Excerpt from today's Ithaca Journal article:
A documentary produced by local filmmakers, “Angkor Awakens,” explores the lingering effects of the Khmer Rouge on Cambodians today.
When describing the film, which will will screen Monday at Cornell Cinema, director Robert H. Lieberman said, "through the lens of the present, we’re viewing the past and future."
Editor David Kossack said the effects of the Khmer Rouge still echo through Cambodia today.
The Khmer Rouge was a name given to people who were followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia. From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge was the ruling party and wanted the country to be self-sufficient, which resulted in famine and the spread of treatable disease. People thought to be subversive were tortured and executed. The party enforced social engineering policies and were determined to bring Cambodia back to "Year Zero". In just a few years, the Khmer Rouge killed an estimated 3 million people, targeting people who were considered educated, including doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects and even people with glasses.