Film + Q&A
Funan

Post-screening Q&A with director Denis Do


NY Premiere

Saturday, January 26, 2019
7:45–9:45pm
Ages 12+
FIAF Florence Gould Hall



Dir. Denis Do, France/Belgium/Luxembourg, 2018.
84 min. Color. Digital.
Voices of Bérénice Bejo, Louis Garrel
In French with English subtitles

Inspired by the life of his mother, Funan by Denis Do is a beautiful story of resilience in the face of unspeakable hardship.

Set in 1975, under Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime, Chou, a young Cambodian mother, searches for her 4-year-old son who was taken away from her. Facing the same fate as millions of ordinary Cambodians, Chou and her family live through years of separation, starvation, and forced labor. Despite her circumstances, Chou finds the strength to survive and remains determined to find her son thus reuniting her family. Chou’s harrowing path is set among the sweeping beauty of Cambodia’s countryside, lending a powerful backdrop to this wrenching ordeal.

Winner of the Cristal Award, Annecy International Animation Film Festival’s top prize, and the Grand Prize and Audience Award at Los Angeles’s Animation is Film, Denis Do’s first feature turns a harrowing story based on his mother’s life into a deeply personal and emotional journey.

The film will be followed by a Q&A with director Denis Do, moderated by Academy Award winner and animation historian John Canemaker.