Documentary | DVD | Closed Captioning | Study Guide Available
Producers: NEWIST/CESA #7 , Wisconsin Public Television
Subjects: Culture Clash, Identity, Personal Stories, Youth
When the U.S. withdrew from the Viet Nam War in 1975, approximately 120,000 Hmong were driven from their homeland in Laos by communist forces and forced to re-establish their lives elsewhere. Focusing on a Hmong immigrant community in Wisconsin, this documentary offers a comprehensive look at many fundamental concepts and practices of the ancient Hmong culture – weddings, funerals, the “ball toss,” the shaman, clans and the “flower cloth” – and relates how those traditions have framed the Hmong culture and community. Acknowledging the difficulties that have arisen from trying to follow those traditions in a new country where the language barrier, limited employment opportunities and xenophobia present everyday challenges, BEING HMONG MEANS BEING FREE explores how dramatically life has changed for Hmong in the space of a generation.