: THE LOST CHILDREN OF VIETNAM"

About a week and a half ago, I drove from New Orleans up to Dallas on business regarding a project that I’ve been developing off and on for a couple of years now.  I enjoy coming to Dallas because I went to college here and a good number of my old college buddies still remain.  Therefore, it’s always fun to get together for drinks, catch up on each other’s lives, and, if the mood catches us right, go streaking across the old campus in our birthday suits.  The hardest part of returning to Dallas is that I rarely have time to see everybody I want to see and, thus far, this trip has been no exception.  

Today, though, I did manage to meet with my old college friend (and fellow AnD Featured Artist), Tammy Nguyen Lee.  Interestingly, Tammy’s mother fled Vietnam by boat (when Tammy was less than 3-months-old!) before eventually settling in Dallas.  Tammy graduated with honors from SMU, won the Miss Asian American Texas Pageant, and, then, was accepted into the UCLA Producers Program.  

After getting her MFA, she returned to Dallas and, for the past four years, has been producing and directing “Operation Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam,” a documentary about the mass evacuation of children from South Vietnam to the United States in 1975.  After our meeting today, I decided to watch the trailer for Tammy’s documentary again and, I have to admit, it affected me the same way it did when I originally saw it a year ago; it brought tears to my eyes.  It’s hard for me to believe that this incredible story has slipped through history’s cracks, but I’m glad that it was a friend of mine who found it and had the passion to bring it to the big screen.

If the trailer is any indication of the film to come, then I think we’re all in for a big treat.  In case you’re interested in seeing it, I’ve reposted the trailer below.  Please help me in supporting “Operation Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam” by visiting the website (www.thebabylift.com) and spreading the word.  As fellow artists and as fellow human beings, this is the kind of film that it is our duty to get behind.

Enjoy.

-Dax

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3IGZAHHMdE