On Friday evening, April 18, Mount Holly will hold a screening of The Gardner Documentary Group’s films that explore some of the human consequences of the Vietnam War, followed by a discussion with the producer and director of the films, Janet Gardner. The showings will begin at 6 with pizza offered at 5 pm. Admission is free. All are invited.

A WORLD BENEATH THE WAR
Nominated for an Emmy in Outstanding Historical Programming, the film was honored by the International Documentary Association with the Pare Lorentz Award for Distinguished Documentary Achievement, and by the Deadline Club—Society of Professional Journalists (Best Feature Reporting, Television), and broadcast on numerous PBS stations.

When Janet Gardner was part of a post-war delegation of American veterans and peace activists in 1987, she was moved by the individuals who became accustomed to the life within the tunnels that had protected one of the poorest countries on earth, from the world’s mightiest air force. 10 years later, Gardner was able to reveal this underground story in her film A WORLD BENEATH THE WAR.

Although these tunnels are unlike the tunnels of Hamas because the tunnels beneath Vietnam saved the lives of civilians, Gardner’s film about the tunnels is relevant to today. As Gardner states, “Today it may take another dimension and the strategy of these villagers for survival from 1965 – 75. In 2024, the story, entitled “A WORLD BENEATH THE WAR,” reminds us that there is no Way to Peace. Peace Is the Way.”

THE LAST GHOST OF WAR
Produced in association with the Center for Asian American Media with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities and Spunk Fund, Inc.

This film takes us to a new kind of battlefield where deadly dioxins used during the Vietnam War works its way into the food chain and perhaps the gene pool, with tragic results. Several million victims of the herbicide agent orange are born with missing limbs or enlarged heads. These victims, their attorneys, scientists, activists and a military historian prompt us to ask, what is a chemical weapon? And who should be held accountable? What role did profit play?