Jolie’s film set for Siem Reap debut
The world premiere of Angelina Jolie’s highly anticipated film First They Killed my Father is set for February 18 in Siem Reap, seven months before its release on Netflix.
The premiere date and location were confirmed yesterday by longtime Jolie friend and acclaimed filmmaker Rithy Panh, who is also co-producing the film. Panh declined to provide any further detail about the exact location and time of the screening.
“We will keep you informed,” he wrote by email.
The Jolie-directed and produced film was shot partly in Battambang and partly in Siem Reap last year. It is a cinema adaptation of Loung Ung’s Khmer Rouge memoir First They Killed My Father and is being produced for Netflix. A worldwide release date for the online platform has not yet been set but is scheduled for this year.
The memoir details the Khmer Rouge’s violent and bloody takeover of the country and Ung’s experience surviving the regime.
Ung is being played by Sareum Srey Moch, while her parents are being played by Phoeung Kompheak and Sveng Socheata. Some 500 Cambodians were employed in the production of the film.
Jolie has directed two other films, including In the Land of Blood and Honey and the 2014 Oscar-nominated World War II drama Unbroken.
Calls to Jolie’s talent agencies were not returned by press time.