RI Filmmaker Sorensen to Honor Vietnam Vets at Memorial Day Gala in D.C.

Saturday, May 28, 2016

GoLocalProv Lifestyle Team

Rhode Island director Soren Sorensen will honor Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fun Founder Jan Scruggs on May 30 by crafting a short film for the Memorial Day event at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington D.C.

“It’s an enormous honor to be asked to participate in this event. Anyone who has visited the Vietnam Memorial knows what a meaningful and memorable experience it is.If it wasn’t for Jan Scruggs, the Vietnam Memorial as we know it simply would not exist. I would never have made the film if it wasn’t for Jan,” said Sorenson.

The Jan Scruggs Retirement Gala will celebrate the man who conceived the idea of building the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The master of ceremonies for the gala will be Gary Sinise, actor and humanitarian. The keynote speaker will be former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.

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For Sorensen, the Vietnam War is of great interest as he is the son of Vietnam Vet Peter Sorensen. Soren Sorensen's feature length documentary "My Father's Vietnam" won the soldiers & Sacrifice Grand Prize at the 2015 Rhode Island International Film Festival.

Scruggs has spent almost 40 years working on behalf of Vietnam Veterans said of the film. I give this film my highest praise. I want people to see it to understand the deep thinking that went into the tough decision made by most veterans to serve in that lengthy and controversial military engagement—now remembered as the Vietnam War. Many veterans paid a high price. This tribute to the fallen is breathtaking.”

For more information about the movie, click here.

Soren Sorensen

Soren Sorensen is an award-winning filmmaker and composer of original music for film, television and web. Sorensen is co-creator, director and editor of “Harvesting Rhode Island,” a Rhode Island PBS series on the subject of food and farming.

ABOUT THE VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL FUND

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) is the nonprofit organization that founded the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall) in Washington, D.C. in 1982. VVMF continues to lead the way in paying tribute to our nation's Vietnam veterans and their families.

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