Film Project: The Adoptees + Seed&Spark Campaign + From The Voices Of Vietnamese Adoptees

The film is a new project from the perspective of an older Vietnamese Adoptee who was on Operation Babylyft and from what I've seen of the first 9 minutes (as I am sitting on the advisory committee as well) is something very new and needed from a Vietnamese Adoptee film perspective as there is nothing out there that I am aware of, that handles some of the material in such an authentic way.

Here is some information on the project from the SEED&SPARK campaign which has around 15 days left:

Mission Statement

The stories of Vietnamese adoptees have long been reduced to a simplistic "saved" versus "stolen" narrative. The true story of their adoption is far more complex, lasts a lifetime, and is now being told by adoptees themselves. Our film aims to change the conversation by centering adoptee voices. 

For many Americans, this is where the story ended, but Mike Frailey's story was just beginning.

He was just eight years old when he was put on a plane destined for Missouri alongside his best friend. In Vietnam, they were Thọ and Nga. In America, they became Mike and David.

Evacuated together during Operation Babylift, Mike and David were adopted by American families living on the same street in Missouri. While Mike embraced assimilation and the promise of the American Dream, David struggled to let go of their past and grappled with their memories of war. Their paths ultimately diverged, and they had a major falling out as teenagers.

In 2009, at the age of 42, Mike traveled back to Vietnam for the first time and began recording his experiences with photos and videos, and the seed of a documentary was born. In 2024, the discovery of a handwritten ledger in Mike's orphanage prompted him to reexamine his story and David's while mounting a search for his birth family.

While the film's main focus will be on Mike and David, there will also be some other Vietnamese Adoptees adding to the film's story as well.

Definitely check out the campaign and the site and if you are so inclined give it a little post on your social media and/or donate if you can.