The Betrayal

Nerakhoon

(USA, 2008, 96 mins)

35mm

Wisconsin Premiere

co-director: Thavisouk Phrasavath
writer: Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath
cinematographer: Ellen Kuras
editor: Thavisouk Phrasavath
music composed and conducted: Howard Shore
executive producer: Cara Mertes
producer: Ellen Kuras, Flora Fernandez-Marengo
co-producer: Wilder W. Knight II, Gini Reticker, Chiemi Karasawa

• IMDB Film Info
• www.thebetrayalmovie.com
• Trailer

Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath's debut film tells the story of a family’s epic journey from war-torn Laos to the mean streets of New York. Filmed over the course of 23 years, The Betrayal chronicles the family’s struggle to understand what was left behind while forging a new and difficult life in a foreign land. Thavisouk gives a first-hand account of his own boyhood survival of war, his later escape from persecution and arrest in Laos, his miraculous reunion with his family and their journey to America, and the second war they had to fight on the streets of New York City. Thavisouk’s mother also gives powerful testimony of her unflagging efforts to single-handedly raise and shepherd a family of ten amidst almost constant danger. Director Kuras, a cinematographer known for her work with Michel Gondry, Jonathan Demme, Harold Ramis, Spike Lee, and more, says: “I've been working on The Betrayal longer, in fact, than I've been a cinematographer.…From the beginning, I envisioned [it] as a combination of cinema verité, re-photographed archival footage and other elements that could enable me to get closer to the idea of a very personal point of view of memory. I tried to imagine that the point of view of the film would be as if I was shooting from the perspective of a character, and then that character walks into their own point of view. The film could then be told in a very personal voice and, at the same time, be observant of that person in the world around.” Nominated, 2008 Independent Spirit and Academy Awards; winner, Spectrum Award, 2008 Full Frame Documentary film festival.

Sponsored By:

UW Asian American Studies Program

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