American filmmaking couple Eric Neudel and Alison Gilkey will be in Viet Nam from March 11 to 20 to present their historical TV documentary Lives Worth Living.— File Photo

HCM CITY  (VNS) — American filmmaking couple Eric Neudel and Alison Gilkey will be in Viet Nam from March 11 to 20 to present their historical TV documentary Lives Worth Living.

The film, which premiered on Public Broadcasting Service's Independent Lens series in 2011, is about disabled people's struggle for equal rights.

The story begins after World War II when the status of people with disabilities began to change rapidly, and ends with the dramatic battle for the Americans with Disabilities Act, an important civil rights legislation.

Neudel and Gilkey will screen their film and hold talks with disabled people's organisations in HCM City like the People with Hearing Impairments Cultural Club, the HCM City Support Centre for Vocational Training and Job Promotion for Disabled People, and the Disabilities Research and Capacity Development Centre.

The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta city of Can Tho's Disabled People Association and Can Tho University will be their subsequent destination.

Neudel has been an editor and producer of many PBS programmes, and has worked on After The Crash for The American Experience, and Vietnam: A Television History.

His independent films include Steps, Fred's Story, and Marie.

He has also served as a visiting senior critic at Yale University and is a producer of a multi-award winning DVD about interactive teaching for Harvard University.

Gilkey met him in 2003 and studied with him for years as her mentor before formally joining Storyline Motion Pictures in 2008 as a producer and lead researcher.

Lives Worth Living was her first major film project.

She is currently directing a shorter, educational version of the film which will include a curriculum guide for grade schools, and heads up the research and development of new film projects. — VNS