Kontum Diary

When a soldier seeks to return a diary to its rightful owner, former enemies are inspired to carve out an enduring friendship and a private peace.

Premiere Date
May 1, 1995
Length
60 minutes
Funding Initiative
Open Call
  • Award laurels-r Created with Sketch.
    1995 International Association of Audio Video Communications-Bronze CINDY
  • Award laurels-r Created with Sketch.
    1995 WorldFest - Charleston International Film Festival-Gold Award
  • Award laurels-r Created with Sketch.
    1995 US International Film & Video Festival-Gold Camera Award
    • Producer

    Stevan M. Smith

    A Vietnam veteran who served for two years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Stevan M. Smith studied communications at Oregon State University and worked for more than 18 years in television news as a cameraman, assignment editor, special projects producer, and managing editor in Seattle. In 1989, Smith established his own production company, Echo Productions.… Show more His documentary Two Decades and a Wakeup, the story of a Post Traumatic Stress treatment group that returns to Vietnam to face its members’s demons, won an Iris Award, a CPB Local Programming Award, and was nominated for a national Emmy. Show less

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    Kontum Diary: The Journey Home

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    The Film

    Two soldiers and former enemies — one American, the other North Vietnamese — are brought together, years later, through a forgotten diary. The diary's author, North Vietnamese army veteran Nguyen Van Nghia, embarks on a trip to the U.S. to heal his eyes, which were wounded in the war — a journey sponsored by his former enemy, American veteran Paul Reed.

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