Showing posts with label Rithy Panh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rithy Panh. Show all posts

Saturday, December 16, 2017



At Brooklyn Academy of Music on Saturday evening, Dec.16, for Rithy Panh's Bangsokol afterparty with Maddox and Shiloh.




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 joined by Executive Producer, Brooklyn Academy of Music Joseph V. Melillo, President, Brooklyn Academy of Music Katy Clark, and Executive Director, Cambodian Living Arts, Phloeun Prim

















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Thursday, November 2, 2017





Hollywood, CA (November 2, 2017) – dick clark productions announced today that Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie, and author-activist Loung Ung will receive the “Hollywood Foreign Language Film Award,” at the 21st Annual “Hollywood Film Awards” for their critically-acclaimed film First They Killed My Father, which has been selected by Cambodia’s Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language Film.   
Jolie also directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Ung, who also serves as executive producer and whose gripping memoir the film is based upon.
Loung was five years old when the Khmer Rouge came to power, and the story is told through her eyes, from 1975 through 1978, depicting the indomitable spirit and devotion of her family as they struggle to stay together.  
Acclaimed Cambodian director and producer Rithy Panh, who is himself a survivor of the Khmer Rouge, and produced First They Killed My Father together with Jolie said, “We are grateful for this recognition by the HFA.  In Cambodia, the film was welcomed with such success, a success beyond the normal commercial measure, with a much deeper and with lasting impact. This film comes at a time where 70% of the Cambodian population is under 30 years old. This generation is just starting to ask questions about the history of the country.  This film serves as a bridge to connect them with their history.”

The 2017 “Hollywood Film Awards,” known as the official launch of the awards season®, will be hosted by actor and comedian James Corden for the third consecutive year and will take place at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA, on Sunday, November 5, 2017. The ceremony, which honors the most acclaimed films and actors while previewing highly anticipated films and talent for the upcoming year, also acknowledges artists in the categories of Cinematography, Visual Effects, Film Composing, Costume Design, Editing, Production Design, Sound and Makeup & Hairstyling. In its 21-year history, more than 120 of the “Hollywood Film Awards” honorees have gone on to garner Oscar nominations and/or wins. This year’s ceremony will benefit MPTF, which supports the entertainment community in living and aging well, with dignity and purpose, and in helping each other in times of need.

Previously announced honorees include Roger Deakins will receive “Hollywood Cinematography Award” for Blade Runner 2049; Thomas Newman will receive “Hollywood Film Composer Award” for Victoria & Abdul; Sidney Wollinsky will receive “Hollywood Editor Award” for The Shape of Water; Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Dan Barrett and Erik Winquist will receive “Hollywood Visual Effects Award” for War of the Plant of the Apes; Jacqueline Duran will receive “Hollwyood Costume Design Award” for both Darkest Hour and Beauty and the Beast; Jenny Shircore will receive “Hollywood Make-Up & Hair Styling Award” for Beauty and the Beast; Dennis Gassner will receive “Hollywood Production Design Award” for Blade Runner; Addison Teague and Dave Acord will receive “Hollywood Sound Award” for Guardians of the Galazy, Vol. 2; Gary Oldman for “Hollywood Career Achievement Award” highlighting his work in Darkest Hour; Adam Sandler for “Hollywood Comedy Award” for The Meyerowitz Stories; Joe Wright for “Hollywood Director Award” for Darkest Hour; Kate Winslet for “Hollywood Actress Award” for the film Wonder Wheel; Jake Gyllenhaal for “Hollywood Actor Award” for the film Stonger; the cast of The Big Sick including Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter and Ray Romano for “Hollywood Comedy Ensemble Award”; Jamie Bell for “New Hollywood Actor Award” for Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool; musicians Diane Warren, Common and Andra Day for the original song, “Stand Up For Something” with music by Diane Warren, lyrics by Diane Warren and Common and performed by Andra Day featuring Common from the film Marshall for “Hollywood Song Award”; Blade Runner 2049 producers Andrew S. Kosove, Broderick Johnson and Cynthia Sikes Yorkin for “Hollywood Producer Award”; The Disaster Artist screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber for “Hollywood Screenwriter Award”; Coco for “Hollywood Animation Award”; the cast of Mudbound including Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Mary J. Blige, Jason Mitchell, Jason Clarke, Rob Morgan and Jonathan Banks for the “Hollywood Breakout Ensemble Award”; Sam Rockwell for “Hollywood Supporting Actor Award” for his role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; Allison Janney for “Hollywood Supporting Actress Award” for her role in I, Tonya; Mary J. Blige for “Hollywood Breakout Performance Actress Award” for her work in the film Mudbound; Timothée Chalamet for “Hollywood Breakout Performance Actor Award” for his role in the film Call Me By Your Name; and the cast of I, Tonya, including Margot Robbie, Allison Janney, Sebastian Stan, Paul Walter Hauser, Julianne Nicholson and Caitlin Carver for the “Hollywood Ensemble Award.”




The awards show also revealed more honorees, including that 'Darkest Hour' star Gary Oldman will receive the career achievement distinction.
The Hollywood Film Awards has revealed some of the presenters for this weekend's James Corden-hosted ceremony. Amy Adams, Annette Bening, Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, James Franco, Jon Favreau, Harrison Ford, Shailene Woodley, Bryce Dallas Howard, Dakota Johnson, Eva Longoria, Melissa McCarthy and Jon Hamm will all hand out honors.
It was announced Tuesday that Gary Oldman will receive the career achievement award during the ceremony. His acting career has spanned more than three decades, and he has been nominated for an Oscar, Emmy, SAG and two BAFTA awards. Some of his notable roles include Sid Vicious in Sid & Nancy, Sirius Black in the Harry Potter franchise, Commissioner Gordon in the Dark Knight series and Dracula in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Oldman most recently played Winston Churchill in the 2017 film Darkest Hour.
Previous recipients of the career achievement honor include Robert De Niro, Eddie Murphy, Harrison Ford, Glenn Close, Richard Gere, Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams and Michael Keaton.
Other honorees to be acknowledged during the awards show include cinematography award recipient Roger Deakins for his work on Blade Runner 2049; composer award recipient Thomas Newman for Victoria & Abdul; editor award recipient Sidney Wolinsky for The Shape of Water; visual effects award recipients Jon Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Dan Barrett and Erik Winquist for War of the Planet of the Apes; costume design award recipient Jacqueline Durran for Darkest Hour and Beauty and the Beast; makeup design award recipient Jenny Shircore for Beauty and the Beast; production design award recipient Dennis Gassner for Blade Runner 2049; and sound award recipients Addison Teague and David Acord for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2.
The show will also honor Angelina Jolie and author-activist Loung Ung with the foreign language film award for their work on First They Killed My Father, which has been selected as Cambodia's Oscar submission for the best foreign language film Oscar.
Jolie directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Ung, who wrote the memoir on which the film is based.
The 21st Hollywood Film Awards, produced by Dick Clark Productions, will take place at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on Sunday.




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Saturday, October 7, 2017








Over the course of a long and internationally acclaimed career, Panh has made several films about the killing fields, the medieval-style labour­ camps intended to “re-educate” the Cambodian people in keeping with a twisted brand of revolutionary socialism championed by an oligarchy of tyrants. From 1975, when power was seized by the Khmer Rouge (the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea), to 1979, when the regime was overthrown by invading Vietnamese troops, up to two million people died from execution, malnutrition, disease and overwork. Most were buried in shallow mass graves, unidentified, unhonoured.
“It comes like a big wave that can swallow you,” Panh, a married father of one, has said of his grief. “But you continue because you have to transmit not the horror but the dignity and humanity­ of the people who died … An artist brings more than testimony: he brings imagination, creation, the idea [of] how to fight against totalitarianism.”
It is a sunny day in Paris, to where Panh has recently returned from Los Angeles after completin­g production duties on First They Killed My Father, a Netflix biopic in Khmer, adapted from a 2000 memoir by former Khmer Rouge child soldier Loung Ung, and directed­ ­by Panh’s friend Angelina Jolie. Outside the window of our meeting place, an upmarket­ hotel bar on Place de la Republique, everyday life bustles; when not hard at work in the French capital, or ensconced at his other base in Phnom Penh, Panh likes to don his trademark fedora and walk the streets, mulling over future projects, revelling in the ordinary.
....
Panh doesn’t have a house in Cambodia. In 1990 he returned to find the family home he had shared with his parents and eight siblings occupied by strangers (“I didn’t want to go back there anyway”). He smiles when he speaks of his father, a peasant’s son who became a teacher, then rose to the position of chief undersecretary of education: “He was passionate about free education, travelling to Paris, New York and Scandinavia to assess their education systems. He was a good man.” Another smile. “His stud­ents in Cambodia used to bring him apples.”
Expelled from the city by the Khmer Rouge, Panh and his family were delivered to a rural village, dressed in black and put to work. Eventually, physically and psychologically exhausted, his father stopped eating (“He chose to die as an act of freedom”). One after another Panh’s mother, siblings and relatives died from starvation, overwork, execution. An older sister had been deputy director of the National Museum­; she died, her identity effaced, on the killing fields, which are still disgorging the bones and teeth of victims after heavy rains.

In 1979, aged 15, the young Rithy escaped to a refugee camp in Thailand, later relocating to Provence, France, where his brother lived. While in Paris to study carpentry, he was handed a video camera during a party, kick-starting a fascination for the moving image; he graduated from the Institute for Advanced Cinematographic Studies a few years later.

As he writes in The Elimination, his acclaimed 2012 autobiography (co-authored with Christophe Bataille), for a long while Panh wouldn’t — couldn’t — talk about what he had been through. He refused to speak Khmer, his native language. He rejected all links to Cambodia. He has previously quoted the Italian Jewish writer Primo Levi, who, haunted by his experiences in Auschwitz, wrote of the deep feelings of shame and guilt often experienced by survivors of death camps: “You feel others have died in your place, that we’re alive because of a privilege we haven’t deserved, because of an injustice done to the dead.”

Time provided the necessary distance, as it does for so many victims of genocide: “Levi’s memoir [If This is a Man] was only read by 1500 people when it was published [in 1947]. Nobody wanted to talk about why. But you know, when I am made to eat roots and insects like an animal, when my dignity is stripped from me, I cannot feel like a human being. I have to learn how to live again.” He shrugs. “Cambodians didn’t want to see my early films. They wrote letters asking me to stop. Maybe they were ashamed, or the pain was too great. Then slowly parents and children came to see my films and they started to talk. Sometimes they cry. They tell me they are grateful, which makes me happy.”
Panh’s 1989 debut, Site 2, about a family of Cambodian refugees in a Thai camp in the 1980s, won several awards; 1994’s Rice People, which followed the struggles of a rural family, became the first Cambodian film to be submitted for a (foreign language) Oscar; 2003’s S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine brought together­ ex-prisoners and their former captors in Tuol Sleng prison, the former high school where the atrocities took place; 2012’s Duchy: Master of the Forces of Hell features interviews with a Khmer Rouge leader convicted of crimes against humanity, a chilling encounter Panh also recalls in his book.
“I do other films to show that I can,” he says, referencing 2008’s The Sea Wall, his feature adaptation­ of the 1950 novel by Marguerite Duras starring French actress Isabelle Huppert. “I have a choice to do films that make a lot of money. But if you go this way, if you make, say, a comedy film, you will not come back. I was a first-generation Khmer film director after the genocide. I felt that my place was to give Cambodia­ a view from the inside. We needed to write our own story.”

He is no fan of Roland Joffe’s multiple-Oscar-winning 1984 film The Killing Fields: “It is very, very difficult to represent death by genocide. While I recognise that films like The Killing Fields and [Steven Spielberg’s World War II epic] Schindler’s List attracted the attention of million­s of people, these directors did not exper­i­­ence the genocide.

“Of course I am humble and I applaud them. I could not direct a huge cast in how to kill and how to die. But I have to find other ideas.” What, then, of Jolie? Having first visited Cambodia in 2000 to film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, then going on to adopt her Cambodian-born son Maddox in 2002, the Hollywood A-lister and activist is a long-time fan of the country. But she too did not experience the genocide. Does her outsider status help or hinder­ a film like First They Killed My Father?
Panh beams. “I love Angelina very much, mainly because she is authentic. When she flew to Cambodia to meet me I was impressed by her very European sensibility, the fact she understood everything so well. I liked that she wanted to make the film in Khmer. Which was about time,” he says wryly. “In Schindler’s List all the Nazis speak English.
“Before filming began Angelina issued a statement to the crew stipulating that they were to respect the Cambodian people, stating that this was Cambodia’s history, not theirs. Every day she would come to me alone with her driver; at lunchtimes she would wait by herself in a taxi queue, in the heat. I don’t know how she is seen elsewhere but in my country Angel­ina Jolie is very loved.”
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Wednesday, September 27, 2017




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Tuesday, September 19, 2017







The Frame's John Horn with Angelina Jolie and Rithy Panh.

Jolie says that filming in Cambodia with a local cast and crew was non-negotiable, but that meant being conscious of the subject matter's emotional weight

Many people had not yet discussed, and would be discussing for the first time and reliving. And having someone in a Khmer Rouge uniform yell at them again - what would that do? So we talked a lot. Rithy would talk a lot - go to the villages, talk to the village chiefs, walk everybody through. Everybody had a choice of whether they wanted to do this or not, and how they would do it and be prepared. We also had therapists on set and we also had spirit houses. It was very important to pray...
"First They Killed My Father," which is both in theaters and available to stream on Netflix, was just named Cambodia's foreign-language submission to the Academy Awards. The Frame's John Horn met with Jolie and Panh to discuss the making of the film, and the importance of it being a truly Cambodian production.

Interview Highlights

How Jolie discovered Loung Ung's story while on location in Cambodia:
Jolie: It was my first trip there. ["Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" was] the first big Western film to come in after the war and I read about the country. I realized how little I was taught in school, how little I had been educated. I felt very ignorant. I wanted to learn more. I expected to find a very bitter, dark people and country. I found a resilient, very positive, strong people. And I really wanted to understand. So, I went for a walk and I ended up on a corner and going through books, and thinking "I need to educate myself." The description of the story "Through a Child's Eyes" got my attention, so I bought a little two dollar copy on the corner and sat by myself and read the book.

On making art after the Khmer Rouge regime:
Panh: It's difficult at the beginning because most of our artists are dead. So we have nothing. After the Khmer Rouge, we had five masters of dance survive, one or two film directors - you come back and everyone's disappeared. So we need to rebuild it because genocide is not only killing people, but also destroying our identity, your freedom of thinking, your capacity of imagination. You keep the trauma with you, and it's very difficult to come out of genocide talking about genocide.

On the importance of working with Cambodian artists:
Jolie: I would never have made the film if it wasn't in Cambodia, if Rithy hadn't agreed to do it, if it wasn't with Cambodian actors, if it wasn't in [Khmer] - that was the whole reason to make this film. To give this country a chance to speak. And if they weren't ready, then we wouldn't have made the film.






Panh on working with Jolie as a director:
Panh: It's very important to be with the people [to make this kind of film]. If they go to the rice field, you must go to the rice field. There's no reason for you to stay in a safe place and put people in the rice field. It changes the communication with people, the relationship. I was very touched when I saw Angie go in the line for lunch. I produced many films before, and directors want their private temple, their private place. But Angie just goes with us.

Why Jolie's sons worked on the film:
Jolie: It was very much about family and I think for all of us, we had our family or close friends there. And Maddox is Cambodian. For all my children, this is their family member, [who] is Cambodian. So it was important for all of my children to be on set, to be a part of the project. Yes, I like it when my children have a good work ethic and I like to see them work, but really in truth, I wanted Mad to take this time and understand his country and understand his countrymen, and learn about his history and dedicate himself to really understanding it. And I also wanted him to work alongside his countrymen. We've been working there for 14 years. We have a home there, Mad goes there often. But this was going to be months and very immersed in being side by side, and I think it brought out a deeper understanding and pride that is beautiful to see.



[Editors Note: This article is presented in partnership with Netflix’s original film “First They Killed My Father” – now streaming on Netflix and in select theaters.]
“First They Killed My Father” producer Rithy Panh is arguably the most influential Cambodian director in history. A survivor of the Khmer Rouge who escaped to Thailand in 1979, Panh found his footing as a filmmaker while living in Paris before returning to his native country 10 years later. Over the past 27 years, his work has largely taken a biographical focus, as he confronts the trauma of his family’s struggles from a number of cinematic perspectives. Viewed in full, his filmography tells the modern story of the Cambodian people, from their struggles to survive against an oppressive regime to the reverberations of those experiences in modern times. 

Panh has always taken a personal approach to his filmmaking. His first widely acclaimed project, 1994’s “Rice of People,” blends professional and amateur performers in the spare tale of an impoverished family attempting to make ends meet in a world still reeling from the horrors of the past. The film’s naturalistic style echoes the traditions of Italian Neorealism, and just as that era reflected recent wartime events, Panh’s film shows a keen ability to thread Cambodian history into an intimate story. Soon he could become the great chronicler of his country’s history.

With 2000’s “The Land of the Wandering Souls,” Panh explored the plight of Cambodian workers whose ditch-digging leads them to encounter bodies and land mines that speak to the continuing reminders of their genocidal past. In “S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine,” Panh explored the history of the Khmer Rouge’s most notorious prison with a blend of memories from former prisoners and some of the men who tortured them. In “Such, Master of the Forges of Hell,” he profiled a Khmer Rouge war criminal.

It was only a matter of time before Panh would turn the camera on his own journey. The Oscar-nominated 2013 documentary “The Missing Picture” is one of Panh’s most ambitious achievements, a semi-animated essay film about the plight of his family as they sought to escape the Khmer Rouge (and was not entirely successful in doing so). The film, which premiered to great acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival, uses stop-motion clay figures to represent Panh’s memories of his family’s struggles, echoing the degree to which he has internalized these memories from a child’s perspective. The filmmaker combines these elements with archival footage from the Pol Pot years, creating a fascinating blend of dreamlike rumination and historical specificity. 

“The Missing Picture” also provides a key foundation for watching “First They Killed My Father.” Panh’s memories are tied to his youth, and his deeper understanding of the massacre only came later; as a result, the film is an essential precedent for “First They Killed My Father” in that it explores the paradox of experiencing an adventurous survival epic even though the reality of the events was much bleaker. The title refers to a photograph taken by the Khmer Rouge that would bring a historical finality to many of the stories of the regime’s atrocities. Because Panh can’t find the picture, he makes a movie to fill in the gaps. “First They Killed My Father” is an extension of that goal, resurrecting the painful history of a generation and giving voice to the valiant efforts of those who survived dire circumstances to keep their country intact. 

Both “The Missing Picture” and “First They Killed My Father” take place between 1975 and 1979. Both are crucial to the contemporary development of Cambodian cinema. Panh’s film brought an international audience to his story and made it more accessible than ever before. Jolie’s work goes one step further. Not since “The Killing Fields” has a major filmmaker tackled these events, and that movie — while Oscar-nominated and still widely acclaimed — had no organic connection to the country it portrayed. “First They Killed My Father,” on the other hand, was filmed in the country with a predominantly Cambodian cast and crew (including director Angelina Jolie, who adopted a child from the country, was offered citizenship by the government and accepted). It provides a fully immersive look at the slow development of the Khmer Rouge takeover without stepping back to overexploit the events. 
There’s a fundamental authenticity to the way the movie takes its cues from the child’s viewpoint, as if no amount of complex historical explanation can convey the same degree of understanding provided by simply witnessing the atrocities. “First They Killed My Father” is an extension of Panh’s 30-year-effort to ensure that Cambodia’s national identity remains appropriately preserved for audiences around the world.




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Tuesday, July 28, 2015








Angelina Jolie visited yesterday the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center, where Rithy Panh is director. The two are working together to make the film ‘First They Killed My Father,’ about a young girl, Loung Ung, fighting to survive under the Khmer Rouge. Photo: Tom Stoddart/ Getty Reportage

Angelina Jolie Starts Scouting Cambodia Locations

Khmer Times/James Brooke
Tuesday, 28 July 2015


PHNOM PENH (Khmer Times) – Angelina Jolie toured Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum yesterday and then watched Khmer Rouge era archival footage at the Bophana Center.

For the Hollywood actress and director, it was the start of researching Cambodia locations for her upcoming film adaptation of a Khmer Rouge era memoir, “First They Killed My Father.”

Although Ms. Jolie has 15 years of comings and goings in Cambodia, her random movements elicited a flurry of Instagram photos and Facebook postings: Angelina posing with waitresses at a Blue Pumpkin café in Siem Reap; Angelina riding a tuk tuk in Siem Reap, and Angelina with Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh leaving the Toul Sleng death camp museum in BKK3.

“We will be spending the next few months scouting for locations, casting the film, but most importantly researching every event to make sure it is historically accurate and will pay respect not only to Loung Ung and her family, but to every single individual who suffered under the Khmer Rouge,” she said referring to the Cambodian woman who captured on paper her life as a young girl under Khmer Rouge rule.

Shooting starts in November

“We are in preparations from July on and will be shooting from November to the end of January,” she said in a statement after visiting the Bophana Center, which is on Street 200, off Monivong.

“The film will be shot in-country with Cambodian cast and crew and in the Cambodian language,” she continued. “It will be made for and with Cambodians. I look forward to working with the Cambodian production team, Bophana Productions, and all the great local artists.”

Her ethnic Cambodian son, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, age 13, is to have an acting role. Ms. Jolie and her husband, Brad Pitt, adopted Maddox shortly after her first big Cambodia-based movie, Tomb Raider, came out in 2001. Shortly after adopting Maddox, she and Mr. Pitt founded the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, a Battambang-based NGO devoted to protecting the environment and alleviating rural poverty in northwestern Cambodia.

Commitment to Cambodia

In her statement, Ms. Jolie stressed her commitment to Cambodia.

“The intent of this project is not to revisit the horrors of the war, but to bring to the screen characters that people around the world will identify with and empathize with and help to teach people about this country that I love and respect, and the Cambodian culture and family life I so admire,” she said.

“The book is a guide to one young girl’s story, and we will complete the story drawing on the experiences of other and adding them to the film,” she said. “Through her story we will be telling many stories, so that the film is not just based on the memory of one child but on the collective memory of the people of Cambodia.”

Ms. Jolie has directed two films.

 The first, In the Land of Blood and Honey, won mixed reviews after opening in December 2011. Four months later, this film about atrocities in Bosnia had drawn only $300,000 in box office receipts, a pittance compared to the $13 million production budget.

Her second, Unbroken, a World War II drama, has fared far better since it opened on Christmas Day, 2014. It has earned $161.5 million at the worldwide box office revenues, well over its production cost of $65 million. Last February, Unbroken received three Oscar nominations.

Film Advisors Survived Khmer Rouge

For the new Khmer Rouge film, Rithy, Cambodia’s only Oscar-nominated director, will play an advisory role. Through personal experience, Mr. Rithy is an authority on the Khmer Rouge era. The Maoists expelled his family from Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, the day before his 11th birthday. They were exiled to a remote labor camp where his parents, sisters and nephews died of starvation or exhaustion. He escaped to Thailand in 1979.

As a refugee in Paris, he ended up studying filmmaking. He returned to Cambodia in 1990. Over the subsequent quarter century, most of his 18 films have explored and documented facets of the Khmer Rouge era.

Loung Ung, author of “First They Killed My Father,” shares a comparable biography.

The communists expelled her family from Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, around her 5th birthday. The family split up and she was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans. She published her memoir published in 2000 and it has become a Cambodian best-seller. The cover photo of the little girl refugee in a Thai refugee camp peers out at tourists at airport book stores here and in Siem Reap.

“I am humbled and honored by the responsibility of bringing First They Killed My Father to the screen,” Ms. Jolie said yesterday. “The film is based on the emotional memory of Loung Ung from 5-8 years old. The film will be shot from the child’s perspective: it is a child’s view of war and a child’s understanding and point of view.”

Ms. Jolie co-wrote the film script with Ms. Ung, who lives in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, with her American husband and their children. She is national spokesperson for the Campaign for a Landmine-Free World and is part owner of a restaurant and a brewery. “First They Killed My Father” has been translated into Khmer and was expanded into a trilogy. Now she is working on her first novel.

In a press release last week, Ms. Ung said she first met Ms. Jolie in 2001 in Cambodia and immediately “trusted Angelina’s heart.”

“Through the years, we have become close friends, and my admiration for Angelina as a woman, a mother, a filmmaker, and a humanitarian has only grown,” she said. “It is with great honor that I entrust my family’s story to Angelina to adapt into a film.”





Last weekend in Siem Reap, Angelina Jolie stopped by a Blue Pumpkin for a fruit shake and a coffee. Here she poses with the waitstaff. Photo: Facebook




Jul. 28, 2015 12:39 PM EDT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia helped Angelina Jolie become a film superstar and start a family. To tell the stories of people in the country that touched her, she is directing a Netflix film on location based on a memoir of the country's 1970s holocaust under the communist Khmer Rouge, blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people.

And her Cambodian-born son Maddox will help with research and preparation for the film, Jolie said Tuesday in an email interview with The Associated Press.

Jolie's 2001 hit, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," was filmed partly at Cambodia's famous Angkor Wat temple complex, and in 2002 she adopted 7-month-old Maddox from an orphanage in western Cambodia.

Determined to give something back, she launched a foundation in Cambodia 12 years ago to promote community development alongside conservation.

This past weekend she visited some of the projects of the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which focuses on programs "to help local families overcome problems associated with poverty in the region and to help preserve the remarkable habitat and wildlife for future generations," she said.
She's slated to begin filming in November on the Netflix project, an adaptation of "First they Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers," author Loung Ung's memoir of her childhood during the Khmer Rouge regime. Jolie recently directed the Louis Zamperini biopic "Unbroken" and is in post-production on the drama "By the Sea," in which she also acts alongside her husband, Brad Pitt.

During her visit to Cambodia this week, Jolie agreed to answer a few emailed questions from The Associated Press. Here is an edited version of the exchange:

— AP: Do you feel a political/social responsibility to tell the stories of Cambodia, since Maddox is from there?
— Jolie: I feel a deep connection to Cambodia. I want to respect its history and bring a film to the world that will not only show the hardships of war but the dignity and resilience of a people I deeply respect.
As Maddox and I prepare the film we will be side by side learning about his country. He is turning 14 next week and this is a very important time for him to understand who he is. He is my son but he is also a son of Cambodia. This is the time for our family to understand all that that means to him and to us. My desire to tell this story in the most truthful and accurate way possible will be my tribute to the strength and dignity of all Cambodian people.

— AP: There are so many gruesome stories of people who lived through the horror of Khmer Rouge. What about this particular story do you feel needs to be told on the big screen?
— Jolie: The intent of this project is not to revisit the horrors of the war but to bring to the screen characters that people around the world will empathize with, and to help other people to learn about Cambodia.
What is special about this particular story is that it is told from the perspective of a 5-year-old child, and is based on a child's emotional experience of war. It sheds light not only on the experience of children during the genocide in Cambodia but of all children who endure war.

— AP: Will Maddox be involved with the film/production?
— Jolie: Maddox will be on set every day after school and involved behind the scenes. And yes, Maddox is already involved in the Foundation and will take over my role when he is older.
___

Jolie was in the capital Phnom Penh on Tuesday doing research at the Bophana Center, an audiovisual archive co-founded by Rithy Pan, an acclaimed Cambodian documentary filmmaker whose work has focused on the tragedy of the Khmer Rouge, and who will help with the Netflix project, which will be done in the Khmer language.

"We will be spending the next few months scouting for locations, casting the film, but most importantly researching every event to make sure it is historically accurate and will pay respect not only to Loung Ung and her family but to every single individual who suffered under the Khmer Rouge," Jolie said a speech at the center, which distributed the text.

"The book is a guide to one young girl's story, and we will complete the story drawing on the experiences of other and adding them to the film. Through her story we will be telling many stories, so that the film is not just based on the memory of one child but on the collective memory of the people of Cambodia."
___

Associated Press writers Angela Chen in Hong Kong and Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.


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Thursday, July 23, 2015







 Read the full press release below.


ANGELINA JOLIE PITT TO DIRECT FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER, AN UNFLINCHING PORTRAYAL OF WAR THROUGH THE EYES OF A CHILD, AS A NETFLIX ORIGINAL FILM


Beverly Hills, Ca. July 23, 2015 —- Angelina Jolie Pitt will direct an adaptation of First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, a harrowing and poignant memoir from Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung about surviving the deadly Khmer Rouge regime.

Jolie Pitt will direct and produce the Netflix Original Film from a script she co-adapted with Ung. Acclaimed Cambodian director and producer Rithy Panh, director of the Oscar-nominated Best Foreign Language film The Missing Picture, will also be a producer.

The film will be made available to members of the world’s leading Internet TV network in late 2016 and will be submitted to major international festivals.

Loung Ung was five years old when the Khmer Rouge assumed power over Cambodia in 1975 and began a four-year reign of terror and genocide in which nearly two million Cambodians died.  Forced from her family’s home in Phnom Penh, Ung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans while her six siblings were sent to labor camps.  Ung survived and wrote First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, which was first published in 2000.  Jolie Pitt read the book and contacted Ung over a decade ago and they became close friends.  Together they adapted the book into a screenplay.

“I was deeply affected by Loung’s book,” commented Jolie Pitt.  “It deepened forever my understanding of how children experience war and are affected by the emotional memory of it. And it helped me draw closer still to the people of Cambodia, my son’s homeland.”  She added, “It is a dream come true to be able to adapt this book for the screen, and I’m honored to work alongside Loung and filmmaker Rithy Panh.”  Jolie Pitt’s Cambodian-born son, Maddox, will also be involved in the production of the film.

Netflix’s global reach was a major factor in Jolie Pitt’s desire to partner with the streaming service. “Films like this are hard to watch but important to see,” said Jolie Pitt. “They are also hard to get made. Netflix is making this possible, and I am looking forward to working with them and excited that the film will reach so many people.”  The film will be released in both Khmer and English.

“We are proud to be working with Angelina Jolie in bringing this emotionally powerful and ultimately uplifting story exclusively to Netflix members around the world,” said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos.  “Loung Ung’s incredible journey is a testament to the human spirit and its ability to transcend even the toughest circumstances.”

“Angelina and I met in 2001 in Cambodia, and immediately, I trusted Angelina’s heart,” commented author Loung Ung.  “Through the years, we have become close friends, and my admiration for Angelina as a woman, a mother, a filmmaker, and a humanitarian has only grown.  It is with great honor that I entrust my family’s story to Angelina to adapt into a film.”

Loung Ung is currently writing her first novel, and is a co-owner of Market Garden Brewery in Cleveland, Ohio.  Since 1995, Loung has made over 30 trips back  to Cambodia and has devoted herself to helping her native land heal from the traumas of war.  Loung’s other works include Lucky Child and Lulu in the Sky.  She was also a contributing writer on the groundbreaking film, Girl Rising.

First They Killed My Father will begin production later this year in Cambodia and will precede Jolie Pitt’s filming of Africa which focuses on paleo-anthropologist Dr. Richard Leakey’s decades-long fight to save Africa from the illegal wildlife trade. Africa was postponed to provide additional time to get the script finalized and all production elements lined up properly to provide for the ambitious scope of the film.  Jolie Pitt remains committed to making the film and continues her strong support of Dr. Leakey, the people of Kenya and ending wildlife crime and the illegal wildlife trade

Jolie Pitt is currently in post-production on By The Sea, an adult drama written and directed by Jolie Pitt, starring Jolie Pitt and Brad Pitt, that will be released by Universal this year.  Jolie Pitt recently directed Universal’s Unbroken, based on the life of Olympian and World War II POW survivor Louis Zamperini.  Jolie Pitt made her feature directorial debut with In the Land of Blood and Honey.









The film will take place in Cambodia, where Jolie’s adopted son was born.

 It looks as though Angelina Jolie will join husband Brad Pitt at Netflix.
On Thursday, the Internet television network announced that it is partnering with Jolie for a project that will lure Hollywood’s most famous actress away from movie theaters—temporarily, at least.
Jolie, who last directed the awards contender Unbroken, will direct an adaptation of another inspiring memoir—this time, First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, the 2000 book from Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung about surviving the deadly Khmer Rouge regime.
In addition to directing and producing the Netflix Original Film, Jolie also worked with Ung to adapt the book for the screen.
“I was deeply affected by Loung’s book,” Jolie Pitt say in a statement. “It deepened forever my understanding of how children experience war and are affected by the emotional memory of it. And it helped me draw closer still to the people of Cambodia, my son’s homeland. . .It is a dream come true to be able to adapt this book for the screen, and I’m honored to work alongside Loung and filmmaker Rithy Panh.”
The press release adds that Jolie’s Cambodian-born son, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, will also be involved in the making of the film—although it does not specify what his role will be. In Vanity Fair’s 2014 feature story on Jolie, Janine di Giovanni reported that the 13-year-old worked as a production assistant on Jolie’s upcoming directorial effort By the Sea, which stars Jolie and Pitt.
In the press release, Jolie also explained why she—arguably the world’s biggest movie star—is turning to Netflix.
“Films like this are hard to watch but important to see,” said Jolie. “They are also hard to get made. Netflix is making this possible, and I am looking forward to working with them and excited that the film will reach so many people.”
In a statement from the author, Ung reveals that she has known Jolie for over a decade.
“Angelina and I met in 2001 in Cambodia, and immediately, I trusted Angelina's heart," said Loung Ung. "Through the years, we have become close friends, and my admiration for Angelina as a woman, a mother, a filmmaker, and a humanitarian has only grown. It is with great honor that I entrust my family's story to Angelina to adapt into a film."
Netflix confirms that the film will be available next year, and will be submitted to major international film festivals.

























Angelina Jolie is the latest high-profile filmmaker to join the ranks of Netflix Inc, where she will be directing a Cambodian author's war memoir into a feature-length film, the online streaming platform said on Thursday.
Jolie, 40, is producing and directing "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers," based on author and activist Loung Ung's memoirs of being a child soldier during Khmer Rouge's reign over Cambodia in 1975.
"It deepened forever my understanding of how children experience war and are affected by the emotional memory of it. And it helped me draw closer still to the people of Cambodia, my son's homeland," Jolie said of Ung's book in a statement.
Jolie and Ung co-wrote the script and Jolie's Cambodian-born son Maddox will be involved in the production, Netflix said. The film will be released on Netflix exclusively in late 2016, and will also be entered at major film festivals.
This will be Jolie's fourth feature directorial effort, following on the success of last year's "Unbroken" and the upcoming "By The Sea," in which she also stars alongside husband Brad Pitt.
Netflix, which houses an online library of thousands of films and television shows and also develops original content, is available in more than 50 countries, a reach that the company said was key in Oscar-winning Jolie's decision to come aboard.
"Films like this are hard to watch but important to see. They are also hard to get made. Netflix is making this possible, and I am looking forward to working with them and excited that the film will reach so many people," the filmmaker said.
Netflix has become a force in Hollywood with its original content, most recently racking up 34 nominations at this year's Emmy awards for shows such as "House of Cards" and "Orange is the New Black."
Jolie's partner Pitt has also teamed up with Netflix for his upcoming satirical comedy "War Machine," written and directed by David Michod, which will be released on the platform and in select theaters next year.
Other major names developing original content for Netflix include Adam Sandler, Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark and Jay Duplass.






















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