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NERAKHOON (The Betrayal) Acclaimed Cinematographer Ellen Kuras’ Stunning Directorial Debut |
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The time will come when the universe will shake. It will break piece by piece, country by country, religion by religion. Husband and wife will break into two. The children will escape, blowing like the wind. They will scatter to hide in the woods on islands like frightened deer hunted by evil men. The world we know will change… beyond recognition. -5000-year-old Lao prophecy Pandinlao Films is pleased to announce that NERAKHOON (The Betrayal), Ellen Kuras’ and Thavisouk Phrasavath’s extraordinary documentary about a family’s epic journey from war-torn Laos to the mean streets of New York, will receive its World Premiere at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival. Filmed over the course of 23 years, Phrasavath tells his own story of struggling as a young man to survive both the war and the hardships of immigrant life, as well as his mother’s astonishing story of perseverance. A poetic, deeply personal film about the hidden, human face of war’s “collateral damage,” NERAKHOON was produced by Flora Fernandez-Marengo and will be featured in the festival’s Documentary Competition. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. strategically and clandestinely operated within the neighboring country of Laos. By 1973 a secret air campaign had dropped more bombs on Laos than were used during WWI and WWII combined. Recruited by the CIA to work intelligence along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Thavi’s father is exposed after America’s retreat and is imprisoned by the ruling Communist government. Along with his nine younger siblings, Thavi is held under suspicion and repeatedly interrogated. At thirteen he escapes across the Mekong River to Thailand, and is joined two years later by his mother and seven of his siblings. After living in a refugee camp the family seeks asylum in America, and is soon deposited in a crowded tenement in Brooklyn. Left to their own means by the government, the family struggles to survive and stay together, pulled by two different cultures, terrorized by local gangs, and haunted by memories. Renowned for her work as a cinematographer, Ellen Kuras has been a DP for such directors as Michel Gondry (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, BLOCK PARTY, Sundance selection BE KIND REWIND) and Spike Lee (SUMMER OF SAM, 4 LITTLE GIRLS), on hits such as BLOW and ANALYZE THAT, and is a three-time winner of the Sundance Cinematography award (PERSONAL VELOCITY, ANGELA, SWOON). A lyrical melding of memoir, cinema verité and historical inquiry, this remarkable, decades-spanning collaboration with Phrasavath marks her directorial debut. Epic in scope yet devastatingly intimate, NERAKHOON is an exquisitely crafted tale of a country and a family torn asunder, and the long and painful process of repair. |
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Sundance Film Festival Screenings: Monday, January 21, 2:45 pm - Library Center 90 minutes. In English and Laotian with English subtitles. Attending: Director Ellen Kuras (Jan. 17-27), co-director Thavisouk Phrasavath (Jan. 19-27) and producer Flora Fernandez-Marengo (Jan. 16-27) Press contacts:
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