{"id":505,"date":"2018-09-15T13:08:23","date_gmt":"2018-09-15T20:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/?p=999918787"},"modified":"2018-09-15T13:08:23","modified_gmt":"2018-09-15T20:08:23","slug":"angelina-jolie-surprise-cambodia-town-film-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/art\/angelina-jolie-surprise-cambodia-town-film-festival","title":{"rendered":"Angelina Jolie makes a surprise stop at Long Beach’s Cambodia Town Film Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Angelina Jolie made a surprise visit to the Cambodia Town Film Festival Saturday to help promote the event, which organizers have spent years pushing for better exposure for\u00a0Cambodian and Cambodian-American narratives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“It means the world to us that she took the time to come here and speak,” said\u00a0praCh Ly, the co-founder and co-director of the event.<\/p>\n

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Angelina Jolie at the Cambodia Town Film Festival on Saturday Sept. 15, 2018. Photo Courtesy Kerstin Kansteiner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last year, the film \u201cFirst They Killed My Father,” which Jolie directed and screened at the festival. She showed up that year to promote the movie.<\/p>\n

This year, she returned to continue boosting the event, according to\u00a0Ly. It was a surprise to the audience, according to Ly, who said only members of the festival knew she was going to stop by.<\/p>\n

Jolie has also been designated as an ambassador of the Cambodian Town Film Festival, Ly said.<\/p>\n

During a short talk, Jolie wore\u00a0a traditional Cambodian dress made in Long Beach by Khmer Bridal on Pacific Coast Highway, Ly said.<\/p>\n

\"Angelina
Angelina Jolie at the Cambodia Town Film Festival on Saturday Sept. 15, 2018. Photo Courtesy Kerstin Kansteiner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cFirst They Killed My Father,” is about surviving the Khmer Rouge’s brutal regime, which\u00a0killed an estimated 2 million Cambodians. It was based on a memoir of the same name.<\/p>\n

Last year, Jolie was also joined on stage by the memoir’s author, Loung Ung, and the film’s producer,\u00a0Oscar-nominated Cambodian filmmaker\u00a0Rithy Panh.<\/p>\n