NEW YORK, September 26, 2017 — Acclaimed filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick discuss their new PBS documentary The Vietnam War with best-selling Vietnamese-American author Duong Van Mai Elliott and Thomas Vallely, who served in Vietnam with the U.S. Marine Corps. The conversation was moderated by Asia Society Executive Vice President Tom Nagorski. (1 hr., 23 mins.)

Lunch available from 12:00 PM
Discussion begins at 12:30 PM

The latest from acclaimed filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, The Vietnam War is a 10-part documentary film series on PBS that tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history. Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through the revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides — Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as combatants and civilians from North and South Vietnam.

Get an inside look at the new series with the filmmakers, who are joined by best-selling Vietnamese-American author Duong Van Mai Elliott, and the Hon. Thomas Vallely, who served in Vietnam with the U.S. Marine Corps.

Speakers

Ken Burns has been making documentary films for almost 40 years. Since the Academy Award-nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Burns has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made.

Duong Van Mai Elliott is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated memoir The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family.

Lynn Novick is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker. For nearly 30 years, she has been producing and directing films about American history and culture, among them some of the most acclaimed and top-rated documentaries to have aired on PBS.

The Hon. Thomas Vallely is Senior Advisor on mainland Southeast Asia at Harvard University's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. He served in the Massachussetts House of Representatives from 1980-1987, and served in the United States Marine Corps in Vietnam.

Tom Nagorski (moderator) is Executive Vice President of the Asia Society. He joined Asia Society following a three-decade career in journalism — having served most recently as Managing Editor for International Coverage at ABC News.