Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
COVER STORY<br />
Are you now more comfortable behind the<br />
camera than in front of it?<br />
Yes. I love watching other people act. I love<br />
performance, emotion, stories. I think I have a<br />
whole different relationship to film from dealing<br />
with it behind the camera, and I like to champion<br />
other people. That’s the nice thing about being a<br />
director. You get to find other people’s greatness<br />
and highlight it and push it and it’s such a<br />
pleasure to do that.<br />
What do you expect as a director after<br />
releasing a new movie about the genocide in<br />
Cambodia with First They Killed My Father?<br />
We screened it there first and it was amazing<br />
because we were all quite nervous and it was<br />
really bringing the film back, and people who<br />
would see it would be survivors. It would be<br />
people who were participating in the next<br />
Khmer Rouge. The government, Royal Family,<br />
it was going to be everybody and we weren’t<br />
sure of the reaction because it’s not often<br />
spoken of. We prepared the next day to meet<br />
with people and have town halls so we could<br />
debate and discuss, but it was really such a<br />
moving experience and we premiered it across<br />
the country in many places such as the Olympic<br />
stadium, also where so much horror happened.<br />
The country itself deserves this film and needs<br />
this dialogue, and when I heard people driving<br />
home at night talking about it and grandparents<br />
for the first time telling their grandkids about it<br />
because they hadn’t spoken, I realised why.<br />
Your older son Maddox who was born in<br />
Cambodia. Did he have anything to do with<br />
this movie?<br />
I also made it for Maddox. I really wanted him to<br />
work on it, to see it, to live with it. He goes back to<br />
Cambodia often, but this was different. He was<br />
going to immerse himself in what his birth parents<br />
most likely went through and learn about himself<br />
as a Cambodian in a very different way.<br />
Do you feel the need to be a role model for<br />
your children and so many young women who<br />
admire you?<br />
I take it very seriously. I have a lot to learn and<br />
certainly I need role models like myself to keep me<br />
grounded, but I take it very seriously if I am in any<br />
way a role model and I try to be that for my children.<br />
If I am that in any way, I do want to take make sure<br />
that I’m able to communicate to young people<br />
around the world and help if I can. I wish I had<br />
more guidance when I was younger, so I’m very<br />
happy to be a part of that community discussion.<br />
31<br />
EQUITY
Change language