This two-part event begins with a screening of "Meeting with Pol Pot," a fictionalized account of journalist Elizabeth Becker's book When The War Was Over. The film takes viewers to Cambodia where three journalists—including a character based on Becker—are invited by the Khmer Rouge to conduct an exclusive interview of regime leader, Pol Pot.
The country seems ideal at first, but the Khmer Rouge regime is declining, and the war with Vietnam threatens to invade the country. The regime is secretly carrying out a large-scale genocide. Under the eyes of the journalists, the beautiful picture cracks, and the journey progressively turns into a nightmare.
After the film, veteran journalist Elizabeth Becker will deliver the lecture "How to Act Like a Journalist." A former Washington Post correspondent and New York Times reporter and editor, Becker is an esteemed Vietnam War correspondent best known for her reporting on Cambodia. Her books include When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution and You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War, which will be for sale after the film.
Raymond Offenheiser, director of the McKenna Center for Human Development and Global Business and Liu Institute faculty fellow, will moderate the event.
Sponsored by the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy, and McKenna Center for Human Development and Global Business.
The events are free and open to the public, but tickets are required for the film screening at performingarts.nd.edu.
112 minutes | Not Rated
Directed by Rithy Panh
Official Selection, Cannes Premiere, 2024 Cannes Film Festival
French and Cambodian with English subtitles
Originally published at asia.nd.edu.