Angelina Jolie Pitt filming war memoir in Cambodia from November

[geovalin]

Angelina Jolie Pitt filming war memoir in Cambodia from November

Angelina Jolie Pitt will start filming her adaptation of memoir First They Killed My Father in Siem Reap, Cambodia, from mid-November.

Her new directing project is based on the true story of how Cambodian author and human rights activist Laung Ung survived the brutality of the Khmer Rouge regime, which seized power in Cambodia in 1975.

As many as three million Cambodians were murdered by the Khmer Rouge. Ung was just five years old when the regime took over, and was forced to become a child soldier.

Jolie Pitt will shoot largely in Siem Reap in north-western Cambodia and location filming will run through to the end of January with the support of Cambodia Film Commission, reports local media outlet the Phnom Penh Post.

“Siem Reap offers various looks that we need for the picture while also offering really good infrastructure,” said the film’s line producer Bill Wilson, in comments to the outlet.

“This is unique, I think, because it is from the perspective of a young five-year-old girl and we will see the movie through her eyes – what she saw and what she experienced. It is [a] very new way to tell the story.”

Jolie Pitt worked in Cambodia early in her film career when she starred in the first Tomb Raider movie, and her adopted son Maddox was born in the country.

“I was deeply affected by Loung’s book,” said Jolie Pitt when the project was announced in the summer. “It deepened forever my understanding of how children experience war and are affected by the emotional memory of it. And it helped me draw closer still to the people of Cambodia, my son‘s homeland.

“It is a dream come true to be able to adapt this book for the screen, and I’m honoured to work alongside Loung and filmmaker Rithy Panh.”

source: http://www.kftv.com/news/2015/10/29/angelina-jolie-pitt-filming-war-memoir-in-cambodia-from-november

[webfact]

Final preparations being made as Jolie project ready for filming



BANGKOK: -- Shooting for Angelina Jolie Pitt’s film adaptation of the Khmer Rouge memoir "First They Killed My Father" is set to begin next month in Siem Reap and feature a cast of thousands, The Phnom Penh Post reported.

Locations for the shooting would include the Angkor Wat and Bayon temples, the Siem Reap River and roads, houses and rice fields in Bakong, Banteay Srey and Pouk districts, said Cambodia Film Commission director Cheap Sovichea.

Sovichea said 90 per cent of the film will be shot in Siem Reap and some in Battambang. In Siem Reap, the shooting will be from Nov 12 until the end of January, he added.

Line producer Bill Wilson said a huge number of extras would be needed, probably around 2,000 to 3,000 people including all background performers, workers, technicians and actors.

Wilson and Sovichea met with Siem Reap provincial governor Khim Bun Song Wednesday to seek the authority’s assistance.

Sovichea said permission had already been granted from the Apsara Authority to film near the temples but help was needed from the provincial authorities in notifying the local community about the filming, which will include scenes with explosions and gunfire.

The production also needed permission to block some roads and clear areas of people during scenes depicting the evacuation of Phnom Penh.

Jolie Pitt is directing the film from a script she co-wrote with the memoir’s author Loung Ung. The film is being produced for Netflix – a US provider of on-demand internet streaming media – and was first announced in July. Celebrated Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh is a co-producer on the film.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/final-preparations-being-made-as-jolie-project-ready-for-filming

-- Thai PBS 2015-10-30

[khwaibah]

Would not expect any other location as she will have access to the finest 5 stare hotels in Siem Reap.

[whooshbang]

Be interesting to see how Jolie-Pitt' film portrays the book. It's one hell of a story! Not sure I remember scenes from Ankor in the book but hey.... the place is just too good to drop from a movie scene.

I thought I got duped when I bought the book from an old man whilst visiting S21. Spent the next 2 weeks travelling Cambodia and reading it.

Really gave me extra insight to the atrocities committed during that terrible era.

[Boycie]

Look forward to watching the full movie when its released on Netflix

Edited January 24, 2017 by Boycie