Seadrift Film: from left to right are: Diane Wilson, Jerry Weaver, The Nguyen, Tim Tsai, Beth Aplin Martin at the Vietnamese Community Center in Seadrift.
Beth Aplin Martin was just 14 years old in 1979 when her father, Billy Joe Aplin was killed in Seadrift. Martin was one of many featured in a new documentary about the circumstances leading up to the killing and its aftermath. The film was screened in two showings on Sunday, September 29th in Seadrift and one on Monday, September 30th at the Leo Welder Center in Victoria. The scope of the film, called Seadrift, however, is much broader and deeper than the tragic incident.
Billy Joe Aplin, his brothers and uncles were commercial fisherman when the influx of Vietnamese refugees began in the late 1970’s. The film features recollections and perspectives of both the refugees and Seadrift residents. Captured in this film are not only the emotions and frustrations raging during the cultural clash but notably, their evolution over time and with age. As Martin stated in the post-screening discussion, “I wish my father would have lived long enough to regret his mistakes (as we have).”
The discussions were as enthralling as the film itself and included the film’s director Tim Tsai (pronounced “sigh”) and several others featured in the film: Diane Wilson, former Seadrift commercial fisherman, Jerry Weaver, Seadrift resident, and The’ (pronounced “thay”) Nguyen (pronounced “win”), owner of Dockside Bait Shop in Seadrift. At the Victoria screening, Victoria physician Dr Peter Nguyen, The’ Nguyen’s brother-in-law, also joined the discussion.
Tsai spoke of how he read about of the incident in the book Asian Texans (by Irwin Tang), his seven-year quest to tell this tragic story and the decades it took to get to a harmonious point. The local and regional interest in the film was evident as the audience participated in the discussion. One man said he drove from Houston to attend the screening. A woman shared her experience, like that of Martin’s, having grown up in a commercial fishing family in Palacios during the time of the Vietnamese influx. Others, like Bobby Garner, were Seadrift natives whose family still tie them to Seadrift. Garner was accompanied by his adult two daughters who spent their childhood summers in Seadrift with their grandparents. Dr Nguyen detailed the emotions and confusion of having been a youth in Seadrift at the time of the upheaval then with the KKK threatening to move in, his family fled to Louisiana.
Martin waxed eloquently about the painful path of discovery and forgiveness she’s tread over the last four decades and her subsequent activism in anti-white supremacy. She expressed her gratitude to film maker Tim Tsai, calling the film a gift. “It’s our story, not just mine.” Martin said. “If we can find forgiveness, if we can heal from this, then (my dad) would not have died in vain.” Panelists also remarked on how the film is urgently needed as the nation again faces fears and tensions over the current influx of refugees at the Southern border.
The film is a cinematic collage revealing the process of commercial crabbing intertwined in the developing story. It mixes historical footage and news accounts with current day recollections and captures the breath taking beauty of San Antonio Bay. The film was premiered on January 26, 2019 and has already won numerous awards. It will continue to be screened both nationally and internationally. Tsai said it will be aired on PBS in 2020 and copies made available for purchase. To find more information about the film www.seadriftfilm.com or follow it on Facebook SeadriftFilm.
