Gardner Group Inc

The Gardner Documentary Group is pleased to announce that "Lost Child: Sayon's Journey" and "Dancing Through Death: The Monkey, Magic, and Madness of Cambodia" are official selections of the 2024 Cambodia International Film Festival which takes place June 25-30, 2024 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Your support will help cover the filmmakers' trip to the Cambodia International Film Festival. We also look forward to reconnecting with the dancers featured in "Dancing Through Death" and sharing the Cambodian-American experience with those in Cambodia.

Thank you for your time and we hope that you are able to support our efforts by contributing as little or as much as you are able.

With sincere gratitude,

Sopheap, Sophy and Janet

www.gardnerdocgroup.com

About the Films:

Dancing Through Death: The Monkey, Magic and Madness of Cambodia is the story of Thavro Phim a Cambodian dancer, who came of age under the Pol Pot regime and lost his father, brother and grandfather during the bloody reign of the Khmer Rouge. Thavro’s dedication to Cambodian Classical dance and to his role as the magical white monkey kept him whole during the ordeal.

The secondary theme of the documentary is the dancers’ mission to preserve their legacy by teaching Khmer dance to children of Cambodian refugees. Personifying the younger generation is Samnang Hor, a 13-year-old monkey dancer with the Angkor Dance Troupe in Lowell, MA, where Thavro was a guest performer. Other young dancers struggle to learn the ancient art in San Jose, CA, where Thavro taught in the 1980’s. The documentary follows Thavro to New Haven, CT, where he joins the Cambodian Genocide Project to document the story of the Khmer Rouge and to search for his own relatives.

Lost Child: Sayon's Journey

Sayon Soeun was abducted at the age of six, exploited by the Khmer Rouge, his family life and education stolen. His recovery and redemption from unimaginable evil entails his transition from an orphanage in a refugee camp to adoption by a loving American family. After more than 35 years, he recently made contact with brothers and a sister he assumed were dead. The documentary follows his journey back to Cambodia to heal himself by finding the family that let him slip away and forgiving himself for his complicity as a Khmer Rouge child soldier.