JIMMY IN SAIGON
A man searches for answers about the radical life and mysterious death of his brother, a Vietnam veteran who died abroad in 1972
Description
Filmmaker Peter McDowell and executive producer Dan Savage’s JIMMY IN SAIGON is a loving documentary about the radical life and mysterious death of the director’s eldest brother, Jim. Chronicling the story of the Vietnam War veteran, who died in a shroud of shame in Saigon when Peter was only 5 years old, the film is both an homage to a complicated man and an investigation into the secrets of one family.
Through over 200 of Jim’s letters and candid interviews with friends and family, JIMMY IN SAIGON follows Peter’s decade-long search for the truth about his brother across the United States, Vietnam, and France. At once ecstatic and elegiac — examining family, grief, war, drug use, sexuality, and healing — this empathetic story is a moving celebration of Jim’s short yet powerful life.
This film will be followed by a Q&A.
Presented in partnership with Making Gay History
Director
Peter McDowell
Producer
Peter McDowell, Lucia Palmarini, Peter Schulman
Writer
Peter McDowell