Japanese director Masako Sakata (L) and Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Nguyen Quoc Cuong (Source:VNA)


Tokyo (VNA) – The embassy of Vietnam in Japan and the Vietnam Association
of Victims of Agent Orange (VAVA) held a ceremony in Tokyo on August 10 to
present the Friendship Order to Masako Sakata
in recognition of her dedication to the campaign “Actions for Vietnamese AO
victims”.



Speaking
at the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Nguyen Quoc Cuong lauded Masako
for directing two documentaries about Vietnamese AO victims and launching the
fund “Seed of Hope” that provided scholarships for more than 100 Vietnamese
students who are AO victims.



Masako
said the death of her American cameraman husband from AO effects after fighting
in Vietnam prompted her to travel to Vietnam in 2004 to make the first film
about the topic.



She
hoped that her two documentaries, which will be screened in France in this October,
will attract more viewers, thereby raising their awareness of the AO’s
consequences.



At
the event, she also presented financial aid to VAVA on behalf of the “Seed of
Hope” fund.



Her
documentary film “AO – A Personal Requiem” was completed in 2007 while the
other “A Vietnamese Father’s Journey to the Battlefield” was made in 2011. Both
of them were screened in many countries and won Japanese and international
prizes.



The “Seed of Hope” fund has so far granted
scholarships worth nearly 2.3 billion VND to 113 students from 21 cities and
provinces in Vietnam.-VNA