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The People vs. Agent Orange (2020)
Dir. Alan Adelson and Dir. Kate Taverna
87 mins | Documentary
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We are honoured to announce our collaboration with Dir. Alan Adelson and Dir. Kate Taverna as a technical/research advisor and outreach coordinator on their upcoming film, "The People vs. Agent Orange" (2020), which brings to light the toxic legacy of Agent Orange around the world, after the U.S. war in Viet Nam. The film features Tran To Nga and the lead up to her landmark case in Paris against the chemical manufacturers of Agent Orange and other herbicides used during the war and, more recently, in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. Now airing on PBS Independent Lens. We will be coordinating and participating in Webinar discussions about the film and the issues it raises.
Talk to our team and experts to learn more.
THE PEOPLE VS AGENT ORANGE (2020)
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Donate to help Vietnam Veterans and their families, environmental activists, students and seniors receive a discount to see the film.
WATCH THE TRAILER!
The Agent Orange catastrophe did not end with the Vietnam War. Today, Dioxin, a contaminant of the toxic defoliant, still causes congenital birth defects and deadly sicknesses and illnesses. Two heroic women are fighting to hold the manufacturers accountable and helping the world overcome Agent Orange's legacy.
HOW TO SEE THE FILM IN THE U.S.
Streaming on Amazon.com through PBS Documentaries.
Streaming on iTunes.
DVD available at the PBS Shop
Educational Distribution available through Collective Eye
HOW TO SEE THE FILM INTERNATIONALLY
The People VS Agent Orange is available outside the US (except Canada and Romania) as Video On Demand through its international distributor Java Films.
NEWS ABOUT THE FILM
RADIO INTERVIEWS
1A The Past and Present of Agent Orange - Interview with Alan Aldelson and Carol Van Strum
Leonard Lopate, WBAI - Interview with Kate Taverna and Carol Van Strum
Climate One - Should Nature have Rights? Carol Van Strum and Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin
Veteran's Radio - Update French Courts Dismiss Agent Orange Case Alan Aldelson and Kate Taverna.
Veteran's Radio Wounded Heros and the People VS Agent Orange - Alan Aldeson and Kate Taverna
KXCR Conversations with LARRY BLOOMFIELD, Florence, OR with Kate Taverna and Alan Adelson
Ecocide: The Gift That Keeps Taking Interview with Kate Taverna and Alan Aldelson
Center Stage with Mark Gordon - Interview with Kate Taverna and Alan Adelson
WEBINARS
A round-table discussion at the Movies that Matter 2021 Film festival on the subject of ecocide being codified as a crime by the International Criminal Court at the Hague. The film The People vs. Agent Orange inspired the discussion and is excerpted.
WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO PROTECT OURSELVES FROM BEING POISONED
Q&A with Filmmakers and Activists.
Filmmakers: Alan Adelson and Kate Taverna
Oregon resident featured in the film: Dr. Renee Stringham Members of Community Rights Chapters in Lane and Lincoln county: Debra Fant and David Tvedt.
The Promise Institute for Human Rights at the UCLA Law School hosted a discussion on Redefining Ecocide - answering renewed calls to protect the environment and the life which depends on it. Panelists:
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David Zierler, Historian and author of The Invention of Ecocide: Agent Orange, Vietnam, and the Scientists Who Changed the Way We Think About the Environment
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Kate Mackintosh, Executive Director, Promise Institute for Human Rights, UCLA School of Law. Deputy Co-Chair of the Stop Ecocide Expert Drafting Panel
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Pamela McElwee, Associate Professor of Human Ecology at Rutgers University. Author of Forests are Gold: Trees, People, and Environmental Rule in Vietnam
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Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin, Shearwater Law PLLC, Attorney for Lincoln County Community Rights lawsuit against aerial spraying of herbicides in Oregon.
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Amy Hay, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Rio Grande Valley. Author of The Defoliation of America: Agent Orange Chemicals, Citizens, and Protests. (December 2021)
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Moderated by: William Boyd, Emmett Institute, UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
The legacy of Agent Orange is not just a cautionary tale, but a critically pressing humanitarian issue around which advocates have campaigned for accountability for decades. To mark the release of the documentary The People vs. Agent Orange, the Vietnam Legacies Project at the University of Dayton Human Rights Center hosted a roundtable with activists and families of impacted veterans. Participants include Heather Bowser, president and founder of the Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance, Josh Kelley, son of a Marine Vietnam veteran, Carolann Caroll, a widow of an Agent Orange-impacted Vietnam veteran; Susan Hammond, Founder War Legacies Project and Dat Duthinh.
In conjunction with The Darkside Cinema run in Corvallis, Oregon, in January 2021, Andrew Collins-Anderson of The Coast Range Association discusses the film with:
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Alan Aldelson and Kate Taverna, Directors and Producers
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Carol Van Strum, author and activist from the film
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Leah Bolger, President, World Beyond War,
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Susan Hammond, Executive Director, War Legacies Project
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Debra Fant, organizer for Lincoln County Community Rights
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Alison Clement, author from Corvallis
On December 2, 2020, after the opening night at the Global Health Film Festival in the U.K., Andrew Jack, Global Education Editor at The Financial Times spoke with:
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Alan Aldelson and Kate Taverna, Directors and Producers
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Carol Van Strum, author and activist from the film
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Michael K. Skinner, Professor, Environmental Epigenetics, School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University
Michael's research shows how exposure to toxins leads to increased susceptibility to disease in future generations.
Community Rights activists from Oregon share their experiences living with the aerial spraying of herbicides. Dr. Renee Stringham reports on caring for patients exposed to toxic sprays, of delivering babies born with significant birth defects and of a threat to her children. Community rights activists discuss their efforts to change local and state, detailing their campaign to protect the Rights of Nature, and their successful campaign to pass the country's first aerial spray ban in in 2017. The ban was over-turned through preemptive claims based on state statutes. The case is now pending on appeal.
In this powerful panel, Hoan Thi Tran and Heather Bowser share their personal stories. Jonathan Moore discusses the U.S. legal cases around Agent Orange, and Tricia Euvrard talks about the current lawsuit in France. Susan Schnall talks about the broad health effects of Agent Orange, and Paul Cox briefly discusses the legislation on Agent Orange that U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee will soon introduce.
Co-sponsored by Veterans for Peace and World Beyond War.
March 25, 2021
Filmmakers Kate Taverna and Alan Adelson in conversation with producer Veronique Bernard about their 2021 film THE PEOPLE VS. AGENT ORANGE which follows two heroic women leading a worldwide movement to end the use of Agent Orange and hold the manufacturers accountable.
Coordinated by the Maysle Documentary Center.