Film explores family's survival of Khmer Rouge

Juliana Kiyan Senior Editor

“Uplifting” is not the first word that comes to mind in the context of the Khmer Rouge genocide. But filmmaker Socheata Poeuv feels it is appropriate for New Year Baby, her 2006 documentary about her family’s survival of the brutal regime and their process of healing. On Nov. 19 at 5 p.m., Poeuv will share her film with the Vassar community, followed by a question-and-answer session in Rockefeller Hall 200.

“New Year Baby is a documentary about my family and how they survived the Khmer Rouge,” said Poeuv. The film is a personal account of the genocide carried out by the Khmer Rouge, the radical communist movement that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 after winning power through a guerrilla war in the 1970s. As many as 1.5 million Cambodians died.

Shortly after her birth in a Thai refugee camp on the Cambodian New Year, Poeuv immigrated with her family to the United States and grew up in Texas. She graduated from Smith College in 2002 and went to work at news programs at ABC and NBC in New York.

For 25 years, her parents did not discuss their lives under the Khmer Rouge. Then on Christmas 2002, when Poeuv had reached adulthood, her parents sat her down with the rest of the family to reveal secrets about their past.

Poeuv learned that her two sisters were actually her cousins who had been orphaned in the Khmer Rouge killings, and that her brother was really her half brother—the surviving child of her mother’s first family. Her mother’s first husband and daughter died in the genocide.

Driven by a desire to find answers about her family, Poeuv journeyed back to Cambodia with her parents. Initially, she did not intend for the experience to become a feature-length film. “It started out as a glorified home video,” said Poeuv. “I was curious about my past, and I wanted to find out what happened to my family.”

Her curiosity developed into a documentary that chronicles how her parents forged a new family order to survive the genocide and why they buried the truth for so many years. To try to understand her family’s difficult history, she visits the labor camp where her parents met, as well as the unmarked grave of her aunt.

Poeuv and her crew filmed in Cambodia on two separate occasions over three years, as well as in California, Texas and New York, where they also edited the film.

Ultimately, Poeuv said that New Year Baby is about love, commitment and healing in the wake of tremendous hardship and tragedy. “It’s about staying with family,” said Poeuv. “It’s about people who make a commitment to staying together, beyond what the world thinks is possible.”

The film has been met with critical acclaim and has received several awards, including 2007 Best Documentary at the AFI Dallas International Film Festival, 2006 Movies That Matter Award at the Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival and the 2007 Audience Award at the VC FilmFest: Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. It is scheduled to air on PBS’s Independent Lens on Jan. 1, 2008.

The Asian Students’ Alliance (ASA), together with the South Asian Students Alliance, Student Activist’s Union and the Asian Studies Program will sponsor the screening.

Two years ago, ASA invited Poeuv to campus to screen a trailer of her then-unfinished film and field questions about the subject, as well as her filmmaking process.

Current ASA President Jason Wu ’09 was able to bring Poeuv back as a follow-up visit to show the final product. “It’s a very personal account of the Cambodian genocide for students to see,” said Wu.

At the same time, “Students shouldn’t expect to see a down and depressing film,” said Poeuv. “It’s surprisingly funny—my parents are amusing people. I hope that you’ll see your parents afterward and really appreciate them.”