Angelina Jolie’s ‘First They Killed My Father’ opens Cambodia Town Film Festival in Long Beach this weekend
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- Published on Wednesday, 30 November -0001 00:00
- Written by Pasadena Star News
The lineup varies from full-length films that touch on the deadly Khmer Rouge regime, horror, comedy and even a live stand-up show.But in one way or another, all of the films in the upcoming Cambodia Town Film Festival aim to celebrate both the resilience and the vibrant artistic spirit of the Cambodian community.“I’m am so happy to see Cambodian film moving forward at such a fast pace,” said praCh Ly, a Long Beach hip-hop artist who co-founded the festival along with filmmaker Caylee So.“It’s a whole collection of different stories and vivid tales,” he added.The fifth annual festival takes place at the Art Theatre in Long Beach with about a dozen films screening Sept. 16-17.It launches on Sept. 14 with a private filmmakers’ reception followed the next day by a public launch party.The films begin at 11 a.m. Saturday with the Angelina Jolie-directed drama “First They Killed My Father.”The movie is an adaptation of Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung’s memoir of surviving the Khmer Rouge regime as a child.Ung will be there after the film for a Q&A session.“It’s going to be a full house on our opening screening,” Ly predicted.Besides full-length features, the Saturday lineup also includes shorts like the 24-minute long “Float,” co-directed by Seattle-based couple Tristan Seniuk and Voleak Sip.The first-time directors call the story a love letter to the 1990s, since it’s set in that era.It follows a Cambodian-American named Rocky Mang. He’s a bit of a wannabe gangster and “man of the streets,” who is just too family-oriented and sensitive for a full-on life of crime.Plus, he’s trying desperately to hook up with a girl who works at a coffee stand.“We’re pretty excited about it (being part of the festival), because it’ll play in front of an audience that has a lot of, hopefully, Cambodian viewers,” said Seniuk, noting that the film includes jokes and family dynamics that Cambodian-Americans will instantly recognize.“It’s a family story but there are some very specifically Cambodian moments in there,” Sip added.
The first day closes with an all Cambodian-American stand-up show dubbed “The Khmers of Comedy.” Ly said the comedy is yet another way to showcase the diversity of Cambodian art, and this will be a little edgy.“The live stand-up show is a bit explicit, but it’s going to be hilarious. It’s a great way to end Saturday night,” Ly said.The festival starts at 11 a.m. the following day with a gripping documentary called “A Cambodian Spring.” Shot over the course of six years, the film offers a look at modern-day Cambodia through the lives of three people caught up in land-rights protests and other issues that come with the development that’s now shaping the country.Ly said this is one of his top two favorite documentaries in the festival, with the other being the film that follows it called “Surviving Bokator,” by Canadian filmmaker Mark J. Bochsler.The documentary looks at Cambodia’s ancient martial art of Bokator, which was nearly eradicated by the Khmer Rouge 40 years ago.Bochsler followed the efforts of genocide survivor San Kim Sean as he returns to Cambodia after learning that Bokator was unknown to many young Cambodians.He eventually opened the Bokator Academy in the capital city of Phnom Penh.Bochsler found out about Bokator while working on another film project in Cambodia and became fascinated by the long history of the relatively little-known martial art.He said one of the goals of the film was to expose those not familiar with Cambodia to this aspect of the culture.“The goal is just to provide a different face to Cambodia. Because until visiting Cambodia and stumbling on to the story my perception of the country, like many people, was the association with the genocide and the poverty and these sorts of things,” he said, referring to the country’s violent past.“I shot the film over five years and really got to know the country well and really saw a side of Cambodia that was full of life, full of positivity, with a positive outlook on the world,” he said.
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