Angkor: The Lost Empire of Cambodia 3D and 2D at Carnegie Science Center, March 10 through May 29.

Angkor: The Lost Empire of Cambodia 3D and 2D will play at the Carnegie Science Center's Rangos Giant Cinema from March 10 through May 29.

At the height of its power between the 9th and 15th centuries, Angkor, the capital of the Khmer empire, was a resplendent city, considered the most extensive urban complex of the pre-industrial world. But by the late 16th century, the empire was in its death throes. The people of Angkor left not a single word explaining their kingdom’s collapse.

Angkor: The Lost Empire of Cambodia is visually stunning—an adventure where science, mystery, and ancient civilizations intersect, on a scale meant for the Giant Screen. Unravel Angkor’s ancient mysteries with archeologists and scientists who conceive ingenious methods, employ cutting edge technology, and even enlist the help of some unexpected furry friends. Come along this giant screen adventure to unveil the mysteries behind this lost jewel of Cambodia!

"Digging Cambodian Rock: Global Media Archaeologies of Popular Music," October 27 at Pitt.

via KUNR, story by NPR.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will present David Novak and his talk "Digging Cambodian Rock: Global Media Archaeologies of Popular Music" on October 27, part of its Asia Now Fall Lecture Series.

Thinking toward a media archaeology of global popular music, this presentation will trace the contemporary circulation of “golden era” 1960s and 1970s "Cambodian Rock." The lecture seeks to contextualize and historicize revivals of pre-Khmer Rouge pop recordings through the mediated movements, dubs, and remixes of cassette tapes among North American independent labels and the activities of online archivists and heritage centers in present-day Cambodia, which helped to generate the documentary film Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten, the play Cambodian Rock Band, and the Los Angeles based group Dengue Fever. Drawing from ethnographic interviews with contemporary preservationists and reissue labels in Cambodia, California, Oregon, and Massachusetts, the lecture considers the role of music in memories of genocide and war, the importance of physical materials in the global recognition of Southeast Asian history, and the ethical politics of media access in the transition to a digital archive.

It runs from 4:30 to 5:45 pm in 211 Lawrence Hall, and is free and open to members of the Pitt community who abide by the university's health guidelines.

"Digging Cambodian Rock: Global Media Archaeologies of Popular Music," October 27 at Pitt.

via KUNR, story by NPR.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will present David Novak and his talk "Digging Cambodian Rock: Global Media Archaeologies of Popular Music" on October 27, part of its Asia Now Fall Lecture Series.

Thinking toward a media archaeology of global popular music, this presentation will trace the contemporary circulation of “golden era” 1960s and 1970s "Cambodian Rock." The lecture seeks to contextualize and historicize revivals of pre-Khmer Rouge pop recordings through the mediated movements, dubs, and remixes of cassette tapes among North American independent labels and the activities of online archivists and heritage centers in present-day Cambodia, which helped to generate the documentary film Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten, the play Cambodian Rock Band, and the Los Angeles based group Dengue Fever. Drawing from ethnographic interviews with contemporary preservationists and reissue labels in Cambodia, California, Oregon, and Massachusetts, the lecture considers the role of music in memories of genocide and war, the importance of physical materials in the global recognition of Southeast Asian history, and the ethical politics of media access in the transition to a digital archive.

It runs from 4:30 to 5:45 pm in 211 Lawrence Hall, and is free and open to members of the Pitt community who abide by the university's health guidelines.

Screening and discussion of Keep Saray Home at Pitt for its APIA Month, January 26.

The University of Pittsburgh is recognizing Asian Pacific Islander American Heritage Month in January---as there is little campus activity during May---and an Asian Pacific Islander Senate has recently formed there. One of its events this month is a screening of the short documentary Keep Saray Home with a Q&A with filmmakers on January 26. A synopsis, from the film's official site:

ICE doesn’t just separate families at the border. In the outskirts of Boston, three families face the impending threat of deportation. But as refugees from Cambodia and Vietnam, they know they’ll have to fight together to stay together.

The event takes place on Zoom from 7:00 pm and is free and open to the public.

Our Time Machine (时光机), Donut King continue online via Tull Family Theater.

The Tull Family Theater in Sewickley, which will close to in-person patrons from December 12 through January 4, will continue to screen Our Time Machine (时光机) and Donut King in its virtual cinema.

New Alice Gu documentary The Donut King opens online at Tull Family Theater today.

The documentary The Donut King opens online via Sewickley's Tull Family Thater on October 30. From the official site:

Ted’s story is one of fate, love, survival, hard knocks, and redemption. It’s the rags to riches story of a refugee escaping Cambodia, arriving in America in 1975 and building an unlikely multi-million-dollar empire baking America’s favorite pastry, the donut. Ted sponsored hundreds of visas for incoming refugees and helped them get on their feet teaching them the ways of the donut business. By 1979 he was living the American Dream. But, in life, great rise can come with great falls.

Tickets are available purchase online via the Tull Family Theater, with 50% of proceeds going there.

Cambodian-French documentary The Missing Picture online at Pitt, June 24.

The Asian Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh will present the 2013 Cambodian-French documentary The Missing Picture online on June 24, the first installment of the three-part "Hot Nights And Cold War" series. From a Variety review:

Following “S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine” and “Duch, Master of the Forges of Hell,” Rithy Panh grapples with the horrors of the Cambodian genocide on more intimately unsettling terms in “The Missing Picture.” A sobering chronicle of Panh’s teenage years under the Pol Pot dictatorship, the film is a brave act of witness complicated by the documaker’s decision to re-create his experiences using clay figurines, a tricky aesthetic device that raises fascinating and problematic questions of representation. Sufficiently distinguished from Panh’s other fine work on the subject, and bolstered by strong black-and-white archival footage, “Picture” would be assured of further fest play and strong broadcast interest even if it hadn’t won the top Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes.

The movie starts at 4:00 pm and those interested should register online.

Lauren Yee's play "Cambodian Rock Band," with music from Cambodian-American band Dengue Fever, in Pittsburgh from September 14 through October 6.

Lauren Yee's "Cambodian Rock Band" will run at the City Theater from September 14 through October 6. Yee offers a summary:

Discover Cambodia’s lost surf rock scene through the eyes of a young Cambodian American woman and her father, a Khmer Rouge survivor who begrudgingly returns to his home country for the first time in thirty years. This thrilling story toggles back and forth in time, as father and daughter face the music of the past. An intimate rock epic about family secrets set against the dark chapter of Cambodian history. Featuring actor/musicians who perform the show’s mix of contemporary Dengue Fever hits and classic Cambodian oldies.

There has been some interest in Cambodian surf rock music in recent years, with the 2014 documentary Don't Think I've Forgotten playing at the Row House Cinema, Hollywood Theater, and Melwood Screening Room in 2015 and 2016. Dengue Fever has played in Pittsburgh, too, most recently as an opening act in 2017.

Tickets are available online. The theater is located at 1300 Bingham St. in the South Side (map).

Pittsburgh premiere of Funan, July 6 through 11 at Row House Cinema.

Row House Cinema will present the Pittsburgh premiere of Funan, a French film about a Cambodian mother's search for her child kidnapped during the Khmer Rouge coup, from July 6 through 11. From the film's official site:

In 1975 in Phnom Penh, Chou leads an enchanted life until one morning when the Khmer Rouge madness plunges Cambodia into horror. The population is deported to camps and Chou’s confronted to the pain of powerlessness. When her 4-year-old son is snatched from her by a feeling crowd, her world falls apart but she never loses hope. Funan is the incredibly powerful story of a young mother’s fight to save her son and keep her family together in a barbaric time.

The film is in French with English subtitles, and tickets are available online. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street (map).

Pittsburgh premiere of Funan, July 5 through 11 at Row House Cinema.

Row House Cinema will present the Pittsburgh premiere of Funan, a French film about a Cambodian mother's search for her child kidnapped during the Khmer Rouge coup, from July 5 through 11. From the film's official site:

In 1975 in Phnom Penh, Chou leads an enchanted life until one morning when the Khmer Rouge madness plunges Cambodia into horror. The population is deported to camps and Chou’s confronted to the pain of powerlessness. When her 4-year-old son is snatched from her by a feeling crowd, her world falls apart but she never loses hope. Funan is the incredibly powerful story of a young mother’s fight to save her son and keep her family together in a barbaric time.

The film is in French with English subtitles. Tickets and showtime information is not yet available. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street (map).

Lauren Yee's play "Cambodian Rock Band," with music from Cambodian-American band Dengue Fever, in Pittsburgh from September 14 through October 6.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has news of the 2019-2020 City Theater season, and Lauren Yee's "Cambodian Rock Band" is among the offerings. Yee offers a summary:

Discover Cambodia’s lost surf rock scene through the eyes of a young Cambodian American woman and her father, a Khmer Rouge survivor who begrudgingly returns to his home country for the first time in thirty years. This thrilling story toggles back and forth in time, as father and daughter face the music of the past. An intimate rock epic about family secrets set against the dark chapter of Cambodian history. Featuring actor/musicians who perform the show’s mix of contemporary Dengue Fever hits and classic Cambodian oldies.

There has been some interest in Cambodian surf rock music in recent years, with the 2014 documentary Don't Think I've Forgotten playing at the Row House Cinema, Hollywood Theater, and Melwood Screening Room in 2015 and 2016. Dengue Fever has played in Pittsburgh, too, most recently as an opening act in 2017.

Tickets are not yet available. The theater is located at 1300 Bingham St. in the South Side (map).

Michael Sakamoto: Soil at Kelly Strayhorn Theater, March 9 and 10.

The Kelly Strayhorn Theater will present the "intercultural dance-theater work" Soil on March 9 and 10.

Soil is an intercultural dance-theater work conceived and directed by Michael Sakamoto and co-created with three performers who embody distinct traditions: Cambodian classical and contemporary dancer Chey Chankethya, Thai traditional and contemporary dancer Waewdao Sirisook, and Vietnamese-American contemporary dancer Nguyen Nguyen. Each of these performers’ personal histories chart humanitarian, social, and economic crises that have stemmed from colonialism, war, genocide, political turmoil and natural disaster in Southeast Asia.

Soil poses the question “Who am I?” in the context of a chaotic and globalizing transnational citizenry. Various dance forms and styles—including Western contemporary, Cambodian classical, Northern Thai traditional and folk, and butoh—are juxtaposed, remixed and revealed as rooted in the experience of everyday life as global citizens. Featuring original music by Reiko Imanishi and Shinichi Isohata.

Tickets for the 8:00 pm shows are pay-what-you-can. The Kelly Strayhorn Theater is located at 5941 Penn Ave. in East Liberty (map).

Three events with Samir Lakhani, Eco-Soap Bank Founder and University of Pittsburgh alumnus, February 9 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh will host alumnus and Top 10 CNN Hero of 2017 Samir Lakhani for three events on February 9 as an "Race, Gender and Leadership Series: Health & Entrepreneurship in Asia" series. Lakhani will give a keynote address from 12:00 pm at Alumni Hall. From 3:00 to 4:30 pm is an "Healthy Global Engagement and Social Entrepreneurship: How to work responsibly with/as an international NGO?" discussion in the Willian Pitt Union.

An informal dialogue between Pitt students and Mr. Lakhani on best practices when seeking employment with non-profits or developing new NGOs to serve the needs of developing countries.

And from 5:00 to 7:30 pm, the Katz Graduate School of Business will host his "Fireside Chat: Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship".

Pitt Business is proud to host a fireside chat with University of Pittsburgh alumnus Samir Lakhani, founder of Eco-Soap Bank and a Top 10 CNN Hero of 2017. In this special discussion, Lakhani will highlight the power of social entrepreneurship to make positive health, economic, and environmental impacts on the developing world. Pitt Business Associate Dean Audrey J. Murrell will serve as moderator, as issues of ethics, leadership, health, and global entrepreneurship in the 21st century are discussed.

The events are free and open to the public, but both the keynote address and the Fireside Chat require advance registration.

Three events with Samir Lakhani, Eco-Soap Bank Founder and University of Pittsburgh alumnus, February 9 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh will host alumnus and Top 10 CNN Hero of 2017 Samir Lakhani for three events on February 9 as an "Race, Gender and Leadership Series: Health & Entrepreneurship in Asia" series. Lakhani will give a keynote address from 12:00 pm at Alumni Hall. From 3:00 to 4:30 pm is an "Healthy Global Engagement and Social Entrepreneurship: How to work responsibly with/as an international NGO?" discussion in the Willian Pitt Union.

An informal dialogue between Pitt students and Mr. Lakhani on best practices when seeking employment with non-profits or developing new NGOs to serve the needs of developing countries.

And from 5:00 to 7:30 pm, the Katz Graduate School of Business will host his "Fireside Chat: Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship".

Pitt Business is proud to host a fireside chat with University of Pittsburgh alumnus Samir Lakhani, founder of Eco-Soap Bank and a Top 10 CNN Hero of 2017. In this special discussion, Lakhani will highlight the power of social entrepreneurship to make positive health, economic, and environmental impacts on the developing world. Pitt Business Associate Dean Audrey J. Murrell will serve as moderator, as issues of ethics, leadership, health, and global entrepreneurship in the 21st century are discussed.

The events are free and open to the public, but both the keynote address and the Fireside Chat require advance registration.

Cambodian-American rock group Dengue Fever in Pittsburgh this April.

Dengue Fever, a Cambodian-American "cross pollination of Khmer rock, garage rock, psychedelic rock and the British Invasion sound", recently announced a stop in Pittsburgh as part of their 2017 tour with Tinariwen. Tickets for the April 21 show at the Carnegie Library of Homestead are currently on sale and range from $18.75 to $45.



Dengue Fever last performed in Pittsburgh in 2012.

Second screening of documentary on early Cambodian rock music, Don't Think I've Forgotten, October 18.

The Eco-Soap Bank will present the second of two screenings of Don't Think I've Forgotten, a documentary on early Cambodian rock music, on Tuesday, October 18 at the Row House Cinema.

Documentary on early Cambodian rock music, Don't Think I've Forgotten, back in Pittsburgh, October 13 and 18.

The Eco-Soap Bank will present two screenings of Don't Think I've Forgotten, a documentary on early Cambodian rock music, on October 13 and 18.

"Understanding the Background & Academic Preparation of Students from Chinese Cultures" at Pitt, September 23.

Meiyi Song, of the University of Pittsburgh's University Center for Teaching and Learning, will present a talk on "Understanding the Background & Academic Preparation of Students from Chinese Cultures" on September 23, as part of a series to highlight diversity and inclusion at the university. The talk runs from 3:00 to 5:00 pm in 223 David Lawrence Hall (map) and is free and open to the public (registration required).

CMU Japanese Student Association Culture Month in November, sumo wrestling November 6.

The Carnegie Mellon University Japanese Student Association will host sumo wrestling on November 6, the first event in the JSA's Culture Month.

First we will have a short talk about the history of Sumo in Japan. Then we will have a fun tournament to find CMU's best sumo wrestler. Bring your friends to find the best sumo wrestler in your group!

Join JSA at CMU as we present Culture Month. Each week we will throw at least one event to display the rich and colorful culture of Japan, whether it's through food, performances, or play! Join us as we listen to the powerful taiko, eat hot, delicious okonomiyaki, and watch the delicate Japanese traditional tea ceremony.

The event starts at 4:30 pm in the Connan Room of University Center (campus map).

Cambodian film The Last Reel (ដុំហ្វីលចុងក្រោយ) in Oakland, July 18.

The Cambodian film The Last Reel (ដុំហ្វីលចុងក្រោយ), which first played in Pittsburgh on July 13, will have a second screening at the Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival on Saturday, July 18, the last day of the festival. A synopsis, via the official site:

A lost film buried beneath the Killing Fields reveals different versions of the truth.

Sophoun discovers an old film starring her mother and this offers her the chance to dictate her own destiny, but at the cost of uncovering some dark secrets about her mother and father during the Khmer Rouge regime.

Phnom Penh, present day. Sophoun, the rebellious daughter of a hard-line army colonel, lives life for the moment, hanging out with a local gang. But when her father returns home with another marriage proposal, Sophoun flees her imploding home and seeks refuge in a derelict cinema. There, she is shocked to discover an incomplete 1970s melodrama from pre-Khmer Rouge times, a film which starred her now desperately ill mother as a glamorous young woman. A story from a different world, a different time.

With the help of the cinema’s elderly projectionist, Sophoun re-makes the missing last reel of the film, reprising her mother’s role. By premiering the completed film forty years later, she hopes to remind her mother of a life she’d once lived and to mend the psychological scars that still haunt her.

The old film, however, poses more questions than it answers. The promise of the Cambodian film industry and its newest star was cut short in 1975 by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime which specifically targeted actors and filmmakers as enemies of the people. Remaking the last reel offers Sophoun an opportunity to dictate her own destiny but at the cost of uncovering some painful truths about her family and their past.

The movie plays at the Melwood Screening Room in Oakland (map) and starts at 8:30 pm.