Notes from the Field: A Filmmaker's View

April 6th, 2005

Notes from the Field: Vietnam

Here�s the deal. We�re shooting a film titled BOMBHUNTERS, that examines the effects of UXO contamination on vulnerable populations in Cambodia and Vietnam. We�ve spent four and a half months shooting throughout Cambodia and feel like we have a pretty good feel for how to approach what is sometimes a rather disconcerting subject. Things like kids hammering at bullets, men taking hacksaws to bombs and aiming cutting torches at mortars have become commonplace to us. By the time we pull into Dong Ha town in central Vietnam, we have experience. We have confidence. What we don�t have is a lot of time.



With a Fulbright research grant as our foundation, and a pre-arranged sponsor already in place (we thought) in Quang Tri province, we were confident that access to stories would be comprehensive, and immediate. Instead we began to hear things like:
�No, you can�t go there�.�
�Wait in your hotel until we call you.�
These statements were eventually followed by short outings accompanied by officials who ensured that whatever we saw was fully sanitized, and as far away as possible from the truly vulnerable populations in Vietnam who we really wanted to talk with.
After a full week of hearing every conceivable variation of �No,� our one official scheduled day with CPI arrived.
And suddenly, we began to hear �Yes.� Sure, we can go there. Do this. Look at case files. Select subjects. Copy files. Shoot interviews. Copy footage. Use the internet for communication. Share transportation. Talk about real issues. Even drink good coffee the entire time we were in the office.
We accomplished more in the one full day we spent with CPI than we did in three full weeks with other organizations in Vietnam.
Now to be fair, UXO, landmines and agent orange contamination are sensitive issues at the moment in Vietnam. Vietnam receives substantial funding from American groups with the intent to address munitions contamination and provide victim assistance, among other things. But at the moment, with a Vietnamese group filing a class action suit against US chemical manufacturers who produced Agent Orange during the war in Vietnam, the Vietnamese government is treading carefully.
Perhaps too carefully. Instead of fully acknowledging the continuing problems of UXO tampering in Vietnam and other related issues, (and likely opening the possibility of greater outside assistance in the future) the government is tightly controlling media access.
But why was our experience with CPI so different than with other organizations designed to provide the same services in Vietnam?
I believe it comes down to experience. CPI staff in Dong Ha town are savvy, educated, organized and trusted. Their work over time in the area speaks for itself. Countless civilian victims of war are living better lives because of their work. And the community knows it.
They are doing something worthwhile that isn�t being done by other groups in the area. And they are doing it actively, comprehensively, and with the intent to provide for civilian victims of war in Vietnam for many years to come. Why wouldn�t they want to share this with the media?
I just hope we are able to work our single day of footage with CPI into our film. If there is an organization in Vietnam that truly deserves a bit of publicity for their work, it�s CPI.
-Skye
Skye Fitzgerald, MFA
Producer, Epiphany Film
Fulbright Researcher
Email: skyefitzgerald@gmail.com