The refugee boat left Vietnam with 110 people, but after being stranded at sea, only 52 lived to land in the Phillipines. The horrific journey lasted 37 days and people on the boat had to resort to cannibalism to survive.
Award-winning documentary film “Bolinao 52″ examines the controversy over the court martial of a Navy captain who failed to pick up the refugees, chronicles the horrors that one woman lived through, and witnesses her return to the island town of Bolinao to seek peace and honor the dead.
The film, directed and produced by Duc Nguyen, has been shown widely at film festivals, and will receive its TV premiere at 9PM, April 30, on KTEH in San Jose (broadcast channel 54, Comcast channel 10).
Also coming up is a public screening at Chapman University at 5:30PM April 4 and at San Jose City College 2PM April 26.
Full text of press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Duc Nguyen
Director/Producer
www.bolinao52.com
duc@rhimp.comTHE WORLD TELEVISION PREMIERE OF
BOLINAO 52
A VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE DOCUMENTARYWED. APRIL 30, 2008- 9PM
KTEH San Jose Public Television
Channel 54, Comcast 10Repeated
MAY 4, 2008- 2PM
KQED San Francisco Public Television
Channel 9Following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, millions refugees took the perilous escape across South China Sea to find freedom. Many died of drowning or starvation and thirst. Other lost at sea for days while some were pillaged, robbed and raped by pirates. However, more than 30 years after, no major film or television program tells their stories. Bolinao 52 is a long-silenced voice, an unspoken legacy of the Vietnam War – the story of the Vietnamese Boat People.
When Tung Trinh, a survivor of the Bolinao 52, stepped foot onto a crowded boat one night in May 1988, she did not know it was a trip that forever changed her life. After leaving Vietnam the Bolinao 52 engine died. They were ignored by passing ships. 19 days later, a US Navy ship stopped. But the captain refused to pick up the dying refugees. Facing death, they resorted to cannibalism. After 37 days at sea, 52 of 110 survived. Two decades later, this Bolinao 52 survivor returned to her past to close off the unresolved chapters.
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). Additioning funding was provided by All Roads Film Project and Pacific Pioneer Fund.
In the coming months, we are launching a community outreach campaign with screenings of the film and discussion with the filmmaker at various locations in California . Following is a current list of upcoming screenings. Log in bolinao52.com for up-to-date information.Thursday Mar. 20, 2008
OAKLAND HIGH
Discussion with Director and World Culture students
This is not a public eventFriday April 4, at 5:30 p.m.
The event, free and open to the public, will feature the movie
screening, director’s discussion and a speaker panel of distinguished
Chapman University professors on issues of refugees, ethics and
criminal law.
The Folino Theater is located in the Chapman University Film School at
283 N. Cypress St. , Orange .
For more information, please contact
Hien Q. Vu, VALSA president
(949) 389-9813, or e-mail: vu105@chapman.edu.Saturday April 26 at 2 p.m.
San Jose City College
Free and open to the public.
San Jose´ City College is located at 2100 Moorpark Ave. , San Jose´ , CA 95128 .
Contact: Trang Nguyen, Project Consultant
San Jose´/Evergreen Community College District
San Jose´ City College trang.nguyen@sjcc.edu
(408) 298-2181 Ext. 3185
