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Precious Cargo: Vietnamese Adoptees Discover Their Past
| Length: | 56 min |
| Released: | 2001 |
| Ages: |
College Adult |
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When the United States withdrew from Vietnam in 1975, one of its last acts was the dramatic transport of twenty-eight hundred South Vietnamese children into American homes, practically overnight. Precious Cargo reveals the complex story of Operation Babylift. For the military it served as a final act of redemption; to the Hanoi government, a propaganda ploy; and for most Americans, a final compassionate gesture in a war they wanted to forget.
Those least able to forget are the children, filmed in their mid-twenties to early thirties. When a small group meets each for the first time, they quickly bond and begin a journey back to Vietnam to seek clues to their past. Raised in relative affluence, they confront the overcrowding and poverty as well as the beauty of their homeland, wrestling with their identity and complex feelings of loss and gratitude, connection and detachment.
The program includes an exclusive interview with the pilot and chief flight nurse of the first flight which tragically crashed shortly after takeoff, casting a shadow over Operation Babylift. Also featured are the pioneering adoptive parents from the 1970s who embraced these biracial and sometimes handicapped children as their own, beginning a movement that has grown to redefine the American family.
Produced in association with the Independent Television Service (ITVS) with major funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Those least able to forget are the children, filmed in their mid-twenties to early thirties. When a small group meets each for the first time, they quickly bond and begin a journey back to Vietnam to seek clues to their past. Raised in relative affluence, they confront the overcrowding and poverty as well as the beauty of their homeland, wrestling with their identity and complex feelings of loss and gratitude, connection and detachment.
The program includes an exclusive interview with the pilot and chief flight nurse of the first flight which tragically crashed shortly after takeoff, casting a shadow over Operation Babylift. Also featured are the pioneering adoptive parents from the 1970s who embraced these biracial and sometimes handicapped children as their own, beginning a movement that has grown to redefine the American family.
Produced in association with the Independent Television Service (ITVS) with major funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
"An exquisite window into the aftermath of war and what happens to children when the soldiers stop fighting."
‒New York Times
"It was extremely illuminating to every one and the film is a remarkable piece."
‒Faye Ginsburg, Director, Graduate Center for Media, Culture & History, NYU
‒New York Times
"It was extremely illuminating to every one and the film is a remarkable piece."
‒Faye Ginsburg, Director, Graduate Center for Media, Culture & History, NYU
Chicago International Film Festival, 2002
CINE Special Jury Award for News, Features and Public Affairs, 2002
Sigma Delta Chi Award, the society of Professional Journalists, 2002
Deadline Club Award, best television feature reporting, 2001
CINE Gold Eagle Award, 2002
CINE Special Jury Award, Public Affairs Category, 2002
Award, Society for Professional Journalists, 2002
CINE Special Jury Award for News, Features and Public Affairs, 2002
Sigma Delta Chi Award, the society of Professional Journalists, 2002
Deadline Club Award, best television feature reporting, 2001
CINE Gold Eagle Award, 2002
CINE Special Jury Award, Public Affairs Category, 2002
Award, Society for Professional Journalists, 2002
