CAMBODIAN SON Film About Kosal Khiev, Discussion with Director Masahiro Sugano
MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2015 - 7PM / LAUREL HALL ROOM 205
Kosal Khiev was born in 1980 at a Thai refugee camp, the nationless son of Cambodian parents fleeing the ravages of genocide and war. His family was granted asylum a year later and resettled in Southern California, where Kosal grew up surrounded by poverty and violence. A gang shootout led to his arrest at 15 years old. He was tried as an adult under California law and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Cambodian Son takes place one year after his deportation to Cambodia. It is the story of one man’s triumph over life’s injustices through the redemptive power of art. And though it is one man’s story, it is also testament to one country’s broken and inhumane immigration system, and another country’s reconstruction and cultural renaissance after decades of war. It is post-conflict Cambodia, after all, that has given him a second chance at freedom and creativity. At a time when the United States is deporting more people than any other moment in its history, Cambodian Son is at once a beacon of hope and a call to action. It is the story of an exile searching for home, and finding his voice.
Co-sponsored by Asian/Asian American Studies Institute in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Asian American Cultural Center
For more information, contact: Cathy Schlund-Vials at 860-486-9412