San Diego Asian Film Festival 2009

Filmmaker Tammy Nguyen Lee was only 3 months old when she fled Vietnam as a Boat Person and found refuge in Hong Kong and eventually the United States. Later in life, when Lee heard about the stories of the adoptees of the Operation Babylift during the directing of a play at the Vietnamese Community in Dallas, Lee was inspired to write and direct this documentary, OPERATION BABYLIFT (Audience Choice Award – VIFF 2009).

As The Vietnam War began to close its final chapters during the Spring of 1975, President Gerald Ford signed into law ‘Operation Babylift,’ a $2 million dollar initiative which granted the evacuation of over 2,500 Vietnamese orphans from the war-torn country into the United States. With the impending threats from the Communist Regime in Vietnam, the massive airlift efforts saved thousands of babies from the fallout of the War.

Through the interviews of the adoptees of Operation Babylift thirty years later and through images that tell the stories of their past, Lee weaves a story cultural identity in question, search for their birth parents, and eventual reconciliation. – Jimmy Lee

Co-presented by:
Vietnamese International Film Festival (ViFF)