VIDEO: ‘Last Days in Vietnam’ Q&A with Rory Kennedy, Alec Baldwin & More

David Nugent, Mark Bailey, Col. & Mrs. Stuart Herrington, Rory Kennedy and Anne Chaisson at SummerDocs screening of Last Days in Vietnam: August 16, 2014. Photo: Eugene Gologursky

David Nugent, Mark Bailey, Col. & Mrs. Stuart Herrington, Rory Kennedy and Anne Chaisson at SummerDocs screening of Last Days in Vietnam: August 16, 2014. Photo: Eugene Gologursky

This past Saturday, the 2014 HIFF SummerDocs season continued with Last Days in Vietnam, Rory Kennedy‘s riveting and personal account of the desperate evacuation of Saigon in 1975:

During the chaotic final days of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as South Vietnamese resistance crumbles. The United States has only a skeleton crew of diplomats and military operatives still in the country. As Communist victory becomes inevitable and the U.S. readies to withdraw, some Americans begin to consider the certain imprisonment and possible death of their South Vietnamese allies, co-workers, and friends. Meanwhile, the prospect of an official evacuation of South Vietnamese becomes terminally delayed by Congressional gridlock and the inexplicably optimistic U.S. Ambassador. With the clock ticking and the city under fire, a number of heroic Americans take matters into their own hands, engaging in unsanctioned and often makeshift operations in a desperate effort to save as many South Vietnamese lives as possible.

After the screening at Guild Hall, the audience was treated to an enlightening conversation between Kennedy, one of the film’s subjects, Col. Stuart Herrington, HIFF Artistic Director David Nugent, and Alec Baldwin, the SummerDocs series host.

If you missed the screening, you can catch it in theaters across the country beginning next month. You can also follow the movie on Facebook and Twitter. In the meantime, check out the video of Saturday’s SummerDocs Q&A:


The_Overnighters-2

Don’t forget to join us for our final screening at SummerDocs:

The Overnighters, directed by Jesse Moss

Friday, August 29
♦ 7:30 pm
♦ Guild Hall of East Hampton
Get tickets