Che's Last Stand

Directed by: Thanh Tan

Stage:
- Post Production
Locations:
- Washington, United States,
- Michigan, United States
Updated: October 8, 2026
Project Type:
- Short
Project Style:
- Biographical,
- Historical
Theme Subject:

Logline

An 87-year-old South Vietnamese veteran breaks more than 50 years of silence about the final days of his country's war. Drawing on memories shared during a reunion with his best friend and fellow soldier, Che's Last Stand recovers the end of the Vietnam War as South Vietnamese soldiers lived it, a story American audiences have rarely heard.

Synopsis

April 1975. As northern communist forces close in on Saigon, South Vietnam's army makes its final stand at Xuân Lộc, the last major battle of the Vietnam War. ARVN Major Nguyễn Hữu Chế commands the rearguard left behind to hold the line. When his battalion is stranded, his close friend and commanding officer, Khiem Nguyen, leads the ground rescue to find him. Chế escapes by clinging to the skids of a rescue helicopter. Within days, the country he fought for

...

More than 50 years later, Chế, now 87, breaks his silence. Che's Last Stand follows him as he reunites with Khiem, one of the few other living survivors, and together they reconstruct those final days. What no camera recorded, Khiem paints by hand: the rescue that saved his friend's life.

Beyond the battlefield, the film asks what it costs to lose a country: how a man carries loyalty and grief through decades of exile, and how he protects his dignity when history reduces his generation to a footnote.

Most Vietnam War films still center the American experience, while the South Vietnamese story is simplified, politicized or left out. Che's Last Stand recenters the record on the testimony of two men who fought for South Vietnam. It is directed by a daughter of refugees, and it captures that testimony while the last witnesses are still here to give it. The result is an intimate short documentary about friendship, survival and memory, and a living record made before it's too late.

Get In Touch

Team

Thanh Tan

Director

Team

Thanh Tan

Director

Thanh Tan is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and multimedia storyteller based in Seattle. Her documentary work explores themes of refugee experiences, cultural preservation, and social impact. In 2023, she directed REFUGE AFTER WAR, a five-part series for KCTS/Crosscut that screened at major festivals, including the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Viet Film Fest, and SIFF. Earlier works include AN EXTRAORDINARY OFFER (2015), a short film for The Seattle Times chronicling Washington state's welcome of the first Vietnamese refugees in 1975, and FERTILE GROUND (2011), a 5-part documentary series for The Texas Tribune examining healthcare policy impacts. She also created and hosted SECOND WAVE, a groundbreaking PRX/KUOW podcast exploring Vietnamese refugee experiences after the war. As a visual storyteller for Microsoft Public Affairs (2016-2020), Tan produced over 50 original video stories across six continents, documenting technology's global societal impact. She currently balances roles as a senior multimedia producer at Starbucks and independent filmmaker. Through SEA Vinyl Society, she preserves and shares South Vietnamese cultural artifacts, including wartime vinyl records and vintage photographs, bringing history to life through community exhibitions.

Close

Background

Why now
Fifty years after the fall of Saigon, the men who fought for South Vietnam are in their 80s and 90s. When they are gone, their firsthand memory of the war's final days goes with them. Most Vietnam War films and histories still center the American experience, while the South Vietnamese story is simplified, politicized or left out. Che's Last Stand records that testimony while it can still be told by the people who lived it.

Who it's for
Vietnamese diaspora

...

Who it's for
Vietnamese diaspora communities, especially the children and grandchildren of refugees who grew up with silence where their family's history should be. Veterans of every side of the war. Educators and students looking for perspectives missing from textbooks. Festival and broadcast audiences drawn to intimate, character-driven stories about memory, friendship and loss.

How the film came to be
Director Thanh Tân, a daughter of refugees, has spent her career centering Southeast Asian voices through archival storytelling, including the PBS digital series Refuge After War. She began filming with Chế and his community in 2023 and has filmed every year since, building trust over time with a man who had not spoken publicly about the war for decades. The project has gathered more than 50 hours of footage with Chế, Khiem and their community, along with more than 50 archival films from South Vietnamese newsreels and the Library of Congress.

The team
Director/Producer Thanh Tân (Emmy-winning journalist and filmmaker); Producer Saoli Nguyen (Associate Producer, Vietnamese Boat People podcast; Managing Editor, Viet Fact Check); Editor Hailey Gavin (editor and story producer of the Oscar-shortlisted short Until He's Back); Directors of Photography Rich Tran and Erik Ljung (two-time Emmy winner, The Blood Is at the Doorstep).

Where we are
The rough cut is complete. The fine cut is in progress, trimming from 24 minutes to under 20.

Production and release plan

Pay the crew by December 1, 2026. Our editor, DPs and crew deferred part of their pay to keep the film moving.
Finish the film by March 2027: picture lock, sound mix, color, score, archival clearance, captions and E&O insurance.
Submit to top-tier festivals in summer 2027, with a festival run from fall 2027 through spring 2028.
Bring it home through community, school and veterans screenings, followed by an online release with a major editorial outlet.

Support
We're raising $175,000 to finish Che's Last Stand, fairly compensate the team, and bring it to festivals and communities in 2027. $30,000 is already pledged. Gifts are tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3).

Get In Touch

Participants

Che

Subject

Participant

Che

Subject

A former ARVN major and battalion commander in South Vietnam's 18th Division, Chế led his men through some of the division's hardest battles. In April 1975 he commanded the rearguard at Xuân Lộc, the war's last major battle, and escaped on the skids of a rescue helicopter. Now 87, he is a survivor and keeper of memory, and the heart of the film.

Close
Che

Subject

Participant

Che

Subject

A former ARVN major and battalion commander in South Vietnam's 18th Division, Chế led his men through some of the division's hardest battles. In April 1975 he commanded the rearguard at Xuân Lộc, the war's last major battle, and escaped on the skids of a rescue helicopter. Now 87, he is a survivor and keeper of memory, and the heart of the film.

Close
Khiem

Subject

Participant

Khiem

Subject

Chế's close friend and a fellow soldier at Xuân Lộc, Khiem led the ground rescue that found Chế after his battalion was stranded. In the film he paints the helicopter rescue by hand, preserving a moment no camera recorded.

Close
Khiem

Subject

Participant

Khiem

Subject

Chế's close friend and a fellow soldier at Xuân Lộc, Khiem led the ground rescue that found Chế after his battalion was stranded. In the film he paints the helicopter rescue by hand, preserving a moment no camera recorded.

Close

Style & Tone

Tone
Che's Last Stand is quiet, intimate and unhurried. It isn't a war film; it's a film about what war leaves behind. We want audiences to feel the weight of a memory carried alone for 50 years, and the relief and grief of finally sharing it with the one person who was there. The emotional register is restrained rather than dramatic: dignity first, never spectacle.

Visual language
The film moves between three textures:

The present. Observational, handheld footage of

...

Visual language
The film moves between three textures:

The present. Observational, handheld footage of Chế and Khiem in their homes and community, and at their reunion. We let scenes breathe and stay with faces, hands and silences.
The archive. South Vietnamese newsreels and Library of Congress footage show the country Chế fought for as it saw itself, not as American cameras framed it.
The painting. Where no camera was present, Khiem's hand-painted rendering of the helicopter rescue stands in for the missing image. Memory becomes something made by hand, by the people who lived it.

Sound and language
The men speak in their own language, in their own words. An original score supports without telling the audience what to feel.

Get In Touch

Budget

This section includes information about this project.

Narrative director doc impact production production production production editing festival camera. Camera project visual impact screenplay independent cinema impact producer creative award.

Our Ask

Why this film
The South Vietnamese side of the Vietnam War is still one of its least-told stories. Che's Last Stand puts it on the record through the memory of one soldier who held the line in the war's final major battle, and the friend who came to find him.

Why now
The men who lived this history are in their 80s and 90s. Chế is 87. Every year we wait, fewer witnesses remain. After four years of filming, the rough cut is complete and we are in fine cut now.

What we need
We're raising $175,000 to finish the film, fairly compensate the team, and bring it to festivals and communities in 2027. $30,000 is already pledged, so $145,000 remains. Our first milestone is paying the crew who deferred part of their pay, by December 1, 2026. Next, we finish the film by March 2027, including sound mix, color, score, archival clearance and E&O insurance.

We're also looking for:

A festival premiere in 2027
An editorial or publication partner for the film's online release
In-kind support for post-production, including sound, color and archival licensing

How to help
Gifts are tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3). Credit-level gifts begin at $1,000. Give at bit.ly/sd18film, or contact director Thanh Tân at tt@thanhtan.co.

We are seeking:

Funding,
Co-Production Partners,
Sales Agent,
Press Agent,
Festival Premiere,
Streaming Partner,
Broadcast Partner,
Newsroom Partner,
Publication Partner,
In Kind Partnerships

Get In Touch

Project Website

Are you an Industry Professional?
Log in or create an Industry Account to view, search, and bookmark Project Pages.

Che's Last Stand

Logline

Team

Thanh Tan

Thanh Tan

Participants

Che

Che

Che

Che

Khiem

Khiem

Khiem

Khiem

Budget

Our Ask