HÀ NỘI — The documentary Inside This Peace featuring a forgotten victim of Agent Orange living in Việt Nam will be available on Vimeo On Demand across America this Christmas. 

The documentary by America-based producer and director Linh Nga tells the story of Thoa, a forgotten victim of Agent Orange in Việt Nam, whose younger brother is also an AO victim. Thoa has “scary skin with huge black patches, numerous lumps and hair all over her body”. The lumps are filled with fluid and can’t be drained.

For decades, Thoa’s parents have been looking for Government help.

“Peace is defined as ‘freedom from the cessation of war and violence’ and peace in our documentary is just like their daily life after the war and the legacy of war that we have to face now,"  Linh Nga said on a talkshow. 

Linh Nga first met Thoa when she was 13 years old when they sat next to each other on a plane on the way to a charity performance in the central city of Đà Nẵng.

The hairs on Thoa’s fingers were very prickly. When she moved her arm next to Linh Nga’s, it was almost painful, but not the same pain she felt for her.

"That’s one of the reasons I wanted to make a documentary about her and do something for Thoa and people like her," Linh Nga said. 

Linh Nga won the TV Best Series award for her Xuôi Ngược Đường Trần (In The Shadow Of Life) movie at the Vietnamese International Film Festival in 2003.  

“The documentary is an interesting blend because it portrays a sense of the environment, the city and people like Thoa, following her struggle and hopes and what she’s going through that shows how brave she is,” said film director and music composer Roy Finch.

In 1961, the American army began spraying the so-called “herbicide” in Việt Nam, triggering the ‘biggest and longest chemical warfare with the most catastrophic consequences in human history’. 

From 1961-1971, America sprayed 80 million litres of toxic chemicals, 61 per cent of which were AO that contained at least 366kg of dioxin – one of the most toxic substances ever known in history. That exposed 4.8 million Vietnamese people to the toxin.

The catastrophic impacts of dioxin are long lasting, making many women infertile and a large number of children born with deformities.

The documentary Inside This Peace was screened at Lift Off Global Network Festival last Sunday. — VNS