On Healing Land, Birds Perch - Documentary Short

Behind one of the Vietnam War’s most iconic Pulitzer Prize–winning photographs lies a story resonant with today’s global crises. Woven through voices of survivors, ON HEALING LAND, BIRDS PERCH meditates on memory, loss, and renewal confronting the enduring scars of war and the resilience of refugees rebuilding their lives.

On Healing Land, Birds Perch is a short documentary that tells the remarkable stories behind one of the most iconic photos in history, while acting as a portal into the “varied carols,” to borrow from Walt Whitman, of trauma and the American journey. This is the first documentary, from a Vietnamese born filmmaker that explores the continuing aftershocks of the Vietnam War from the perspectives of both sides of the war: North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese including Vietnamese Americans alive today. The story is told through the iconic Pulitzer winning photo of General Loan shooting a Communist Vietcong, Captain Lem in the head, two days after the 1968 Tet Offensive. With original interviews, these individuals, the daughter of the General Loan, the children of the executed, Captain Lem, and the son whose family was allegedly killed by the executed and his men, prior to his execution, share for the first time on camera the intense emotions this photo elicits even today and the impact it has had on their lives. While these individuals hold widely differing views on this photo, the film poignantly portrays that all have something in common: the lasting trauma from the War.

from Official Film Website