I’ve just returned to ASEAN (SE Asia) after a productive and fun trip to New York City for the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) screenings of my New York feature documentary, ‘BookWars’ in the ‘Histories of Film’ showcase.

Jason Rosette's contemporary classic New York documentary, 'BookWars', screening at Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

While our gritty, street level pro-social slice of life film, ‘BookWars’ had screened at MoMA shortly after its initial release back in 2000, the movie has since ‘aged and tenderized’ into something of a contemporary classic, a slice of New York life in the street and public forum which is now just a memory to many.

Jason Rosette at MoMA New York City screening of his feature, 'BookWars' (2019)

Anyway, quite a number of folks who came to see the movie commented along these lines, and waxed reminiscently about 1990’s and early 2000 New York City (‘BookWars’ can be seen on Amazon Video here, by the way)

New Movie Project in the Works

Now that I’ve returned to Southeast Asia (for a couple months at least on this round) a new scripted/fictional episodic project continues to unfold, based on some meetings with a couple US-based producers, and will hopefully be on track for pitch sessions back in the States in early Spring.

Though it’s still in the research stages, the show’s story deals with underground antiwar GI newspapers from the Vietnam War era.

The GI Organizer - Antiwar Underground GI Publication from the Vietnam War era

Told from the point of view of US soldiers from the burgeoning protest movement involved in the distribution of underground antiwar literature during the war, the story will also be related to our overall ongoing ‘Freedom Deal’ project which has one episode already completed from the Asian perspective.

US soldier in Vietnam protests the war, 1971

A research trip to Vietnam is in the works for the near future, which is not much of a problem since I’m only a bus ride away in nearby Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Just need to carve out a block of time and hit the road to Saigon!

(Note: a series of fundraising and crowdsourcing efforts are planned in the near term)

Interested researchers, associate producers and other project participants are sought for this new project – kindly contact hello@jasonrosette.com to discuss further