Escaping death and erasing the past is what motivated Socheata Poeuv to film a documentary on the Cambodian Genocide, titled “New Year Baby,” that won her the Witness Award from the Jewish World Watch (JWW) organization.
The purpose of the second annual Witness Awards is to acknowledge community leaders and learn from them, said Tzivia Schwartz-Getzug, executive director of JWW.
The mission of JWW is to educate communities about genocides that continue throughout the world and give aid to the survivors of such crises. Rabbi Harold Schulweis first began JWW in 2004.
In 2007, he encouraged the Jewish community to honor individuals who are active in making other community members aware of atrocities in their culture by giving the first Witness Award ceremony. This is a way for the Jewish community to reach out and relate to other cultures that are or were in similar situations as the Jewish Holocaust, Getzug added.
This year’s Witness Award was for the local Cambodian community.
“Long Beach has the largest Cambodian community outside of Cambodia,” said Schwartz-Getzug.
The recipient was born in a Cambodian concentration camp and based the film on the Khmer Rouge Genocide, in which the country’s Communist party killed thousands during the 1970s.
Scwartz-Getzug called the film a great model to the Cambodian community that will bring compassion to prevent further atrocities like the Khmer Rouge Genocide.
For the students in Cal State Long Beach’s Cambodian Student Society (CSS), the documentary gives more awareness about the history of their culture, said Monique Chhoeun, president of the CSS.
The CSS has been working with JWW this year to spread awareness to other schools and local Cambodians to participate in the organization’s efforts.
Chhoeun believes the film has an impact on the young and older generations in the Long Beach Cambodian community.
“A lot of elders can’t open up to it. But maybe the younger generation can start asking about it and learn about who they are,” said Chhouen of the genocide.
The CSS is looking to create something similar in Long Beach or if not, to help with Poeuv’s latest project, the “Khmer Project,” which will allow children of Khmer Genocide survivors to ask their parents questions and listen to their experiences about a delicate part of their history.
“My parents never talked about it. [‘New Year Baby’] was an eye-opener,” Chhoeun said. She saw the documentary twice and it gave her a new perspective on what she had only read of her Cambodian heritage. According to Chhoeun, it is a way for the young generation to learn about their history and for the older generation to overcome their grief and leave a legacy.
The CSS will also participate in an Immigration Week screening of documentaries based on Cambodian immigrants who have been deported back to Cambodia and have difficulty adjusting to society there.
The JWW is also currently raising awareness about the genocide and conflict in Darfur, located in western Sudan. Last year, the JWW acknowledged the Armenian community and honored UCLA professors Richard Hovannisian and J. Michael Hagopian for their documentary, “Voices from the Lake,” about the Armenian Genocide.