JIMMY IN SAIGON is a feature-length independent documentary from Peter McDowell and executive producer Dan Savage. Peter's eldest brother, Jim, died in Saigon in 1972 when Jim was 24 and Peter was only 5, and the film is an elegiac portrait that explores war, coming of age, and healing. The event will feature a 14 minute clip, a conversation between Peter and a special guest, and a holiday musical performance by the Temperley Carolers. Also included: a silent auction featuring items from Dan Savage, local establishments and more, a bottle pull (take a bottle of wine or spirits home!), and hors d'oeuvres & delicious wine from our venue, Analog, as well as beer.

This event is a benefit to fund the completion in 2020 of JIMMY IN SAIGON. Indepedent documentary filmmaking is expensive to produce and fund. With a lean budget under $100,000, JIMMY IN SAIGON is in urgent need of funds to cover editing and post production costs to finish the film and begin submitting it to festivals and distributors.

If you are unable to attend, we welcome any donations (tax-deductible) through our Film Independent fundraising page.

John Lansingh Bennet spent the bulk of his career teaching humanities to undergraduates at such institutions as the University of Scranton and Lake Land College and editing Highlights for Children and publications for the National Council of Teachers of English. Semiretired, he operates Coffee Break Studio, where the New York Guitar Festival is a current client, and teaches humanities courses at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Illinois.
Having ushered in a movie theater as a teenager, Bennett went on to teach courses on film appreciation and has attended Roger Ebert’s Film Festival for over two decades.

Host Committee: James Barham, Natalie Frankenberg, Kay Holley, Sylvie Khan, Andrea McDowell, Ann McDowell & Henry Szujewski, Mary McDowell, Nancy and Dean Olson, Maureen Reagan, Sasha Rubel, Dan Savage, Lily Szujewski, and Mike Trippiedi.