Culture
OU Alumna Robin Smith to present Vietnam War documentaries at Athena Cinema Sunday
By: WOUB Culture Team
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Ohio University alumna and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Robin Smith will return to Athens on March 29 to present two documentaries about her father, a U.S. Marine declared Missing in Action during the Vietnam War.
The screening, part of the “Ohio Goes to The Movies” series, will take place at the Athena Cinema (20 South Court Street) Sunday, March 29 at 7 p.m. and coincides with Vietnam Veterans Day. Admission is free, though tickets are required. A reception with Smith will be held from 6 to 7 p.m.
The two films, He’s Only Missing (1978) and Letting Go (1995), chronicle Smith’s family’s decades-long search for answers after her father, Colonel Robert N. Smith, was shot down over North Vietnam in 1969.
He’s Only Missing captures the emotional uncertainty of that time, documenting what Smith has described as a “state of limbo” as her family grappled with not knowing whether her father was alive or dead. The film offers a personal perspective on an experience shared by many families of service members during the Vietnam War.
Nearly two decades later, Letting Go revisits the story after new information emerged. Smith traveled to Vietnam with a CBS News crew to visit her father’s crash site, uncovering details that had eluded the family for years. The short documentary reflects on that journey and the process of confronting loss after prolonged uncertainty.
Smith, a 1972 graduate of Ohio University, began her career with He’s Only Missing, which was later acquired by CBS and led to her work on CBS News Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt.
She has since spent more than four decades producing documentaries and public awareness films through her nonprofit production company, video|action, collaborating with educators, artists and community organizations. She currently serves on the Chaddock + Morrow College of Fine Arts Leadership Council and as a trustee on the Ohio University Foundation Board.