(Long Island, NY) The Cambodian Genocide, carried out by the Pol Pot-led Khmer Rouge regime, marked a dark period in Cambodia’s history, with the death of an estimated 1.7 million people from 1975 – 1979. The award-winning film Lost Child – Sayon’s Journey – premiering tonight, Thursday, May 14 at 10 p.m. on WLIW21 – tells the story of that horrific genocide through the eyes of a former Khmer Rouge child soldier.
The Khmer Rouge abducted Sayon Soeun at the age of six and used him as a child soldier in their brutal civil war. In this film, Sayon tells his own story, confronting his childhood experiences and revealing what he witnessed and struggled with as he came of age. Lost Child – Sayon’s Journey details Sayon’s recovery and the redemption he’s undergone since being taken in by an American family in 1983.
More than 30 years after leaving Cambodia, Sayon returns to meet people who claim to be his family and come to terms with what he went through. We will watch as Sayon struggles to heal his wounds and forgive the family he felt abandoned him. He must also forgive himself for his complicity as a Khmer Rouge child soldier.
The film is also available for streaming at thirteen.org/thirteen-specials.
For further information about Lost Child – Sayon’s Journey, visit lostchildthefilm.org. The website was made possible by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
