Next Up on Indies Showcase, New Year Baby

The documentary follows the personal story of filmmaker Socheata Poeuv, who grew up in the U.S. never knowing that her family survived the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia. New Year Baby will stream free on ITVS’s Indies Showcase for three days, starting on Saturday, August 6.

Last May, Socheata Poeuv participated in a live chat about her film (airing at the time on Global Voices) in celebration of Asian American Heritage Month. Filmmaker Jocelyn Glatzer (The Flute Player) also joined the discussion, which was moderated by CAAM’s Michella Rivera-Gravage.
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Tags: Cambodia, free films, genocide, ITVS Indies Showcase, khmer rouge, live chat, new year baby, socheata poeub, streaming

Filmmaker Adrian Maben on Comrade Duch

By Chanel Kong

The documentary Comrade Duch: The Bookkeeper of Death examines the life of a gifted Cambodian mathematics teacher turned mass killer ­­­— responsible for the torture and murder of 14,000 people — and how he was brought to justice. Filmmaker Adrian Maben offered ITVS some background on the project, which was funded through ITVS International.

How did you come upon working on a project about Comrade Duch?

In 1999 and 2000 I worked with American journalist Nate Thayer on directing a series of films that featured the last interview of Pol Pot, recorded on camera a year before his death. Nate’s interview was a remarkable scoop.  For the first time, the most secretive of all Khmer Rouges – Brother Number One – was going to talk.

On camera, Pol Pot seemed affable and managed to explain himself with ease.  However, he said practically nothing of interest about the reasons for the murder and atrocities committed during his regime.  He denied knowing about the mass killings because he said that he was at the top level and only knew about “important” problems!
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Tags: adrian maben, Cambodia, comrade duch, khmer rouge, new year baby

Catch New Year Baby Sunday Night on Global Voices

The documentary follows the personal story of filmmaker Socheata Poeuv, who grew up in the U.S. never knowing that her family survived the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia. On Friday, Poeuv participated in a live chat — alongside fellow doc filmmaker Jocelyn Glatzer — to discuss her film in honor of Asian American Heritage Month. New Year Baby airs Sunday night on Global Voices on the WORLD Chanel.

Tags: Cambodia, genocide, Global Voices, ITVS, khmer rouge, new year baby, socheata poeuv, WORLD chanel

On the Scene at a War Criminal’s Conviction

Filmmaker Adrian Maben

The ITVS-funded film-in-progress Comrade Duch tells the story of the gifted Cambodian mathematician turned mass killer Kaing Guek Eav and the trial to bring him to justice. Filmmaker Adrian Maben was outside the courtroom last month when Duch was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 35 years in prison.

When I started to work on Comrade Duch, it was clear in my mind that this film should not be a courtroom film with heaps of legal wrangling and judicial squabbles. The central idea was to find an answer to the question of how one man could possibly inflict so much pain on his fellow citizens and justify his acts.
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Tags: Cambodia, comrade duch, indie films, international, ITVS, kaing guek eav, khmer rouge, PBS, Thailand

Insufficient Justice: Socheata Poeuv Reacts to Khmer Rouge Verdict

Director Socheata Poeuv

Filmmaker Socheata Poeuv was outside the courtroom on July 26, 2010, as Kaing Guek Eav (aka Comrade Duch) was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 35 years (19 including time served) by an international tribunal. The director of the Independent Lens film New Year Baby, Poeuv was born in a refugee camp in Thailand during Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime, which took the lives of many of her family members. She reacts to the verdict and the sentence for Beyond the Box.

On July 26, I went to the Khmer Rouge tribunal (at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in Phnom Penh) to listen to the judgment of Comrade Duch, the former commander of S-21 (Tuol Sleng), the Khmer Rouge’s most infamous prison and torture center. Hundreds of Cambodians and journalists also gathered to witness the historic moment.

As the judge read the guilty verdict, I was moved to hear the narrative of Duch’s war crimes and crimes against humanity. Although I had read of and heard an account of the crimes of S-21 many times in books and films, hearing the legal summary help to legitimize and validate the suffering of victims, including those in my family. I was glad this was now entering the official historical and legal record.
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Tags: Cambodia, commrade duch, documentary, Independent Lens, ITVS, khmer rouge, new year baby, PBS, socheata poeuv, Thailand

The Trials of Comrade Duch

Kaing Guek Eav or "Comrade Duch"

Much ado about the sentencing of Kaing Guek Eav — known by his Khmer Rouge nickname “Comrade Duch” — to 35 years in prison (to be reduced to 19 considering time served) on July 26 in Phnom Penh by a United Nations-led tribunal. The verdict and sentence shocked many Cambodians who remember Duch’s reign of terror as a remorseless prison chief in charge of torturing and murdering as many as 16,000 Cambodians on the orders of the notorious Pol Pot. Many Cambodians were angry that the sentence had not been harsher, given the horrific nature of the crimes.

Adrian Maben, director of a recently funded ITVS film called Comrade Duch, is currently in Phnom Penh to document the sentencing and the reaction to it. Maben has directed three previous films on the Khmer Rouge for ARTE.
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Tags: adrian maben, Cambodia, comrade duch, documentary, ITVS, kaing guek eav, khmer rouge, PBS