The San Diego Public Library and the Independent Television Service (ITVS) Community Cinema will host a preview film showing of Socheata Poeuv?s New Year Baby.
Synopsis:
My father pruned our trees in a sarong with a kitchen cleaver. My mother stored stinky fermented fish under the sink. My parents made us go to Buddhist temple on Saturdays and Bible study on Sundays. In some ways, they never left Cambodia though we lived in Dallas, Texas.
While I thought everything about my parents was ?old country,? they were desperately trying to forget their past. They are survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide. In fact my whole family is, and it?s something they almost never talk about.
They call me ?the lucky one.? Though conceived in Cambodia, I was born on New Year Day in a refugee camp in Thailand after the horror was over.
When I became an adult, I knew I would move on and move out. After Smith College and studies in Oxford, I moved to New York City, got a job in network news, started to build my career and pay my dues. I sure wanted my life to be different from my parents?, even though I didn?t know the first thing about theirs.
One Christmas Day, my parents called a family meeting. They sat down my brother, two older sisters and me ? to reveal secrets after 25 years.
This documentary gives voice to my father's story and that of my family on their way to becoming Americans.
Admission: Free
Location: Central Library, 820 E St., San Diego, CA 92101-6416
For more information:
Phone: 619-236-5800
or
Visit: sandiego.gov
For more information about this film see newyearbaby.net
Synopsis:
My father pruned our trees in a sarong with a kitchen cleaver. My mother stored stinky fermented fish under the sink. My parents made us go to Buddhist temple on Saturdays and Bible study on Sundays. In some ways, they never left Cambodia though we lived in Dallas, Texas.
While I thought everything about my parents was ?old country,? they were desperately trying to forget their past. They are survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide. In fact my whole family is, and it?s something they almost never talk about.
They call me ?the lucky one.? Though conceived in Cambodia, I was born on New Year Day in a refugee camp in Thailand after the horror was over.
When I became an adult, I knew I would move on and move out. After Smith College and studies in Oxford, I moved to New York City, got a job in network news, started to build my career and pay my dues. I sure wanted my life to be different from my parents?, even though I didn?t know the first thing about theirs.
One Christmas Day, my parents called a family meeting. They sat down my brother, two older sisters and me ? to reveal secrets after 25 years.
This documentary gives voice to my father's story and that of my family on their way to becoming Americans.
Admission: Free
Location: Central Library, 820 E St., San Diego, CA 92101-6416
For more information:
Phone: 619-236-5800
or
Visit: sandiego.gov
For more information about this film see newyearbaby.net
