Angelina Jolie joins Cambodian writers and directors at Asia Society talk

The actress and UN envoy Angelina Jolie took part in a sold-out talk at New York’s Asia Society Thursday night to promote a trifecta of Cambodian art projects in the city this weekend. Speaking alongside her at the panel were the Oscar-nominated director Rithy Panh, the executive director of Cambodian Living Arts Ploeun Prim and the best-selling author Loung Ung, whose autobiography First They Killed My Father, Jolie has adapted into a film now streaming on Netflix. While Jolie used her Hollywood star power to draw attention to the country’s difficult history and the uplifting spirit of its artists, perhaps the most moving moment came from Prim, who shared his family’s experience after the film’s premiere in Cambodia. “My kids, who never ask questions around [the genocide during the Khmer Rouge regime], started to ask their grandmother: ‘Was it real’?” Prim said. “And my other daughter said: ‘Was daddy born during that time’? And my mother said: ‘Yes.’ And she starts speaking, telling the story of how my parents survived. I was three years old. We were brought through the jungle. And how difficult it was. And how my dad kept holding my mom’s hand… And it was really the first time that I heard that story. And I just want to say: Thank you, because I think that’s the power the arts. History repeats itself. And that’s why we’re all doing this.”