Synopsis

Vietnamese boat refugees were rescued at sea by the U.S.-based cargo ship LNG Virgo in 1980. Once settled in the United States, one family of survivors embarks on a decades-long search for the captain and crew of the ship that gave them new life.

Director's Biography

Barre Fong is a fourth-generation Chinese-American and San Francisco native. Barre’s activities as a filmmaker and community activist is an embodiment of his grandfather’s dream of preserving his own experience as a turn-of-the-Century Chinese immigrant. Barre continues to live in San Francisco with his wife and two children. He previously served as the President of the Board of Directors for the Chinese Historical Society of America and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Lick-Wilmerding High School. He has produced and directed short films about the Asian American experience since 2013. His 2016 film, Digging to Chinatown was well received.

Director's Statement

Finding the Virgo recounts the lesser told chapter of what occurred after the withdrawal of the United States from the Vietnam war. The documentary follows the Vuong family through the post-war years in Vietnam including the patriarch’s imprisonment, the family’s harrowing escape and rescue at sea, and their daughter’s decades-long search for their saviors.

Though the backdrop of the film is the Vietnam War, the dialogue is timeless and applicable to current developments of the refugee crisis in the Middle East. Finding the Virgo is about survival, compassion extended in the waning hours of hope, gratitude for life, and opportunities extended in a foreign land. It is a powerful reminder of the humanity that binds us all.