I wish I could fulfill all your needs, but I will do what I can, and I hope that you will...I just hope that it will be enough. Separated at the end of the Vietnam war, an "Americanized" woman and her Vietnamese mother are reunited after 22 years. I can only remember one time....Never hugged or anything, she was just not that type of person. The first one gave me up, and this one doesn't want me. Janie Tyre KIM: Your brother. TRAN TUONG NHU: And sometimes you slept with your grandmother. Shortly before the women meet, Kim tells us that she has dreamt of her daughter. Then when we got to high school, I didn't recognize her because she had a perm. Bring him back, I'll reward you if you find him.". I fear most of seeing her husband. Don Neville KIM: The police arrested me. The executives, staff and independents Molly McDonald For me, it's just a parade. The few contacts I've had with them -- every letter they wrote was a plea for money. She hasn't left me since I've been here. "I asked her, if she didn't give me any papers, how could I find my child in the future? I'd beg every westerner to help me get to the U.S. TRAN TUONG NHU, JOURNALIST: I had a friend who was interviewing people who wanted to come to America in the orderly departure program, and he met a woman from Danang, whose name was Mai Thi Kim. View Daughter from Danang - Annalee Bates.pdf from PSYC 2130 at Volunteer State Community College. Don't think I just abandoned you. I must have been a bad child, y'know, for her to give me up and not want me. And you will not believe what I did. SISTER, NIECE AND NEPHEW, SINGING: Dad loves me cause I look like mom. I don't have much motivation as far as looking for my dad. Elayne Bernstein PHOUC: The time you've been here has been so short. John Harrington In 1975, as the Vietnam War was ending, thousands of orphans and Amerasian children were brought to the United States as part of "Operation Babylift." When I was little. And I don't know if it was my job to tell her all of this, I mean I was trying desperately to teach her to say hello to her mother. Perhaps you could bring her to live near you to renew the love between mother and child. SCENE CHANGE: VINH CONTINUES: Today is the 22nd anniversary of the day the war ended. By 1970, 33 American NGOs, representing all sides of the political spectrum, were providing aid in Vietnam. We'll see each other again one day. Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. I grew up not having a bunch of affection, or touching, and here it's like, all my relatives have to touch me. MABEL: (grandma laughs) Yeah, she can hear her laughing! 22 year already. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Connie Field JOHN: The racism -- they keep it hidden. "If you had worked for Americans and had racially mixed children, they said those kids would be gathered up, they would be soaked in gasoline and burnt. A provocative look at the unexpected consequences of both war and family, Daughter From Danang is a documentary that follows Heidi Bub’s journey to Vietnam, and what she found there. Daughter from Danang tells the dramatic story of one of these children, Heidi Bub (a.k.a. Mabel Neville Film Arts Foundation It was through the internet that I found the Holt Agency, and they said "Yes, we have a file on you. TRAN TUONG NHU: This for me was also the fulfillment of some dream that I had had. ", TOM MILLER: Her friends who volunteered to assist, one of them called her and said, "You know, these children, many of them are not orphans -- they're talking about their families.". Let's just be happy. Daughter from Danang Directed by Gail Dolgin, Vicente Franco A brutally honest documentary about a much anticipated family reunion that goes wrong thanks to culture shock and a refusal to empathize with others. But yet at the same time I just really didn't know what to expect of what she would find. Laura Paull Daughter From Danang Winner of the 2002 Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize for Documentary Feature, "Daughter From Danang" is an intelligent, well … She loved bologna. I've done my makeup. ROYCE HUGHES: When I heard that Heidi was going to Vietnam, like I said, I was just really, really surprised. HEIDI: When I left, I was confused more than anything. You're going to be crying so hard you... HEIDI: I won't be able to say anything anyway. Kim wondered why the American social worker didn't provide her with any documentation detailing where Hiep was going. It goes downs...Meh. Mai Thi Hiep), and her Vietnamese mother, Mai Thi Kim, separated at the war's end and reunited 22 years later. I've suffered so much. Please come back inside and join the family. It was just, like, instant connection there. But you know, they don't know the inside story. TRAN TUONG NHU: Reach off the plate...you want to eat this, and eat that. It wasn't until that phone call, and hearing her say "I love you daughter," it was like, how could I have ever doubted that I would love her? HEIDI: I used to ask my friends if they got spankings, or stuff like that. Daughter from Danang originates with American’s ethnocentrism and the declaration of “Operation Babylift.” by President Ford. Daughter From Danang cuts between mother and daughter as the two recall the pain of their separation, and retraces Hiep's journey from Vietnam to Pulaski, Tennessee, where she is adopted by a single woman and renamed Heidi. TOM MILLER, ATTORNEY: We didn't know this at the time, but as a last desperate attempt of the White House to gain sympathy for the war, and possibly additional funding for the war, they backed what was called the "Orphan Airlift. It was just last week that she told me, here it goes again, she says: "why don't you ask me any questions about my trip?" KIM: I kiss you to keep your essence with me. Daughter From Danang was awarded the Jury Prize for Best Documentary Feature at … It was the summer after my sophomore year in college. But her birth name was Mai Thi Hiep. And she was a hitter. It was amazing that I could remember all that stuff. For 22 years, we've had no news of you, so we, your siblings, have taken care of our mother. A heartbreaking documentary that upsets your expectations of happily-ever-afters, Daughter from Danangis a riveting emotional drama of longing, identity, and the personal legacy of war. Daughter from Danang tells the dramatic story of one of these children, Heidi Bub (a.k.a. VIETNAMESE WOMAN (Unidentified, speaking broken English): He tell me go with you. Check out our gallery of the 2021 Oscar nominees in the leading and supporting acting categories, as the characters they so brilliantly played and in real life. This is Heidi with the baby doll. She was telling me my own sisters didn't even make it through the sixth grade. She said when the Americans came back, I would have my child again. I've been looking for you all these years. To all outward appearances, Heidi is the proverbial "all-American girl", hailing from small town Pulaski, Tenn. Kevin Abrams HEIDI: I think a majority were against the KKK. That's what it felt like to me. Spellbound follows eight teenagers on their quest to win the 1999 National Spelling Bee. DING DUNG/TRANSLATOR AFTER NHU LEAVES: I haven't seen you in twenty two years, and now you're here, and I am very happy now. I wasn't angry at my mother, but I was sad about the way things had to be. It's the common knowledge in Vietnam. I just felt like that was just kind of rude. We don't know who you are yet. If you can take care of me, go ahead. That I was no longer hopeless and disappointed, and that I would never lose her again. Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! Daughter from Danang In 1975, with the end of the war in Vietnam imminent, Mai Thi Kim, a poor, young Vietnamese woman, sent her seven-year-old daughter to America as part of a … TRAN TUONG NHU: I get a message on my machine. KIM: After taking her there, I told her to remember...one day you will come look for me, you must never forget. That's why I had to find her and get ready to go over there... meeting her face to face for the first time in twenty-two years. HEIDI: I don't want them to put me on the pedestal, and say: "This is the one who's going to save us." And she was like: "y'know, leave. TINH: We have a present from us and Lien's family. You eat rice? Loren Buyer Laurie Coyle I've been looking for him everywhere. I know this may sound so selfish of me, but I just cannot wait to get out of here. Jessica Bub I remember watching her one time doing laundry, and she put it in this machine, and I thought wow y'know, so I noticed one day she said the cat was dirty. ROYCE HUGHES: We made a southerner, a southerner out of her real quick as far as that goes, mm'hmm. He called the interpreter over to tell me that if I loved him, he would take care of me and all my children. And I was very perturbed. From the ashes of the L.A. riots arose a lush, 14-acre community garden, the largest of its kind in the United States. I wish this trip never happened now, because I'm gonna' leave with all these bad memories and all this bad feelings, and it's not how I wanted it to be. But at the same time, we had black children and we had white children, and we had not had ever had one like Heidi before. Eli Despres And she had put a sign on the door saying, y'know, "this house closes at 11." HEIDI: I've always wanted the feeling that someone would love me no matter what. 7/21/49 - 7/2/01. DO THI THU HIEN, HEIDI'S SISTER: In the past when Hiep was small I used to bathe her. And she says: "Because the government in its infinite wisdom has thrown up so many barricades to a single mom adopting a kid.". My husband said he was leaving to join the army. And then when you got to America, you had to sleep alone. This is me at work. They literally had to pry us apart to get me on that plane. Open Society Institute Of course they go to school together... they're allowed to eat together... so it's a little community that's bind together. And I would cry and cry and cry. Your sister. Every year they march on the anniversary. Daughter from Danang It's only an hour flight, but it's going to feel like a minute. "It's gonna be so healing for both of us to see each other again," says Heidi. Director Nathaniel Kahn searches to understand his father, noted architect Louis Kahn, who died bankrupt and alone in 1974. "Here, my daughter is, thinking all I want is money" (I want to connect this to the end by showing how Heidi experienced CS and use the language barrier as an example). Today, tomorrow, this year, forever. KIM: As your brother just said, don't give too much weight to what just happened. KIM: We don't speak the same language, so it's not clear. HIEN: I'm the poorest child in the family. Documentary about Holocaust victim Kurt Gerron. Special Acknowledgement to Tran Tuong Nhu and Brenda Lewis without whom this reunion would never have occurred. Get a sneak peek of the new version of this page. I told her my dream had come true. There's been no time for intimate talks. You're not even trying to make me understand." But it was just by coincidence... that she, there were plenty of other interviewers, but he was my friend. I just don't know anymore! What I heard really worried me. But Hiep couldn't understand that. I wish she would reach out with clear boundaries to her Vietnamese family. TRAN TUONG NHU: Take a little bit. And I'm, y'know, I'm kind of jealous of that. I've never been away this far from my own family -- my husband and my two little girls, and I'm feeling homesick. It's closed, but it's not locked. Dinh Dung Do I want to open anymore cans of worms, y'know? You know, a screamer and a hitter. Pat Flynn I even went to the bathroom. In a family, if you're better off... you might help us out. I still had memories, but as the years went, the picture of her face in my mind was fading. DAUGHTER FROM DANANG. Danang, Vietnam. So now this daughter leads a miserable life. Stacey Ross DAUGHTER FROM DANANG is an incredibly powerful, emotional movie. Mai Thi Hiep), and her Vietnamese mother, Mai Thi Kim, separated at the war's end and reunited 22 years later. "I told her my dream had come true. I remember saying to them: "You don't understand what's going on now, but this is very important. HIEN (WITH HEIDI REPEATING IN VIETNAMESE): I... love... you sister... Hien. When I was near them I'd get scared. Non-Governmental Organizations in Vietnam. Royce Hughes I'm not sure I do. And that's Heidi. Tosha Silver Poor thing, she sees me and thinks I'm asking for money. I mean, how? So I sent a letter to the old adoption agency. Okay, you drink beer -- but no smoke! Daughter From Danang. Patti Tauscher, Sound Mix I put on a waterproof mascara that John bought me because he knew I would need it. Mai Thi Hiep), born on December 10, 1968, in Danang in southern Vietnam, one of the children brought to the United States from Vietnam in 1975 during "Operation Babylift" at the end of the Vietnam War. Y'know, "ahh -- don't hit me again,"...type of thing. My mother who loves me dearly never says "I love you" in such a way. But her birth name was Mai Thi Hiep. Allie Light Daughter from Danang has been carefully tidied up by editor Kim Roberts to maintain a seamless transition from one narrative point to another. Title: I very love you! Maybe you will take me go with you. BRENDA LEWIS: One good thing about Pulaski -- the blacks and whites get along great. I'll give him a good home. Pulaski, Tennessee. What is the We have only a few minutes left. Gina Medina JOHN: She told me not to tell anyone that she was half-Vietnamese. Charles Broad Boston-based documentary photographer Bill Burke has made extensive trips throughout Southeast Asia. When she was growing up, and even until now, I still look at her as a white American. I slept until she woke me up this morning, you know, she said: "You awake?" KIM: There were so many rumors. HEIDI: I remember meeting my adopted mom. And how do cultural expectations influence our choices? Such little monetary support would mean so much to her family. I said: "then why don't you arrest him instead of me? HEIDI: At my sister's Hien's house, their shower consists of having a bucket of water and pouring it on you. But often these adoption homes were places where children were placed by their families who couldn't take care of them. Denise Lytle You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. SCENE CHANGE: HEIDI CONTINUES): Before I got here and actually face to face with my mother, I always had this image of a soft-spoken, kind, loving, caring person. Daughter from Danang tells the dramatic story of one of these children, Heidi Bub (a.k.a. HEIDI: I don't know what to do! Since you've lived abroad for so long, your reaction is different. WANDA HAMLET/SECOND GRADE TEACHER: We had black and white children that had been going to school together for many years. 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