A documentary by US director Courtney Marsh on a Vietnamese victim of Agent Orange victim was nominated for an Academy Award for best short documentary.
Up to 6,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) voted for Oscar nominees 2016 on January 14 at Goldwyn in Beverly Hills, California. The list of the Best Documentary Short Film includes "Chau, Beyond the Lines", "Body Team 12”, "Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah”; “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” and “Last Day of Freedom”.
The 34-minute documentary “Chau, Beyond the Lines”, is about Le Minh Chau, 24, who faces disabilities caused by Agent Orange but pursues his dream of becoming a painter although many people said his ambitions were unrealistic. Chau was determined to overcome the challenges to live an independent, productive life. He has won many awards for his art.
Marsh said she planned to make a film on the AO topic since 2007, when she came to Vietnam and met Chau in Hoa Binh Village in HCM City.
Marsh said her film is a global story, expressing her hope that the film will help promote support for Vietnamese AO victims.
Earlier, the documentary was honoured at the Austin 2015 and the US film festival 2015.
A court case mounted by victims of the defoliant Agent Orange, sprayed over vast areas of Vietnam during the American War, against the makers of the chemical dioxin, including Monsanto, seeking damages is ongoing in Paris.