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December 2008EGCharles and I went to the EG conference (www.the-eg.com) this past week. We had an amazing time. We really felt like we were meeting the Leonardo Da Vinci's of our time. Joshua Bell performed, Teller of Penn & Teller spoke, and Nicholas Negroponte inspired us all. I was told that you can view some of the presentations on the TED website (www.ted.com) in the coming days.
 I did not expect to find Cambodia connections there, but I did! Nina You, companion to Mike Hawley (the organizer of the conference), and her father. Sophal Ear and his expecting wife. DimitriNegroponte who lived and worked in Cambodia.I also met the most amazing woman named Tan Le. She's aVietnamese Australian woman who co-founded a company called Emotiv (www.emotiv.com). Using the latest developments of neuro-technology, her company has developed a headset which facilitates non-conscious humancomputer interaction. Check it out - it's straight out of science fiction.  The conference inspired me to take risks and play a big game with my life. The presenters and participants play at the highest level in several areas of the their life. To wit Mike Hawley - not only was he an MIT professor and entrepreneur, but also a champion of the Van Cliburn competition!
An Honor in Los Angeles  In November I went to Los Angeles to receive the iWitness Award from Jewish World Watch, an organization formed through a collaboration of Southern California synagogues concerned to raise consciousness about the mass killings in Darfur and about genocide throughout the world.
I was honored to be recognized by Jewish World Watch for the work I have done in launching Khmer Legacies, and was pleased to have the opportunity to speak to students and community leaders from the Cambodian community at the award ceremony. While my short-term mission has been to preserve the testimonies of survivors and the history of Khmer Rouge atrocities, my long-term goal is to add the voices of Cambodians to the collective voice of communities speaking out against genocide. This conviction guides my own work as it does, I believe, the efforts of Jewish World Watch to raise a "call to conscience."
July 2008 A Producer's Note
I'm writing from my road trip and pilgrimage which in all will last 2.5 months and take me from Massachusetts to Texas and Calcutta, India with points in between. Today I'm in Madison, WI where I shot a bit on our new HDDV camera. Next week I will meet up with filmmakers Steve Bogner and Julia Reichert (LION IN THE HOUSE) in OH. This pilgrimage is the first time in over 4 years I have not worked on NYB daily. Even read a book for fun while staying with friend Pam Putney on an island in Massachusetts. Socheata Poeuv has been recongnized by strangers more than once now. Friday the dog is still more popular than I am.
New Year Baby DVD sales are so strong that as of Tues. night it is listed as a best selling film of more than 2,000 films on the FilmBaby.com website. We did not predict this. The film will be even more widely available next month. I am learning how many lives are influenced by this story from the notes that come in. The final work on the Cambodian language version is underway. I will be in Kerala, India next month with some of the NYB crew and donors. You can join us if you like. http://www.LoveJoyPardon.com/India. The New Year Baby Soundtrack is now available on iTunes
 
May 2008
A Month for Celebration
New Year Baby airs on National PBS Independent Lens May 27th
New Year Baby DVDs available for purchase
Producer Charles Vogl attends INPUT 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa as a CPB fellow
March 2008 A Courageous Soul
 My friend Bou Dith Pran died yesterday.His life was depicted in the film, the Killing Fields. For most Americans, the first and perhaps only time, they heard about the Cambodian genocide was through his story. I met Bou for the first time when I was 22 years old as a recent college graduate attending the Asian American Journalists Association convention. When I introduced myself to him, he was so excited to meet another Cambodian American journalist that he immediately took me by the hand to introduce me around to his friends. He's a hero in that community and immediately became my best advocate. I invited him to dinner with my family because he was missing some good Southeast Asian cooking. At dinner my sister bluntly told him that she though her experience during the Pol Pot time was much worse than what was depicted in the movie, the Killing Fields. He looked her squarely in the eye and said that he agreed. And in that look, I recognized that there was an understanding. He will be missed. NYB Goes International, Gets Personal New Year Baby airs nationally in the Netherlands
DVD extras are created
February 2008
Asheville, NC - Keep it Weird
 Showed New Year Baby at the Fine Arts Theatre in Asheville, NC last night. Asheville is wonderful little mountain town with lefty tendencies, a lively art scene and eccentric townies.The turnout was good and the audience seemed really moved and engaged with the film. A recurring theme in these screenings has been the one Cambodian in the audience. None of the stops on my Southern Circuit tour are home to large Cambodian communities. But there's always one. He was very moved by the film and shared with the audience his family's story. When his mother was three months pregnant, her husband was killed by the Khmer Rouge. Instead of being named the "lucky child," he was repeatedly called a curse by his own mother. At the end of the night, all I could do was give him a hug. Welcome to the South... I had my first screening last night in High Point, NC as part of the Southern Circuit tour of independent filmmakers (www.southarts.org). For the next two weeks, I'll be showing New Year Baby in nine different cities. Good thing I got a massage yesterday (thank you John and Astrud!).
We had a modest crowd, but one audience member in particular made it all worth it. A Cambodian American woman in her 50's was there with a van-load of her Anglo American sponsors from a local Presbyterian church. Her story was very similar to my family's: surviving the Khmer Rouge, adopted surviving extended family, fleeing to Thai refugee camps. She was very moved by the film and told me about her son who is very near my age. He harbors, she fears, a surprising anger projected toward Cambodia and life in general. It reminded me that even the second generation is effected by the trauma of the Khmer Rouge time whether it is expressed in guilt, over-achievement, or anger. What makes it worse is that often times, we cannot identify what is at the root of these emotions. I gave her a copy of the film and told her that perhaps her son would like to see the film, hoping it would spark a new kind of conversation. She seemed grateful. Announcements $8,000 matching grant offered for gifts toward outreach The New York Times will profile Socheata Poeuv in March Socheata spoke to her Alma Mater Smith College DVD creation for home and educational use has begun Socheata spoke at California State University Long Beach Genocide Conference NEW YEAR BABY is the opening film for the Amnesty International Seattle Human Rights Film Festival
A note from a teacher:
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New Year Baby Photo Gallery
