Operation Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam celebrates its Dallas premiere on Sept. 25

by John P. Meyer

Having already taken the Audience Choice Award from the 2009 Vietnamese International Film Festival (and been selected for a range of other festivals around the globe), Operation Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam will be making its first appearance before North Texas audiences on Friday, Sept. 25 at the Horchow Auditorium in the Dallas Museum of Art.

Filmmaker Tammy Nguyen Lee, founder of Against the Grain Productions and advisory committee member for Women In Film.Dallas, will be on hand after the screening to host a question/answer session for attendees.

During the closing days of the Vietnam War, then-President Gerald Ford approved an initiative to airlift 2,500 Vietnamese orphans out of the country in advance of the communist takeover. Nguyen Lee's 72-minute documentary deals with the lives of some of the volunteers, parents, and organizations directly involved in this operation, and gets up close and personal with some of the "lost children" 35 years after the fact.

The music used in the film is contributed by Asian American artists such as Jared Rehberg and Thomas' Apartment.

The film screening is hosted by filmAsiafest and presented by the Dallas Film Society. Tickets are $7 for members and students, and $10 for non-members. Click here to register for this reservations-only event, or call 214-979-6438.