My Singapore Misadventure, 1979In The Same Boat

Story and website design by Nam Nguyen ©2016  |  Photographs by Vincent Leduc ©1979

38-Year Reunion with Gary Ferguson – 2017

  • > Open to Learn How My Story Was Discovered by PBS

    Hello everyone,

    It's been about twenty months since I created this website to share my story and Vincent Leduc’s photographic work.

    I have wonderful news to share with you: a film studio from London (Blink Films) contacted me in October 2016 and expressed interest in my story. They wanted to produce a documentary about my search for Gary Ferguson, the “Crazy American Cowboy”, the subject in my story on my website. I was also thrilled to learn that Ann Curry would be interviewing me in the movie. If that was not awesome enough, my film would be shown on PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) as part of a six-episode special documentary series called We’ll Meet Again. It is scheduled to air starting on January 23, 2018.

    I am very excited and grateful for this opportunity to share my story on PBS, a network that I trust and respect. My story will be featured on the Third Episode/Lost Children of Vietnam on Tuesday, February 6, 2018, at 8pm.

    In anticipation for this special event, I have created this new page to showcase my documentary by Blink Films/PBS along with related promotional materials. I will also share some of my own behind-the-scene photos/videos soon after the PBS broadcast.

    So, what does this crazy, wonderful, and unexpected event mean for the Paris Reunion Project?

    Well, at the very least, I hope this film will spread my story along with Vincent Leduc’s powerful photographs of the Vietnamese boat refugees to a broader audience. This helps fulfill my initial goal: to share my story with people around the world.

    I still yearn traveling to Paris to meet Vincent in person. It would be another chapter of my story. It’s one of my dreams. And I believe in dreams.

    Happy New Year!

    – Nam Nguyen, December 31, 2017.

     

    (120-second OFFICIAL TRAILER)

 

 

"Lost Children of Vietnam"

 

"The war in Vietnam may have ended in 1975, but its impact lingers in countless lives today ... Nam hopes to find Gary, the Texas cowboy he met almost forty years ago as a 12-year-old refugee and who inspired his dream of coming to America."

PBS, aired Feb. 6, 2018 @8pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

PBS  |  we'll meet again

Length: 28 minutes with Vietnamese Subtitles

  • > Read About this Vietnamese-Subtitle Version

    Vietnamese Subtitles by Nam Nguyen

    WE’LL MEET AGAIN - Nam’s Story (28 minutes)

    – PBS/Ann Curry/Blink Films

    Hello everyone. I translated and added the Vietnamese subtitles into my documentary  for millions of Vietnamese viewers around the world, especially for my mom and my family in Vietnam. The film is about half an hour long, but when translated into Vietnamese and at the same time editing the film's software, it requires a lot of time. I spent nearly three weeks with about several dozens hours and many late nights. If you think I am crazy, you are not wrong. I am doing this because I love life, in the present as well as the future. But the past is the strength of my soul. I hope my children, family, relatives, and anyone else will be able to find a worthwhile spiritual lesson, mostly to love life everyday, every hour. Life is beautiful and very short. I dream that my mom is healthy and able to watch this movie and understand a small part of my past. Because this is also her story.

     

    CHÚNG TA SẼ GẶP LẠI - Chuyện Của Nam (28 phút)

    – PBS/Ann Curry/Blink Films

    Xin chào cả nhà. Tôi mới dịch sang phụ đề tiếng Việt vào phim cho người Việt xem đọc, trong đó me, gia đình tôi bên Việt Nam. Tuy phim dài khoảng nửa tiếng đồng hồ nhưng khi dịch sang tiếng Việt và đồng thời chỉnh sửa phần mềm của bộ phim, nó đòi hỏi rất nhiều thời gian. Tôi đã làm gần ba tuần qua với khoảng mấy chục tiếng đồng hồ và nhiều đêm thức khuya. Nếu ai nói tôi điên thì điều đó không sai. Nhưng những gì tôi làm chỉ vì lý do tôi rất yêu cuộc sống hiện tại cũng như rất quý trọng cho tương lai. Nhưng quá khứ là những sức mạnh của tâm hồn tôi. Tôi hy vọng những đứa con của tôi, gia đình, bà con, và bất cứ ai sẽ có thể tìm được một bài học bổ ích về tinh thần, chủ yếu là mình phải yêu cuộc sống hằng ngày, hằng giờ, vì cuộc sống rất là đẹp và rất là ngắn. Điều mơ ước nhỏ của tôi là mẹ tôi luôn mạnh khỏe và có điều kiện xem phim này và hiểu thêm được một góc quá khứ của tôi. Vì câu chuyện này cũng là một câu chuyện nhỏ của mẹ.

A Miracle Reunion

PBS  |  we'll meet again  |  Lost Children of Vietnam

Behind the Scenes

Videos and photos taken during the filming with Blink Films team and Ann Curry at various locations in 2017.

 

                My Singapore Misadventure, 1979   |   singapore79.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Songs about the Refugee Experience

"Sea of Memory

(Biển Nhớ")

- Mỹ Hạnh, 2011

"Sea of Memory

(Biển Nhớ")

- Khánh Ly, 1980s

"Refugee"

- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, 1979

Photographs by Vincent Leduc ©1979  |  Story and Website by Nam Nguyen ©2016

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