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''Bomb Harvest'' is a 2007
documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
directed by Australian filmmaker
Kim Mordaunt Kim Mordaunt is a well known Australian director, cinematographer and actor who comes from a documentary background. He graduated from UTS (University of Technology, Sydney) and got a diploma in acting from LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dra ...
and produced by Sylvia Wilczynski. It explores the consequences of war in
Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...
as it follows an Australian bomb disposal specialist, training locals in the skill of detonating bombs while trying to stop villagers, particularly children, from finding them and using them for scrap metal. During the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
, Laos was the target of the heaviest US bombing campaign, making Laos the most bombed country in history: from 1964 until 1973 more than two million tonnes of bombs were dropped, including 260 million cluster munitions. An estimated 30% of the bombs dropped failed to detonate as intended.
Unexploded ordnance Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO) and unexploded bombs (UXBs) are explosive weapons (bombs, shell (projectile), shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munition, and other Ammunition, munitions) that did not e ...
(UXO) continues to kill and injure people, and, as a consequence of large tracts of land (with evidence of UXOs) being sealed off, the local population are prevented from using it, including for the vital purpose of growing food. Casualties and deaths are still frequently reported, particularly amongst children and adolescents who are tempted into the restricted areas for many reasons, for example: to recapture livestock, to forage or to attempt to retrieve scrap metal, which is still a lucrative business. UXO is a key causative factor in the continuing high levels of poverty and is seen as stifling the economic and agricultural development of the country. ''Bomb Harvest'' explores how three generations of people have been left to deal with the consequences of the
air war "Air War" is a single by Crystal Castles. It was released on 17 December 2007 by Trouble Records as a 7" vinyl. An earlier version of the song was released in July 2006 as the B-Side to "Alice Practice" on Merok Records. The lyrics are from the 192 ...
, and depicts the bravery of those trying to clear up its remnants. The film crew spent two months on the ground with bomb disposal teams from the
Mines Advisory Group The Mines Advisory Group (MAG) is a non-governmental organization that assists people affected by landmines, unexploded ordnance, and small arms and light weapons. MAG takes a humanitarian approach to landmine action. They focus on the impact o ...
as they dealt with live bombs, in areas of Laos which have never been filmed in before. The film premiered at the 2007 Sydney Film Festival, and won a Children's Advocacy award at the 2008
Artivist Film Festival The Artivist Film Festival & Awards is an international film festival and awards ceremony dedicated to recognizing activist efforts of filmmakers, specifically in the areas of human rights, child advocacy, environmental preservation, and animal ...
.


See also

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Cluster Munition Coalition The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) is an international civil society movement, which campaigns against the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of cluster munitions. Cluster munitions, a type of munition stockpiled by more than 80 states ...
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Convention on Cluster Munitions The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) is an international treaty that prohibits all use, transfer, production, and stockpiling of cluster munitions, a type of explosive weapon which scatters submunitions ("bomblets") over an area. Additiona ...
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History of Laos Evidence of modern human presence in the northern and central highlands of Indochina, which constitute the territories of what later is Laos, dates back to the Lower Paleolithic. These earliest human migrants are Australo-Melanesians—associa ...
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International Campaign to Ban Landmines The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) is a coalition of non-governmental organizations whose objective is a world free of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions, where mine and cluster munitions survivors see their rights res ...
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Iron harvest ''Iron Harvest'' is a real-time strategy video game developed by King Art Games and published by Deep Silver. Players control mecha and infantry in a dieselpunk setting. The game was released for Windows on September 1, 2020; and for PlayStati ...
, the collection of unexploded munitions and other metal objects by farmers in areas of France and Belgium that were host to battles during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
on the Western Front *
Operation Barrel Roll Operation Barrel Roll was a covert interdiction and close air support campaign conducted in the Kingdom of Laos by the U.S. Air Force 2nd Air Division and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 between 5 March 1964 and 29 March 1973, concurrent with th ...
*
Plain of Jars The Plain of Jars ( Lao: ທົ່ງໄຫຫີນ ''Thong Hai Hin'', ) is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. It consists of thousands of stone jars scattered around the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of ...


References


External links


Film Web Site
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Legacies of War Exhibition
Australian documentary films Documentary films about politics Documentary films about war 2007 films History of Laos (1945–present) Documentary films about the Vietnam War 2007 documentary films Laos–United States relations Films directed by Kim Mordaunt 2000s English-language films 2000s Australian films English-language documentary films {{Australia-documentary-film-stub