“The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor”
Reviewed by Tiffany Ran
In one lifetime, Dr. Haing S. Ngor went from Cambodian refugee to Academy Award winner, author, and activist only to be gunned down outside of his home in Los Angeles in 1996. Not to be confused with original film where Ngor served as a costar, “The Killing Fields” documentary draws from stories and experiences gleaned from two biographies detailing Ngor’s life under Pol Pot’s regime and after winning the Academy Awards for his performance in the film. The documentary portrays Ngor’s wide range of experiences from harrowing atrocities to his time in Hollywood through a montage of old footage, interviews, and animation that intimately captures the legacy, which Ngor leaves behind, a human face behind one of the world’s worst genocides.
June 5, 6pm at Kirkland Performance Center
June 6, 12:30pm at SIFF Cinema Uptown Festival
“2045 Carnival Folklore”
By Andrew Hamlin
A party at the end of the world? Well, it’s been done before, “2045 Carnival Folklore” throws in a post-nuclear meltdown setting, secret agents fighting a secretive government, and noise rock. Lots of noise rock. This film wasn’t available for viewing at press time—and it’s so obscure that the Internet Movie Database has no record of it. Talk about secret secrets! It’s also about how quickly we forget (despite our best intentions) what brought us to the brink in the first place. And that much, alas, hardly sounds like science fiction. (end)
June 5, 7 pm, SIFF Film Center at Seattle Center
June 6, 7 pm, SIFF Film Center at Seattle Center; director
Naoki Kato and actor Ryusuke Hayashi are scheduled to attend the Friday show; Kato, Hayahsi, and musician Toshiji Mikawa are scheduled to attend the Saturday show.
Tiffany Ran and Andrew Hamlin can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.