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GI Film Festival San Diego

Return to Dak To

Directed by Christopher Upham

Vietnam, Healing / USA / 2015 / documentary / 50 mins / English

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Plays In:
Remembering Vietnam

The Village Theatres Coronado
September 15, 2016 7:00 pm

Description

“Return to Dak To” is about the previously untold war story that occurred at the end of the Vietnam war. 600 American soldiers in the 299th Engineer Battalion ordered by President Nixon fought during the 61-day siege, and half were killed. The other 300 men returned to the United States with no therapy, expected to assimilate back into civilian life. 40 years later, 5 men who are still haunted decide to return back to Dak To to further explain their feelings to themselves and each other.


Director's Bio

Christopher Upham is a writer and visual storyteller. He has collaborated with filmmakers Paul Saltzman , Ellen Perry, Lynn Hershman-Leeson , Tom Schlesinger, Hisham Bizri and playwright John O’Keefe. On staff at the prestigious Squaw Valley Screenwriting program, he has also taught Documentary Structure and Visual Storytelling. Christopher’s fiction has been anthologized in Maxine Hong-Kingston’s “Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace.” His novel, “Daktoum,” about the 1969 siege at Dak To, will be published in Spring, 2016. “Return to Dak To” is his directorial debut.



Plays in

  1. U.S. soldiers engaged in conflict in Firebase Kate. Photo courtesy of Storytellers International, Inc.

    Remembering Vietnam

    Vietnam
    Explore the experiences and perspectives of soldiers and civilians of the Vietnam War with three films.

    In This Program: Escape from Firebase Kate, Tom’s War, Return to Dak To



Preceded By

  1. Still image from "Tom's War." Photo courtesy of Story Corps.

    Tom’s War

    Julie Zammarchi / Vietnam, Healing, Army / USA / 2016 / narrative / 2 mins
    Tom Geerdes, a Vietnam veteran, remembers his long journey toward healing after returning home from the war.

    Preceded by: Escape from Firebase Kate

    Precedes: Return to Dak To



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Dates & Times

Plays In:
Remembering Vietnam

The Village Theatres Coronado
September 15, 2016 7:00 pm

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