2020 has been quite an exciting year for the Donut Dollies Documentary, as our film has screened at over a dozen film festivals around the US to hundreds of viewers at each event. The response we’ve received has been very positive, especially from Donut Dollies and veterans. If you haven’t seen our film yet, December brings the last two virtual online screenings of the year.
Here are the upcoming screenings:
December 1st – 6th – Reel Women’s Film Festival in California – virtual online screening – Our film will be viewable anytime throughout the festival dates – You can buy an individual ticket to see our film at – https://rwff.festivee.com/the-donut-dollies
We ask that it you are given an opportunity to vote in the Audience Awards for either of these film festivals, please vote!
Exciting news is coming right around the corner for the Donut Dollies Documentary, so please keep an eye out for announcements in your inbox, on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/thedonutdollies) and on our website (www.donutdollies.com).
Please feel free to share this information with your family, friends and veterans you may know. We thank you for your continued support!
Today we honor the men and women who have served our country – our brave veterans. America’s history is built on the dedication and service of our military personnel who have put themselves in harms way, far from home and loved ones. They all deserve our thoughts, prayers and thanks for their dedication and sacrifice. On behalf of the Donut Dollies Documentary, we wish to extend our gratitude to our Veterans and the Red Cross Donut Dollies who served them on this Veterans Day.
Credit: Emily Strange – Red Cross Donut Dollie (Vietnam 1969)Credit: Mary Blanchard Bowe – Red Cross Donut Dollie (Vietnam 1968-69) — Mary’s note: “Group shot of the men of the 160th Maintenance in Cha Rang Valley”Credit: Margo Timberlake – Red Cross Donut Dollie (Vietnam 1970-71) — Margo’s note: “Our partially sandbagged hootch in Quang Tri with Margo and the crew who were working on it”Credit: Joyce MacConnachie Kirk – Red Cross Donut Dollie (Vietnam 1967-68)
This year has been quite exciting for the Donut Dollies Documentary, as we have screened at a dozen film festivals around the country to hundreds of viewers, all to great response. November brings three more opportunities to see our film before our attention turns to family and friends for the holidays. Please read to the end for a special video bonus!
Here are the upcoming screenings:
November 5th – 7th – Louisville’s International Festival of Film in Kentucky – virtual online screening – Our film will be viewable anytime throughout the festival dates – You can buy a pass to see all of the films at – https://louisvillefilmfestival.org/bbportfolio/the-donut-dollies
November 15th & 20th – Phoenix Film Festival in Arizona – this is an in-person screening that will follow Covid-19 protocols – Both screenings will be held at – Harkins Scottsdale 101 Theatre – 7000 E. Mayo Blvd, Phoenix, AZ 85054 – Dates, time and direct links for online ticket purchase are:
We ask that it you are given an opportunity to vote in the Audience Awards for any of these film festival, please vote!
Now we come to the special video bonus… after our win last September for Best Documentary Feature at the GI Film Festival San Diego, we were asked to screen our film as part of this year’s virtual showcase. As a special feature, we were honored to have Southern California Donut Dollies Sharon VanderVen Cummings (Vietnam ’66-’67) and Sandi Rhoten (Vietnam ’69-’70) join Jess Hill (producer) and Jim Gardner (co-producer) and moderator John Decker of KPBS for a nearly half hour long Q&A session. We hope you enjoy watching this conversation and learning about the experiences of these two Donut Dollies in their own words. You can view it at – www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aihrd0zkivU
Please feel free to share this information with your family, friends and veterans you may know. We thank you for your continued support!
The virtual online screening of the Donut Dollies Documentary begins TODAY, Friday, October 9th as part of 29th annual Heartland International Film Festival in Indianapolis, IN. You can purchase individual tickets for our film at https://watch.eventive.org/heartlandfilmfestival20/play/5f57bc5d24ed79008c7d4c3e to start watching it now. After viewing our film, you’ll be given the opportunity to vote for the HIFF Audience Choice Awards (5=great – 1=poor), so please take a moment to vote.
Also happening TONIGHT, Friday, October 9th at 8 PM EDT is a public Q&A session as part of the Heartland International Film Festival. The Donut Dollies has been invited to take part in the Documentary Official Selection Q&A panel, which will also include the filmmakers of 3 other documentaries.
We’re honored to have Red Cross Donut Dollie Maggie (Connor) Dutilly (first photo) join us on the panel discussion as a special guest! She served in Vietnam from 1971-72 in Danang, Quang Tri, Bien Hoa and Cam Ranh Army until evacuation during the Easter Offensive in April, 1972. Representing the Donut Dollies Documentary team will be Jess Hill (Producer – second photo) and Jim Gardner (Co-producer and Music supervisor – third photo). Follow the link below to gain free access to the public Q&A session – https://watch.eventive.org/heartlandfilmfestival20/play/5f5a85c8bebf3d006a1f1ee2/5f5a85c8bebf3d006a1f1ee5
We thank you for your continued support!
Gratefully,
Norm, Jess and Jim
Red Cross Donut Dollie Maggie (Connor) Dutilly (Vietnam 1971-72)Jess Hill – Producer of the Donut Dollies DocumentaryJim Gardner – Co-producer & Music supervisor of the Donut Dollies Documentary
In just 5 hours, The Donut Dollies will begin screening at the GI Film Festival San Diego. As you may know, we won our first award for Best Documentary Feature last year at the GI Film Fest, which was quite an honor and we are excited to be asked to screen our film for them again this year.
The screening of our film begins today, Friday, October 2nd at 7:00 PM PDT and immediately following the livestream of our film will be a Q&A session starting at 8:29 PM PDT. We’re honored to have Donut Dollies Sharon (Vander Van) Cummings (first photo) and Sandi Rhoten (second photo) join us as our special guests. Sharon served in Vietnam from 1966-67 at Cam Ranh Bay Army, then with Long Binh II Field Forces and then the 25th Division in Cu Chi. Sandi served in Vietnam from 1969-70 at Tuy Hoa, Cam Ranh and Qui Nhon.
Representing The Donut Dollies Documentary team will be Jess Hill (Producer – third photo) and Jim Gardner (Co-producer and Music supervisor – fourth photo). The moderator of the Q&A will be John Decker, the Director of Programming for KPBS. You can purchase a ticket to see The Donut Dollies Documentary and the Q&A at https://gifilmfestivalsd.org/2020/movies/the-donut-dollies-2/ We hope you’ll join us for this special event
Sharon (Vander Ven) Cummings – Donut Dollie 1966-67 VietnamSandi Rhoten – Donut Dollie 1969-70 VietnamJess Hill – Producer of the Donut Dollies DocumentaryJim Gardner – Co-producer & Music supervisor of the Donut Dollies Documentary
Please enjoy this 35-minute Q&A session that followed the screening of The Donut Dollies documentary at the Albuquerque Film & Music Experience on September 26, 2020. Featured were two Donut Dollies – Mary Tsinnajinnie Cohoe and Larry Young Hines, and the session was moderated by Michelle Souza. Mary and Larry shared some of their experiences about serving in Vietnam in 1968-69. The producer of our film, Jess Hill and co-producer & music supervisor, Jim Gardner, shared stories about filming in Vietnam, the archival photos, slides and 8mm film received from many Donut Dollies and stories of the film’s production.
We thank Mary and Larry for joining us and sharing their stories and Michelle for insightful questions and enthusiasm for the story of the Donut Dollies. Please share this video with your family, friends and any veterans you may know.
We have a second busy month of film festival screenings of the Donut Dollies Documentary coming your way in October. In addition to our virtual screening this Saturday the 26th at the Albuquerque Film & Music Experience, we have five virtual screenings taking place in California, Kansas, Indiana and two in New York (see info below).
If you are interested in viewing one of the virtual online screening at one of these festivals, we suggest that you follow the links below to pre-order or purchase your tickets early, as viewing capacity is limited. We do hope that you’ll be able to see The Donut Dollies at one of these upcoming screening events.
***Albuquerque Film & Music Experience in Albuquerque, NM – virtual online screening followed by a Q&A session moderated by Michelle Souza with The Donut Dollies producer, Jess Hill, and Co-producer and Music supervisor, Jim Gardner
Saturday, September 26 available starting at 4:30 PM PDT – The livestream of our film and the Q&A starts at 5:27 PM
***GI Film Festival San Diego Virtual Showcase in San Diego, CA – virtual online screening followed by a Q&A session with The Donut Dollies producer, Jess Hill, and Co-producer and Music supervisor, Jim Gardner
Friday, October 2nd – The livestream of our film and the Q&A starts at 7:00 PM
As you’ll see, each festival has their own ticketing offers, from an individual ticket for just The Donut Dollies, to an all inclusive pass to nearly all films and events. For these virtual events, each screening may be “geo-blocked” (restricted) to a specific region or state, which is put in place to avoid scheduling conflicts with other film festivals. If you are interested only in an individual ticket, please check each of those offering individual tickets, even if you live out-of-state… you may be able still make the purchase.
Please remember that you may have the opportunity to vote for audience awards, which will help us spread the word on The Donut Dollies story.
*****UPDATE – TWIN TIERS SCREENING POSTPONED – SEE NEW DATES BELOW*****
Welcome to September, the busiest and most exciting month of 2020 for the The Donut Dollies Documentary. In addition to these 5 film festivals, we are proud to announce that our director, Norm Anderson, has been nominated for the Best Director Feature Award at the Twin Tiers International Film Festival.
Here are the upcoming film festivals that have chosen The Donut Dollies as an Official Selection, two of which will be in-person theater events. If you attend an in-person screening or watch our film online, please note that you may be able to vote for the Audience Awards. OK, now it’s time to get your advance tickets:
Orlando International Film Festival in Florida – In-person theater screening (Enzian Theater in Maitland, FL)
***POSTPONED TO NEW DATES — Twin Tiers International Film Festival in Endicott, NY – in-person theater screening (Theater 2 of the Cinema Saver Theater)
NEW DATES RESCHEDULED TO October 30th to Nov. 1st – We will provide the specific screening date when they are announced. We thank you for your understanding.***
Four Corners Film Festival in Farmington, NM – virtual online screening/festival
As you’ll see, each festival has their own ticketing offers, from an individual ticket for just The Donut Dollies, to a day pass, to an all inclusive pass to all films and events. For the virtual events, each screening will be “geo-blocked” (restricted) to a specific region or state, which is put in place to avoid scheduling conflicts with other film festivals. The screenings in a theater setting will have limited seating to provide social distancing for the health and safety of all attendees.
Please be sure to look for additional announcements on our film festival screenings on www.donutdollies.com or www.facebook.com/thedonutdollies Please spread the word on The Donut Dollies to you family, friends and veterans you may know living in the areas/states of these and other upcoming virtual and theater screenings.
As always, we thank you for your support!
Norm, Jess & Jim
American Legion, American Legion Auxiliary, VFW Auxiliary, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary, AMERICAN RED CROSS OVERSEAS ASSOCIATION, ARCOA, , Donut Dollie Detail, BERKSHIRE, BERKSHIRE COUNTY, Cu Chi, CUMMINGTON, Documentary, Donut Dollie, Donut Dollies, DONUT DOLLY, HAMPSHIRE COUNTY, HELICOPTER, Huey, memories, Nha Trang, Pleiku, RED CROSS, Schertz, SRAO, Supplemental Recreation Activities Overseas, Tuy Hoa, veterans, Vets, VFW, vietnam, Vietnam Vet, Vietnam Veteran, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Vietnam War, VVMF, donutdollys.com, donutdollies.com, thedonutdollies.com, air base, Chu Lai, Phan Rang, An Khe, Dong Ba Thin, Cam Ranh, Bien Hoa, Korea, Korean War, Phu Loi, Long Binh, Quang Tri, Phu Bai, Quy Nhon, Lai Khe, Camp Eagle, Camp Enari, Xuan Loc, Dong Tam, Dian, Di An, Binh Thuy, Da Nang, Danang, Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City, GI Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, Phoenix Film Festival, Tiburon International Film Festival, Ancient Way Film Festival, Grand Teton Film Festival, Julien Dubuque International Film Festival, Berkshire International Film Festival
September will be one of the busiest for film festival screenings of The Donut Dollies Documentary we’ve had so far. Each screening will be announced over the coming days and weeks, which we hope will provide you an opportunity for you to see our film either in a theater setting or virtually online.
The September list of film festival screenings include the Orlando International Film Festival in FL (theater setting), Twin Tiers International Film Festival in NY (theater setting), Catalina Film Festival in CA (virtual/online screening) and the Albuquerque Film & Music Experience in NM (virtual/online screening).
Starting next week, we’ll release the screening and ticketing information for these four events. For the virtual events, each screening will be “geo-blocked” (restricted) to a specific region or state, which is put in place to avoid scheduling conflicts with other film festivals. The screenings in a theater setting will have limited seating to provide social distancing for the health and safety of all attendees. We realize that these limitations may be frustrating to some, but please know that The Donut Dollies has been chosen as an Official Selection at 9 upcoming film festivals scheduled around the country and we hope you’ll have the opportunity to see it soon.
Please be sure to look for the announcements of our film festival screenings on www.donutdollies.com or www.facebook.com/thedonutdollies Please spread the word on The Donut Dollies to you family, friends and veterans you may know living in the areas/states of these and other upcoming virtual and theater screenings.
As always, we thank you for your support!
Norm, Jess & Jim
American Legion, American Legion Auxiliary, VFW Auxiliary, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary, AMERICAN RED CROSS OVERSEAS ASSOCIATION, ARCOA, , Donut Dollie Detail, BERKSHIRE, BERKSHIRE COUNTY, Cu Chi, CUMMINGTON, Documentary, Donut Dollie, Donut Dollies, DONUT DOLLY, HAMPSHIRE COUNTY, HELICOPTER, Huey, memories, Nha Trang, Pleiku, RED CROSS, Schertz, SRAO, Supplemental Recreation Activities Overseas, Tuy Hoa, veterans, Vets, VFW, vietnam, Vietnam Vet, Vietnam Veteran, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Vietnam War, VVMF, donutdollys.com, donutdollies.com, thedonutdollies.com, air base, Chu Lai, Phan Rang, An Khe, Dong Ba Thin, Cam Ranh, Bien Hoa, Korea, Korean War, Phu Loi, Long Binh, Quang Tri, Phu Bai, Quy Nhon, Lai Khe, Camp Eagle, Camp Enari, Xuan Loc, Dong Tam, Dian, Di An, Binh Thuy, Da Nang, Danang, Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City, GI Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, Phoenix Film Festival, Tiburon International Film Festival, Ancient Way Film Festival, Grand Teton Film Festival, Julien Dubuque International Film Festival, Berkshire International Film Festival
Last Sunday marked a very dark day for the Red Cross Supplemental Recreation Activities Overseas (SRAO) program. Aug. 16, 2020 was the 50th anniversary of the murder of Donut Dollie Virginia (Ginny) Kirsch in her room of the Red Cross billet on the Cu Chi base in Vietnam. 21-year old Ginny was in her first week of service in Vietnam and while her one year tour was cut short, her decision to become a Donut Dollie spoke to her dedication and caring for the men who served and for our country.
Below you’ll see what is known as the last photo of Ginny on a layover at the Honolulu Airport on her way to Saigon. This photo was taken by her Donut Dollie sister Susan Bradshaw McLean who explained that Ginny met a lady with a baby in the waiting area and asked to hold the infant, as she said the thing that she would miss most during her year in Vietnam was not being able to hold her brothers and sisters.
Donut Dollie Virginia “Ginny” Kirsch holding a baby in the Honolulu Airport on her way to Saigon (credit: Susan Bradshaw McLean)
Also below you’ll find a poem titled Ginny & Susan by Donut Dollie Emily Strange (provided by her sister Peggy Michel). The poem is based on the moment captured in Susan’s photo. (Click to enlarge image)
Poem titled “Ginny & Susan” by Emily Strange
Lastly is the plaque located on the grounds of the American Red Cross Headquarters in Washington, DC honoring the five Red Cross worker lives lost during the Vietnam War.
Plaque located on the grounds of the American Red Cross Headquarters in Washington, DC honoring the five Red Cross worker lives lost during the Vietnam War
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