Rebuilding New Orleans

I have had a chance to see quite a bit of the South on my Southern Circuits Tour. I was especially eager to see New Orleans since Katrina.

I had wonderful guides in my friends John Alford (fellow Echoing Green fellow '07) and Mary Chastain. This past fall, they opened the Langston Hughes Academy in New Orleans, serving 4th and 5th graders this year. Next year, they will be running a full K-12 school.

Langston Hughes is an extraordinary charter school, exemplified by high standards, a passionate and brilliant staff and overwhelming committment.

When I walked in the door, I saw banners in each classroom: Dream It! Do It! Be It! I heard teachers asking their kids to assume the "scholar position." I saw classes being referred to by the name of their teacher's alma mater: U. Penn, Yale, Dartmouth. I could see John's expertise with building highly successful KIPP schools at work in Langston Hughes.

I was left with a tremendous amount of hope for New Orleans. Check it out: NOLA180.org.

Socheata Poeuv Podcast Now Available

Allen Bell (new Program Director for Contemporary Arts and New Initiatives) interviews Socheata Poeuv.

Socheata Poeuv has won multiple international cinema awards by the young age of 27. She recently made her filmmaking debut with New Year Baby, which won the highest human rights cinema award, the Amnesty International ‘Movies That Matter’ Award at its premiere in the 2006 International Documentary Festival Amsterdam. New Year Baby is also slated for national PBS broadcast on Independent Lens in May 2008.

The interview delves into Poeuv’s academic background, her new nonprofit, Khmer Legacies, her vision for the organization, and how it was all inspired by her work on the film New Year Baby. The podcast also explores how her relationship with her family has changed and grown through the process of making her film.

Download and Listen to the Podcast

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). 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.