Mat Hames Film “Home From The Vietnam War” Premieres at Heartland Festival

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The film follows Lt. Lee Alley and friend John Nguyen on a journey to confront the past and search for reconciliation and peace.

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For more than two decades, Mat Hames has built a body of work exploring the places where history remains alive. His films have taken him from the Belgian Resistance during World War II (Last Best Hope) to Native American communities in the American West (What Was Ours), civil rights icons in Texas (When I Rise), dude ranchers (Call of the West) and mountain guides in the Alps and Tetons (A Life Outside). His work has aired nationally on PBS (twice on Independent Lens), won awards at festivals including SXSW, Hot Docs and Santa Barbara, earned National News & Documentary Emmy and IDA nominations and 12 regional Emmy Awards, and led to Hames being knighted by King Albert II of Belgium. Hames has now entered an unusually prolific period, with his A Life Outside finishing its festival run as an official selection of the Lake Placid Film Festival 2026 in November, and a new film beginning its own festival run this fall.

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Next month, at the Heartland Film Festival, Hames and his production company, Alpheus Media, will premiere their latest documentary, Home from the Vietnam War. Produced for Wyoming PBS, Hames follows decorated U.S. Army veteran Lt. Lee Alley back to Vietnam more than fifty years after the war that left him carrying wounds he rarely spoke about. Joined by his friend John Nguyen, who fled Vietnam as a child and eventually made a new life in America, Lt. Alley set out to confront a past he'd spent most of his life trying to leave behind. The journey leads to one of the bloodiest battle sites of the war, where Lee comes face to face with the Vietnamese soldiers he once fought, breaking years of silence in a search for reconciliation and peace.

After the film's premiere screenings at Heartland Film Festival on October 16th and 18th, Home from the Vietnam War will travel to the St. Louis International Film Festival for a Veterans Day screening on November 11th. Simultaneously, there will be a special screening event with Wyoming PBS, Lt. Alley, and fellow Wyoming veterans on November 11th.

Beginning November 12th, Home from the Vietnam War will be available for streaming via YouTube on Wyoming PBS as well as Alpheus Media's channels, followed by national distribution on PBS. Find more information about how to watch Home from the Vietnam War at wyomingpbs.org/vietnam .

With Home from the Vietnam War beginning its festival run and A Life Outside finishing its own — having earned the People's Choice Award in Jackson Hole, Durango Independent Film Festival's Jury Award for Best Adventure Film, and Best Feature Award at Lookout Wild all in 2026 — Hames and Alpheus Media's upcoming slate includes a film about Bill Clements, the Texas oilman and former deputy secretary of defense during the turbulent 1970s, who in 1978 became Texas' first Republican governor since Reconstruction. His unlikely rise offers a window into the transformation of Texas from an oil-and-cattle state dominated by Democrats into the economic and political powerhouse that would reshape America. Also upcoming is season three of Alpheus Media's national PBS series, Power Trip: The Story of Energy, filming in 2027 in Asia, Africa, and Europe. For more information, visit mathamesfilm.com .

Mat Hames is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who explores the places where history remains alive. He is the founder of Austin-based Alpheus Media. His films and series have aired nationally on PBS and screened at festivals including SXSW, with work earning National News & Documentary Emmy and IDA nominations and multiple regional Emmy awards. His documentaries include When I Rise, What Was Ours, Power Trip: The Story of Energy, A Life Outside: American Mountain Guides, and Home from the Vietnam War, which he directed.

Since 1999, Emmy-winning Alpheus Media has produced documentaries exploring history, culture, and the humanities through deeply human stories. Their work has been seen by more than 20 million across PBS, Prime Video, Netflix, AppleTV, and SundanceTV. They've made 20+ feature documentaries and have earned 12 regional Emmys from the National Academy of Arts and Sciences. Their work includes the SXSW-premiering documentary When I Rise, collaborations with Robert Redford for SundanceTV, the globally streamed series Power Trip: The Story of Energy, and Peter Robinson Unbridled produced for Civitas Institute. In addition, films A Life Outside, Fossil Country, Art of Home, and Home from the Vietnam War have earned honors at festivals worldwide, and a national Emmy Nomination for best historical documentary. Alpheus Media was also honored when its founders were knighted by the King of Belgium for Last Best Hope, which helped preserve the story of the Belgian Resistance during World War II.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/Mat-Hames-HOME-FROM-THE-VIETNAM-WAR-to-Premiere-at-Heartland-Film-Festival-20260918)._