“Don’t Burn It – It’s Already on Fire” New York Premiere of Vietnamese Film
Our colleague Minh Ha, a Vietnamese social worker, passed on this information about the New York premiere of “Don’t Burn it – It’s already on fire” a Vietnamese film based on the war diary of Dang Thuy Tram, a Vietnamese physician. Dr. Tram’s diary has been published in English under the title: Last Night I Dreamed of Peace.
Publisher’s Weekly described the book in these terms: “In 1970, while sifting through war documents in Vietnam, Fred Whitehurst, an American lawyer serving with a military intelligence dispatch, found a diary no bigger than a pack of cigarettes, its pages handsewn together. Written between 1968 and ‘70 by Tram, a young, passionate doctor who served on the front lines, it chronicled the strife she witnessed until the day she was shot by American soldiers earlier that year at age 27. Whitehurst, who was greatly moved by the diary and smuggled it out of the country, returned it to Thuy’s family in 2005; soon after, it was published as a book in Vietnam, selling nearly half a million copies within a year and a half. The diary is valuable for the perspective it offers on war—Thuy is not obsessed with military maneuvers but rather the damage, both physical and emotional, that the war is inflicting on her country. Thuy also speaks poignantly about her patients and the compassion she feels for them.”
The film will be shown from 7pm – 9.30pm on Saturday November 14th, 2009 in Room 200. Cantor Film Center, 36 East 8th Street & 5th Ave, NYC.
New York University. The director, Dang Nhat Minh, will be present for a discussion after the film.
posted by: Matt Anderson, MD
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