FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 3, 2008
Contacts:
Suely Ngouy, Executive Director, Khmer Girls in Action
562-986-9415
suely@kgalb.org
Maura Hurley, Public Information Officer
California Council for the Humanities
415- 391-1474, ext. 308
mhurley@calhum.org
Made as part of statewide Youth Digital Filmmakers project, documentary will prescreen at Long Beach City College on June 21
LONG BEACH Calif. —Six Khmer American girls from Khmer Girls in Action, a social justice organization led by Southeast Asian women and girls, have spent the past year working on a documentary film about the legacy of the Khmer Rouge war and its effects on the first-generation Cambodian-American youth. Their 30-minute film, “Coming Together,” has been selected to premiere at the prestigious Los Angeles Film Festival on Sunday, June 29 at 12 p.m. and will prescreen at Long Beach City College on Saturday, June 21 at 3 p.m. The screening will be held at 1305 East Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach, Dyre Hall, Room FF 107.
"The young filmmakers will attend the L.A. Film Festival premiere and plan to show their film at schools and community venues.
“Twenty-nine years after the genocide in Cambodia, ‘Coming Together’ reveals the untold story of the children of the refugees of war who came to settle in Long Beach,” said Suely Ngouy, executive director of Khmer Girls in Action, the sponsor of the film project. "The film also examines how the experience of the Khmer Rouge war connects and disconnects a generation of refugees from their American children — through culture, language, socio-economic status and education. Ngouy added that the filmmaking process was a powerful experience for the young filmmakers. “It provided a way for youth in the Cambodian community to share and define what it means to be Khmer-American."
Long Beach is home to the largest Cambodian community in the United States, estimated to be 60,000. It is also the first city in the United States to have a neighborhood designated as Cambodia Town.
The young filmmakers interviewed their elders and peers for the film “The film not only makes visible the community’s struggles, but also shows the strength, courage and resilience of adult and youth and their ability to heal, rebuild and thrive,” Ngouy said.
Samantha Chhim, 17, one of the filmmakers, hopes the film will make things better in the Cambodian community “ I feel that our video will create change and affect our community not just by telling, but by showing what our struggles as young Americans are today." Added 16-year-old Mary Savady, “ In making the film, I had a chance to bond and interact with young Cambodian women who also share a passion for creating change in the Cambodian community,"
Karen Quintiliani, an anthropology professor at Cal State Long Beach who has written a book about the Long Beach Cambodian community, served as a humanities advisor on the film. "Karen helped by providing a historical context about the Cambodian community and its history," says Ngouy. "She made a presentation to our group and helped bring in the community elders to have a dialogue with us."
The Khmer Girls in Action project is one of eight Youth Digital Filmmakers projects funded by the California Council for the Humanities as part of its “How I See It” youth campaign to engage teens in exploring the connections and disconnections in their lives. Film created by teens from two other YDF projects -- in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area -- will also be screened at the film festival.
Khmer Girls in Action received a $30,000 grant from the Council last June to undertake the yearlong project.
“The idea behind Youth Digital Filmmakers is to give youth a voice in what happens in their communities and skills they can use in the future,” said Ralph Lewin, executive director of the California Council for the Humanities. “The humanities scholars give the teens a broader perspective on their film topics and help them see how issues they’re dealing with today are similar to those of other places and times.”
The Youth Digital Filmmakers project is being conducted in partnership with the Digital Storytelling Institute of ZeroDivide http://www.zerodivide.org/.
In addition to the Long Beach project, the following projects received Youth Digital Filmmakers grants:
BAY AREA
San Francisco: Conscious Youth Media Crew
“A Choice of Weapons”
This is a narrative film about the impact of redevelopment on a San Francisco neighborhood.
Oakland: East Bay Asian Youth Center
“I Ain’t Leaving”
The film will focus on Cambodian-American youth living in Oak Park Apartments, home to many recent immigrants in the impoverished San Antonio District of Oakland. Residents cope with gangs on one hand and the gentrification of their neighborhood on the other. Their film describes the youth’s struggles for balance and security.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles: Covenant House California
Through interviews with young people who were recently homeless, the film, "My Spaces: Homeless Youth Explore the Geography of Disconnection," traces the challenges and traumas of Hollywood teens living on the streets.
CENTRAL AND NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Fresno: Center for Multicultural Cooperation
The film, "Common Ground, Sowing Seeds of Understanding in the San Joaquin Valley," examines the connections and disconnections among cultural communities of the rural Central Valley through the stories of Hmong, Latino, and African American farmers and farm workers.
Lodi: Lodi High School
“Finding Our Own Way: Teens in Lodi" is made up of five documentary films about such issues as racism among Lodi High teens, teenage drug abuse, video games, skateboarders and cliques on campus.
Siskiyou County: Siskiyou Arts Council
The film will explore the origins and influences of Siskiyou County's native culture and the challenges young people face bridging the gap between a world that is still partially rooted in the past, yet pulled toward the
future.
About the California Council for the Humanities
The California Council for the Humanities has supported and created programs that bring Californians together around their history and culture for more than 30 years. Since 2001 the Council has been engaged in a statewide initiative, California Stories, designed to tell the larger story of California. The Council’s new California Stories campaign, How I See It, is helping young people to share — in their own words and through a variety of media — what their lives are like, what they care about, and what it’s like to grow up in today’s California. For more information, visit the Council’s website at www.californiastories.org or contact the Council’s administrative office at (415) 391-1474. For more information on California Stories, the How I See It campaign, the Youth Digital Filmmakers project and the California Council for the Humanities please visit www.californiastories.org.# # #