Saturday, December 29
16:00
My Khmer Heart
@ Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center
Directed by Janine Hosking, 1h37min, 2000, English version
Shortlisted for Academy Award nomination in 2001, My Khmer Heart is a powerful portrait of a most remarkable woman.
Geraldine Cox is an eccentric but deeply compassionate Australian woman who since the 1980s has been operating a refugee center for orphaned children within Cambodia.
The documentary My Khmer Heart offers a close look at Cox's life and her work; a single woman with a taste for nightlife and eager to have a child, Cox came to Cambodia in the wake of the Khmer Rouge as a diplomat.
While in Cambodia, she adopted a local child who proved to be severely and chronically ill, and while the experience brought her to the brink of suicide, she came through it with a determination to do something positive for Cambodia's many abandoned youngsters. Cox, however, became controversial despite her inarguably good intentions when she sought support from corrupt Cambodian leader Prince Ranariddh; when Ranariddh was overthrown in a coup by Hun Sen, she also approached him for assistance, though his regime became known for its violence.
My Khmer Heart was narrated by Peter Ustinov, who also lent his production support to the project.
