Pictured: Angelina Jolie w/ director William Griswold &vSonya Rhie
Mace, the George P. Bickford Curator of Indian & Southeast Asian Art
Cleveland author Loung Ung talks about her friend, Angelina Jolie, and a recent surprise visit to Cleveland
CLEVELAND,
Ohio -- Earlier this week, photos of Angelina Jolie hanging out in
Cleveland surfaced on social media. Many commenters had one big
question: Why Cleveland?
The answer to
that question is Jolie’s friend Loung Ung, who has lived in the city
since 2002. And Ung has something to say to anyone doubting the draw of
the city.
“You don’t find people going
to New York, being asked why they’re in New York,” she said in a phone
interview. “We have world-class museums, a world-class orchestra,
world-class food… I think anybody and everybody who comes to Cleveland
changes their minds about Cleveland.”
Jolie and Ung have a special friendship
that has persisted for nearly two decades. Ung’s husband, Mark Premier
-- a co-owner of Market Garden Brewery -- arranged for Jolie to visit
Cleveland as a surprise to Ung.
The
surprise also served as a pre-birthday bash for Jolie’s son, Maddox
Chivan Jolie-Pitt, who celebrated his 18th birthday on Aug. 5.
“This was the first time she’s come to
Cleveland, and I didn’t know she was coming,” Ung said. “She wanted to
surprise me, and it was a complete surprise.”
Ung
and Jolie took in plenty of Cleveland’s sights together in the two days
that Jolie was in town. They enjoyed a home-cooked dinner at Ung’s home
with family and friends, ate and drank at Market Garden Brewery and had
a special behind-the-scenes tour of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s
upcoming Cambodian art exhibit.
The two
also made time to go on a tour of Cleveland’s Refugee Response program,
where Ung is a board member. Jolie is also an active advocate for
refugees.
During the Refugee Response
tour, Jolie ran into a past connection -- Thomas Kate, a program
coordinator for Refugee Response. Years ago, Kate had worked as a
translator for Jolie while she was in Thailand.
“He’s
a Burmese refugee who moved to Cleveland as a refugee,” Ung said. “It
was one of those serendipitous kinds of things… Here they met [again] in
Cleveland, of all places.”
Angelina Jolie meets with Thomas Kate, who works for Cleveland's Refugee Response Program. (Photo by Loung Ung)
The first time Ung and Jolie met was while
Jolie was filming “Tomb Raider” in Cambodia in 2001. Ung released her
book, “First They Killed My Father,” in 2002 -- an autobiographical
story that follows Ung’s childhood in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge
Cambodian genocide in the 1970s.
Jolie
purchased a copy of the book from a street vendor in Cambodia. Then, she
reached out to Ung, wanting to meet the author. When they met, they
realized they had a lot in common -- and were both passionate about
refugee issues. They quickly became friends.
“I’ve
always known her as Angie,” Ung said. “I met her before ‘Tomb Raider’
came out. I met her before she was uber-famous. I met her when we could
still just bike around Cambodia on a motorcycle and nobody would know
who she is.”
When Jolie adopted her son Maddox, Ung met the baby.
“I’ve
known him since he was less than a year old,” she said. “To see him
grow up into such a compassionate, sweet young man, and interested in
the world… as an auntie, that’s always fun, to see that.”
Maddox, Jolie and Ung all worked together to bring “First They Killed My
Father” to the big screen. Ung and Jolie co-wrote the script, Jolie
produced the movie and Maddox was an executive producer.
The film version of “First They Killed My Father” debuted in 2017. It’s currently available to watch
on Netflix.
Jolie’s visit to Cleveland this week was the first time she had visited her friend in her hometown.
“It
was really fun. I’m so proud of Cleveland and love showing it,” Ung
said. “She enjoyed her visit to Cleveland a lot, and said she’ll
probably be back.”
Thanks Jennypeachy's
