Eternal Harvest: The Film

Eternal Harvest is a film produced by Redcoates Studios that documents the deadly and dangerous aftermath of history’s largest bombing campaign—in Laos.

More than 40 years after war, old American bombs continue to kill and injure Laotians. Tens of millions of unexploded bombs remain in the soil, making it dangerous for anyone to dig. This cripples development and safety in one of the world's poorest countries, where more than 70% of the population farms.

The film asks the question: what responsibility does the US have to Laos today?

-Laotian kids attend school where bomb awareness is part of the daily lesson.

This film introduces Laotians who lived through the bombing campaign and those who live with bombs in their fields today.

- A Laotian woman farms a hillside that hadn't been cleared of bombs.

The film features local and foreign experts who explain the scope and hazards of the problem as well as how UXO (unexploded ordnance) is removed safely.

- Checking a hillside for UXO.

Hundreds of Laotians work daily to clear bombs from their country. Only a handful of Americans have ever joined them. One, a retired school principal from Wisconsin, has returned year after year for 20 years—to atone for the incredible devastation committed by his government.

- Jim Harris has gone back to Laos for 20 years to clear bombs.

Between 1964 and 1973, in an offshoot of the Vietnam War, the U.S. military dropped 4 billion pounds of explosives on Laos, making it the most heavily bombed country—per capita—on the planet. Up to 30 percent of those bombs did not detonate, and they remain in the Laotian soil today as UXO, contaminating more than one-third of surface area of the country. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed and injured in UXO accidents since the war officially ended. The first bombs fell 54 years ago, and still today, more Laotians are hurt and killed.

- Defused American bombs in Sekong, Laos.

In 2018, we will return to Laos to film the documentary’s last scenes. We are asking for donations to finish this final chapter of the film.

We need to license music and historical footage. We would like to hire professionals to polish the film’s color and sound. We need to plan for the film’s release and distribution. We need to triple-check all of the translations in the film. All donations will go toward travel and:

Translations                                     $1800
Music licensing                              $2130
Historical video licensing         $1800
Sound sweetening                       $2500
Color grading                                 $2500
Distribution & Promotion       $2000
Editing & Production                 $3700
Total                                                $16,430

We chose GoFundMe because it has the lowest overhead of any major crowdfunding site and places no arbitrary time limits on funding campaigns.  

All donations will go to the production of the film.

- The sun sets over the heavily bombed Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos.

This campaign isn’t about us. This is about 6.7 million Laotians who live with the dangerous mess that American foreign policy left behind in 1973. It’s about their future.

Our aim is to spark action.

In 2016, shortly before leaving office, President Obama pledged $90 million toward bomb clearance and aid in Laos over three years. Even that amount—by far, the most the US has ever given to Laos—would cover only a miniscule portion of total clearance costs. And it pales in comparison to the millions spent every day to bomb Laos for nine years.

To read more on this issue, please see our book: Eternal Harvest The Legacy of American Bombs in Laos 

And to learn more about the film, go to the website  . 

- An ethnic Lave woman in a village in southern Laos where locals found UXO daily.

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We are: Redcoates Studios 

 
Director, Producer, Editor
I am an award-winning visual journalist, covering environment, health and human rights, primarily in the developing world. I am a Senior Fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University, and I was a 2[phone redacted] Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism at the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder. When not working with cameras, I crash bikes. 


Karen Coates 
Writer, Producer, Editor
I am a journalist, author and media trainer with particular focus on food, the environment and human rights. I am also a Senior Fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, an International Women's Media Foundation fellow and a former Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism as well. I'm also a food writer, and I can make a dozen different curries that will set your head ablaze.