Council on Southeast Asia Studies
Yale University

February 25, 2010 - 7:00 P.M.
Luce Hall Auditorium, 34 Hillhouse Avenue
>click here for directions / link to campus map

FILM SCREENING
FIRST CUT DOCUMENTARY

Secret Wars

Open discussion with Director, Rob Gosbee,
Artistic Director, Sidney Pinchback, and lead film advisor and musical director, Chong Moua Thao

SYNOPSIS
30 years ago an ethnic group known as the Hmong began migrating to our shores. These refugees were once part of one of the most feared fighting forces in history, the Special Guerilla Unit. With secret funding from the United States Government, their small attacks tied up 10 divisions of North Vietnamese regulars, and their contributions to search and rescue saved hundreds of American pilots. During the retreat from Vietnam the US also pulled support from the SGU and left them to fend for themselves against the oncoming communist regime that branded them as traitors and condemned them to extermination. Today thousands of Hmong still fight for their freedom in a country controlled by communism, while thousands more have fled to the U.S. where no one even knows who they are.

ABOUT SECRET WARS
While American GIs were fighting a devastating war in Vietnam, the CIA was recruiting the Hmong in Laos to wage a secret guerilla war against the communists. Through archival footage and contemporary interviews, director Rob Gosbee explores the history of a war most Americans know nothing about. As the United States once again finds itself embroiled in a deadly conflict, Secret Wars becomes all the more relevant as it reveals the devastation wrought on the Hmong in the aftermath of allying themselves with America in the country's fight to ensure freedom and democracy in foreign lands.

2007
118 minutes
Currently in re-edit for television. The director welcomes audience feedback.
See http://www.secretwarsmovie.com/