CAAM is proud to co-present a screening of Daze of Justice, directed by Michael Siv and produced by CAAM’s Director of Programs Donald Young. The film will screen at the United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF) at 7:40pm on Monday, October 23 at the Ninth Street Independent Film Center in San Francisco.
Daze of Justice is the intimate story of trailblazing Cambodian American women who break decades of silence, abandoning the security of their American homes on a journey back into Cambodia’s killing fields, only this time not as victims but as witnesses determined to resurrect the memory of their loved ones before the UN Special Tribunal prosecuting the Khmer Rouge. The women must not only find the courage to remember their past, they also face an unexpected and agonizing predicament when they come face to face with Pheng, the son of Kaing Guek Eav (Alias “Duch”), one of Pol Pot’s most notorious torturers. And in the process, on the margins of the UN tribunal, the seekers become the source of Justice.
About the filmmakers:
Michael Siv is an award-winning Cambodian-American filmmaker and journalist. Siv’s filmography ranges from exploring the challenges of growing up as a Cambodian refugee in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district to documenting the many facets of the immigrant experience in America as a journalist for New America Media. Daze has received wide acclaim across the US, winning the Emerging Director of Documentary Feature at the Asian American International Film Festival, Social Justice Award at World Cinema Initiative (Cannes) and Best Documentary Feature at the IndieFEST Film Awards. Siv’s first documentary Who I Became, co-directed with Aram Collier, was part of the Matters of Race series that premiered on national PBS. The film follows the life of Pounloeu Chea, a 21-year-old Cambodian refugee on the brink of fatherhood and in the middle of Federal probation.
Donald Young is the Center for Asian American Media’s director of programs. He oversees CAAM’s program areas, and specifically develops and implements CAAM’s national productions and national PBS strategies. In public television, Donald has supervised the national broadcasts of over 150 award-winning projects. As a producer, he has worked both in documentaries and independent feature films. His most recent productions include documentaries on ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro and former Louisiana US Congressman Anh “Joseph” Cao.