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Published on 03/16/1998 All articles from this issue

Interplast documentary was up for an Oscar

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Special to the Town Crier

Webmaster note: "A Story of Healing" did win the Documentary short subject category!

A film documenting the work of the Mountain View-based nonprofit organization Interplast was up for an Academy Award for best documentary at the Oscar ceremonies Monday night.

Interplast, founded in 1969 by Los Altos Hills resident Dr. Donald Laub, sends teams of medical volunteers to developing countries to provide free reconstructive surgery to children. The Academy Award-nominated documentary, "A Story of Healing," profiles American medical volunteers and Vietnamese doctors working together to change the lives of hundreds of children.

The film chronicles a 1997 trip by a team of American medical volunteers to Vietnam's Mekong Delta. A film crew followed an Interplast team to An Giang, Vietnam, a remote province in the Mekong Delta, to document the medical team's experiences treating children born with life-debilitating deformities, primarily cleft lips and cleft palates, and suffering other crippling injuries, generally associated with severe burns.

"A Story of Healing" profiles the medical and diplomatic exchange between the American volunteers and Vietnamese medical personnel and offering emotional accounts of the volunteers' experiences with the children whose lives were transformed as a result of the surgeries performed during the trip.

"This is what it is all about; this is why we all become doctors and nurses," said Dr. Larry Nichter, a reconstructive surgeon from Long Beach, who directed Interplast's medical team in An Giang. "You must realize that children with cleft lips are completely ostracized here. They often times do not come out of their homes, and are not accepted in common life."

More than 100 children received life-changing surgeries during the trip, and Interplast estimates the value of free medical services provided to be more than $800,000.

"A Story of Healing" was one of five nominees in the category of "Documentary Short Subject." The documentary was made possible by Dewey-Obenchain films and grants provided by Mr. Chuck Swanson of the Dr. W.C. Swanson Family Foundation and Mr. Mark Elconin, chief executive officer of Saratoga Systems, a leading provider of customer management software based in Campbell.

Chuck Swanson had worked with filmmakers Donna Dewey and Rock Obenchain on several projects in the past, including a documentary, "Homeboys," which earned the grand prize at the Aspen Filmfest.

"Our foundation is committed to supporting Interplast because the organization does so much for hundreds of children around the world "literally changing their lives forever," Swanson said, "and I felt the Interplast story deserved to be told. I was confident that Dewey-Obenchain could produce a remarkable film capable of communicating the dramatic impact or Interplast's work."

Results of Monday night's Oscars were unavailable because of the Town Crier's Monday deadline.

For more information about Interplast, call 962-0123.