Events

50 Years from the Fall of Saigon Anniversary Event

LA ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL &
GARDENA CINEMA PRESENT

FREE COMMUNITY EVENT

Two Fall of Saigon Documentaries
Screening & Panel Q&A

Date: SAT, MAY 3, 2025
Time: 2:00PM

DOUBLE FEATURE SCHEDULE

2:00 PM End of the Road from Netflix’s Turning Point: Vietnam War) - LA Theatrical Premiere

3:30PM Oh, Saigon: A War in the Family

4:30PM Panel Q+A

PANELISTS

"Đoan Hoàng Curtis is an extraordinary, award-winning filmmaker. Đoan was on that last helicopter in the Fall of Saigon as a three-year-old child, already deeply traumatized by a war that, for her family, has never really ended. After living in refugee camps and growing up in Kentucky, Đoan has spent her life attempting to understand and heal these wounds, and her art speaks to that desire for deep peace and compassion."
— Elizabeth Gilbert, Author of Eat, Pray, Love & Big Magic

From Turning Point: Vietnam War: "The End of the Road"
(in alphabetical order)

• Janet Bùi - Former Saigon student, photographed getting on the famous Hugh Van Es rooftop helicopter evacuation (pictured right with her father at Tet in 1975 as a teenager,, and as third person getting on helicopter in the red image.)

• introducing Director Brian Knappenberger, show runner Sarah Huisenga and Sabrina Parke (co-executive producer)

• Judge John Nho Trong Nguyen - Former Republic of (South) Vietnam congressman, now an Orange County Superior Court judge, who escaped through the US Embassy (Appears in Turning Point trailer at 1:42)

  Tommy Nguyen - Series producer, who left South Vietnam as an infant on April 20, 1975
  
  From Oh, Saigon: A War in the Family

• An Hoàng - Mother of filmmaker, Fall of Saigon escapee, who left other daughter in Vietnam

• Van Tran - The daughter left behind who escaped Vietnam by boat, and became a Vietnamese pop and New Wave singer in the 1980s & 90s.

• Dylan Le, Van’s son and little boy in Oh, Saigon
  

• + SPECIAL GUESTS:

• Henry Le - US Navy and former pilot of Air Force of Republic of Vietnam

• Jerome Thomas and Doug Potratz - Former Saigon US Embassy security who evacuated Vietnamese.

• Casey Huynh - Vietnam-born trauma therapist specializing in EMDR trauma reduction and childhood trauma.
  

Director: Brian Knappenberger. Genre: Documentary
Production: USA, Vietnam Language: English, Vietnamese with English subtitles

Produced by Đoan Hoàng Curtis, Tommy Nguyen, Bo Kovitz, and Keven McAllister
Executive Producers: Sarah Huisenga, Co-Executive Producers: Sabrina Parke, Clare Tucker

Synopsis: To win re-election, Nixon plots an impossible peace deal and cuts all aid to ally, South Vietnam. President Thieu and the South Vietnamese are left in turmoil, setting off chaotic, desperate evacuations that became the Fall of Saigon. 50 years later, Americans, South Vietnamese, and North Vietnamese reflect on their experiences in the war and its aftermath. A surprising admission is made by a communist politician.

Final Episode from Netflix's Turning Point: The Vietnam War