San Joaquin International Film Festival is proud to welcome back to Stockton - Director Kalyanee Mam - to celebrate the Homecoming Premiere of her new internationally-lauded film - "A River Changes Course" - at the festival's seventh annual Opening Night on Friday, January 3, 2014 at 6:30pm, at the Janet Leigh Theatre, located on the campus of University of the Pacific (3601 Pacific Avenue).
At 8:30pm, the official Opening Night Party will follow at the University Plaza Waterfront Hotel (110 West Fremont Street), also a Premier level sponsor of the festival. Details to be announced on the festival's website.
Special Award: Director Mam will be presented with the Festival’s Journey Award, honoring her unique connection to the San Joaquin community, her international filmmaking achievement and her ongoing humanitarian efforts in Cambodia and beyond.
Kalyanee Mam, 35, grew up in Stockton, California and graduated from Edison High School in 1995. As an award-winning filmmaker, lawyer, and born storyteller, she is committed to combining her passion for art and advocacy to tell compelling and universal stories. Born in Battambang, Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge Regime, she and her family fled the refugee camps at the Thai-Cambodian border and eventually immigrated to the United States in 1981. Even to this day her mother recounts stories of their flight through jungles laden with land mines. These stories and many others inspired Kalyanee to return to her native homeland and to make films about atrocities occurring in Cambodia even today. Most recently, Kalyanee has directed, produced and shot winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, A River Changes Course, which charts the radical changes in Cambodia today that are transforming not only the country’s landscape – but also the dreams of its people. Kalyanee has also worked on 2011 Oscar-winning documentary, Inside Job (Cinematographer, Associate Producer, and Researcher) about the global financial crisis and documentary short Between Earth & Sky (Director, Producer, Cinematographer) about three young Iraqi refugee artists living in Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. A graduate of Yale University and UCLA Law School, Kalyanee has also worked as a legal consultant in Mozambique and Iraq.
From Kalyanee Mam: "It is such a pleasure and honor to be back in Stockton to share a film about my home country with the people of my hometown. I hope this film will resonate deeply in your heart as a story about the struggles of families not only in Cambodia but also here in Stockton.”
From festival director Sophoan Sorn: "What a night of extraordinary combination: We will open our festival with one of the most unique films of the year. We will welcome home a fellow Stocktonian who is an internationally-known filmmaker. And we will celebrate her on-going humanitarian activism and achievement with the festival’s Journey Award. Kalyanee Mam opens our eyes and hearts to these major issues in Cambodia that is also affecting millions around the world: rapid industrialization and the horrific decimation of the environment, people and their ways of life. With a big heart, talent and courage, she uses first-hand cinematic storytelling to build awareness and motivate for change.”
More details and video clip: www.sjiff.com/sjiff2014/river.html
Synopsis: A River Changes Course (“Kbang tuk tonle” in Khmer) tells the story of three families living in contemporary Cambodia as they face hard choices forced by rapid development and struggle to maintain their traditional ways of life as the modern world closes in around them. In the deep jungles of Cambodia, Sav Samourn and her family depend on the forests for their food and livelihood. But with the encroachment of large companies and the slashing and clearing of forests, Sav Samourn soon discovers there is no room for wild animals and ghosts in the forests she calls home. In a fishing village on the Tonle Sap River, Sari Math is forced to quit school to help support his family. But as the fish catch steadily dwindles, Sari and his family realize their lives as fishermen are changing forever. In a small village outside of Phnom Penh, Khieu Mok must leave and find work in a garment factory to support her family's mounting debt. But life in the city proves no better and Khieu finds herself torn between her obligations to send money home and her duty to be at home with her family. From a remote northern jungle, down along the Tonle Sap, to the rice fields in the country's center and the pulsing heart of urban Phnom Penh, the radical changes in Cambodia today are transforming not only the country's landscape – but also the dreams of its people. (83 minutes; in Khmer with English subtitles; released in 2013)
A River Changes Course has screened all over the world, at major institutions and festivals, including the Sydney International, the Jerusalem International and MoMA at New York City. The film also won many awards, including the Golden Gate Award for Best Documentary Film at the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary Feature at the Atlanta Film Festival, Best Feature Film at the Green Film Festival in Seoul, South Korea, and both Best Director and Best Cinematography at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. This Homecoming Premiere in Stockton is also the California’s Central Valley Premiere.
Tickets:
Film only - $15.00
Film & Party combo - $30.00
Party only - $15.00
Discounts are not available for these two programs.
Advance tickets now on sale at www.sjiff.com/tickets.
Ticket Giveaway Contest: The festival will be giving away seven pairs of complimentary tickets to high school and college students in a short essay contest. More information coming soon.
Credits for all images in this press release are courtesy of Migrant Films.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
Presented by the San Joaquin Film Society and founded by present-director Sophoan Sorn, the San Joaquin International Film Festival (SJIFF) is the Valley’s benchmark annual celebration of contemporary world cinema. Since the festival began in 2008, over 150 screenings, featuring 300+ narrative features, documentaries and short films from master directors, auteurs and emerging filmmakers of 40+ countries have been presented at venues across the northern Central Valley. The festival provides its local community an exclusive opportunity to experience some of the best of recent noteworthy films from around the world, therefore, encouraging multi-cultural appreciation, social dialogue, and awareness of current events. The 2014 line-up is being announced on a rolling basis throughout November, comprising of films from 20 nations celebrating the theme "We Are Connected." The festival will screen films during January 3-5, 2014 at the Janet Leigh Theatre on the campus of University of the Pacific.