Doctor’s efforts in Vietnam chronicled in film

October 31, 2006

Filmmaker Keir Moreano will bring his film, ‘As the Call, So the Echo: An American Doctor in Vietnam,” to Georgia Southern University on Tuesday, Nov. 14, as part of this year’s International Week celebration. The screening will take place in the Russell Union Theatre at 7 p.m. Moreano will be accompanied by his father, Alex, whose humanitarian efforts in Vietnam are the topic of the film.

‘Alex Moreano is a doctor who donated medical equipment and services to a small hospital in Hue, Vietnam,” said Patricia Carter, chair of the Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art, which is sponsoring the screening. ‘In the film we observe as he discovers the reality of third-world medicine rarely seen by Western doctors.”

Carter and two of her photography faculty members, Megan Jacobs and Jeff Beekman, have an additional interest in bringing this film to the students at Georgia Southern.

‘This is the beginning of a major arts project geared to Asia,” said Megan Jacobs. ‘Jeff Beekman and I have planned an opportunity for art students to study abroad in Vietnam in May 2007, and we hope this film will inspire interest in the trip. We’ll not only be asking students to consider Asian art and opportunities for cultural and humanitarian exchange.” The group will travel to three different areas of Vietnam, including the hospital shown in ‘As the Call, So the Echo.”

In the film, Dr. Moreano is presented with diseases that have progressed far beyond what he has treated in the U.S. He confronts both a language barrier and a lack of equipment as he tries, along with the Vietnamese doctors, to provide the best care at considerable odds.

‘We are fortunate to have both Keir and his father attending the screening to speak about their experiences while in Vietnam,” said Carter. ‘Also, ‘As the Call, So the Echo” has been accepted to the Black Earth Film Festival, which will take place in Galesburg, Ill. in November.”

‘As the Call, So the Echo” unfolds against the backdrop of a beautiful country that belies a war-torn history so familiar to Americans. The film’s viewers discover how much the Vietnamese remain a gentle and industrious people who defy the challenges of endemic poverty with a spirit of hospitality and grace. The images are as powerful as the story, and the result is a compelling documentary full of drama and hope.

For more information about the screening and discussion, contact the Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art at 912-681-1712.