The Asian Studies Center has an extensive collection of fiction and non‑fiction films available to borrow. Visit the center or contact us for more information.
Description: Born in Thai refugee camp on Cambodian New Year, filmmaker Socheata Poeuv grew up in the United States without knowing of her mother and father’s experiences in surviving the Khmer Rouge genocide. After a startling family revelation, Socheata travels to Cambodia in search of the truth about her parents’ secret past.
Description: The Snake King's Child is a 2001 Cambodian-Thai horror film directed by Fai Sam Ang, based on a Cambodian myth about the half-human daughter of a snake god.
Description: Led by a former schoolteacher named Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge regime killed between 15 and 40 percent of the Cambodian population in a brutal attempt to transform the nation into a classless society. At the heart of this orchestrated campaign of terror was a death camp known by the code name S-21. Untold thousands of prisoners entered S-21. Only seven escaped alive. INSIDE POL POT'S SECRET PRISON is a harrowing look at one of the most purely evil institutions of the 20th century. Riveting interviews with former guards, executioners and two survivors paint a picture of the unspeakable horrors that were commonplace at S-21. The incredibly detailed prison archives open a window into the Khmer Rouge's program of genocide, raising the question of why no one has been prosecuted so far for the crimes against humanity committed in Cambodia.INSIDE POL POT'S SECRET PRISON also includes an interview with journalist Nate Thayer, who interviewed the ailing former dictator just months before his death.
Description: This documentary, directed by a survivor of the genocide, chronicles the systematized murder perpetuated by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, specifically the torture and killing of the educated classes in the notorious S-21 prison, which is now a museum. But this film is not about statistics and generalized history. Instead, it focuses on two survivors who return to the prison, coming face-to-face with some of the guards who insist that they were only following bureaucratic orders.
Description: The Angry Skies is a compelling documentary which follows Blake Kerr--a New York-based doctor who investigated human rights violations for thirteen years in Tibet--as he travels to Cambodia to uncover the truths behind the rise of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970's and their legacy today. Before the international tribunal with the United Nations and Cambodian courts started trying those responsible for genocide committed under Pol Pot's murderous regime, Dr. Kerr traced and interviewed survivors of the S21 torture center, who still fear for their lives. Dr. Kerr and filmmaker Casey Earl first come face-to-face with the precarious culture that permeates the region when they are caught up in the anti-Thai riots that rocked Phnom Penh in January 2003. When their investigations attract the attention of the Cambodian authorities, Hun Sen's secret police start to monitor their activities.
Description: Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia is a 1989 short documentary film about the people of Cambodia rebuilding after being ruled by Pol Pot and being sent to Killing Fields.
Description: A young woman...seeking a better life in rural Mainland China, must take a job as a Country Teacher where without tax income, education funding is not guaranteed, nor is the pay. At a time, not so long ago, when government sponsored Chinese higher education and the State University Admissions exams were the best hope for rural area boys and girls to overcome poverty, she must learn with her three colleagues, the hope for only one endorsement...the struggle to become a Certified Teacher, a federal government employee with guaranteed salary, a pension and even medical benefits. Here then is the sensitive story of life in a country village, for its children and elders, and their relationship with the country as a whole...a seductive tale that leads you into thinking you're about to watch a situation in Chinese education created by poverty, only to wind up understanding the universal nature of the problems and ideals that educators face all over the world.
Description: Set in the 20th Century BC, "The Emperor and the Assasin" tells the story of Ying Zheng, a power-hungry heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Qin, whose only goal is to conquer the other six kingdoms existing in China, and merge them into his own, and under his rule.
Description: In 1924, young Cheng Dieyi (Leslie Cheung) begins training at the Beijing Opera House at the same time as Duan Xiaolou (Fengyi Zhang). Cheng specializes in playing female parts, often against Duan's commanding male leads. While pretending to be in love with Duan onstage, Cheng begins to develop actual romantic feelings for his co-star, which are not reciprocated. Over the next 50 years, the two men maintain a complicated friendship as China undergoes turbulent changes.
Description: The Tang Dynasty is fighting to keep control over China, a battle they are losing to several rebel groups. One such group is the House of Flying Daggers, who steal from the wealthy and give to the poor. Two police deputies working with the government (Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau) are ordered to investigate the dancer Mei (Zhang Ziyi), who is rumored to be working with the House of Flying Daggers. But both men fall under her charms and decide to help her escape instead.