Documentary preserving the stories of New Jersey Vietnam veterans and Gold Star families selected for three upcoming festivals, including the Academy Award-qualifying St. Louis International Film Festival

HOLMDEL, N.J. — September 21, 2026 — A Place of Honor, the award-winning documentary short presented by the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial & Museum, continues its national film festival journey this fall with screenings at the Kansas City FilmFest International, the Rehoboth Beach International Film Festival and the St. Louis International Film Festival.

The film most recently won the Merit of Awareness Award at the Awareness Film Festival, which will hold its awards ceremony in Santa Monica, CA on October 18th. Col. (Ret.) Michael Warner, a Vietnam veteran and Trustee of NJVVMM, will accept the award on behalf of the Memorial and Museum.

Produced and directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Vanessa Roth, the 31-minute documentary shares the lived experiences of Vietnam veterans and Gold Star family members who helped create the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial & Museum. Through their firsthand accounts, the film explores what came before, during and after the war — including difficult homecomings, grief, remembrance, and the determination to preserve the stories of those who served for future generations.

The film will screen as an Official Selection of the Rehoboth Beach International Film Festival, taking place November 1–8 in Delaware, followed by the St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF), running November 5–15 in St. Louis, Missouri. Rehoboth Beach’s 2026 dates are confirmed on its current festival listing.

The St. Louis selection represents an important milestone in the film’s festival run. SLIFF is an Academy Award-qualifying festival, including Best Documentary Short. The winner of the festival’s juried Best Documentary Short award becomes eligible to submit for Academy Award consideration without a traditional theatrical qualifying run.

“This film exists because memory, if left unattended, becomes distortion,” said Amy Osborn, Chief Executive Officer of the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial & Museum and a producer of A Place of Honor. “The veterans and Gold Star families who created the Memorial and Museum made sure these stories would remain visible and instructive. To now see their experiences reaching audiences across the country continues that work in a very meaningful way.”

A New Jersey Story Reaching Audiences Nationwide

A Place of Honor has already earned recognition on the festival circuit.

The film won Best Vietnam Documentary at the 2025 Military & Veteran Entertainment Awards in Los Angeles and Best Home-Grown Short Documentary at the 2026 Garden State Film Festival.

It was also an Official Selection of the New Jersey International Film Festival, the GI Film Festival San Diego, receiving nominations for Best Female Director, Best Short Documentary and Spirit of KPBS, and was subsequently selected for the GI Film Festival’s Best of the Fest showcase in Washington, D.C.

The film’s continued festival run brings a distinctly New Jersey story to audiences beyond the state — while extending the Museum’s mission of remembrance, education, and honest examination of the Vietnam era.

The documentary features veterans and Gold Star family members who helped turn personal loss into a permanent place of remembrance and learning. Their stories reveal not only how the Memorial and Museum came to exist, but why preserving firsthand testimony remains essential as new generations become increasingly removed from the Vietnam War.

Upcoming Screenings

Rehoboth Beach International Film Festival
November 1–8, 2026
Rehoboth Beach/Lewes, Delaware
Specific screening date and time to be announced.

St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF)
November 5–15, 2026
St. Louis, Missouri
Academy Award-qualifying festival
Specific screening date and time to be announced.

Watch the Trailer

About A Place of Honor

A Place of Honor is a 31-minute documentary short presented by the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial & Museum. The film recounts the lived experiences of veterans and Gold Star family members from before, during and after the Vietnam War and follows how they found renewed purpose through the creation of the Memorial and Museum.

The film was produced and directed by Vanessa Roth and produced by Amy Osborn, Nicholas Asselta and Jack Noone.

Roth is an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker whose work includes the Academy Award-winning Freeheld, Daughters of Destiny, Mary J. Blige’s My Life, Liberation Heroes: The Last Eyewitnesses and National Geographic’s IMPACT with Gal Gadot. Her films and series have appeared on Netflix, Amazon, Discovery, Disney+, PBS, BBC, ESPN, and HBO.

About the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial & Museum

Located in Holmdel, New Jersey, the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial & Museum honors New Jersey’s 1,566 fallen heroes from Vietnam, preserves their memories and stories, and educates future generations about the Vietnam War and era.

The Museum provides a place for remembrance, historical education, firsthand testimony, and continued dialogue about one of the most complex periods in modern American history.