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The Betrayal: Nerakhoon

– by Ellen Kuras & Thavisouk Phrasavath

    1. Nonfiction

    2. Date Awarded: 2008

    3. Directors(s): Ellen Kuras & Thavisouk Phrasavath

    1. Producer(s): Flora Fernandez-Marengo

    2. Company Credit: Celluloid Dreams, The Cinema Guild, The American Documentary, P.O.V.

    3. Location: New York, NY (USA)

    1. Film Status: Completed

    2. URL: » http://www.thebetrayalmovie.com/

    3. Distribution: DVD available online at - http://tinyurl.com/kj8fzl

About the Film:

Cinereach was proud to recognize Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath with the first Cinereach Award.

Filmed over the course of 23 years, The Betrayal: Nerakhoon is an epic story of one family’s journey from war-torn Laos to the mean streets of New York in the 80′s to the present. Thavisouk Phrasavath tells the story of himself as a young man struggling to survive a war and the hardships of immigrant life. His mother tells her own astonishing tale of perseverance as a soldier’s wife. Breathtaking and compelling, renowned cinematographer Ellen Kuras’s directorial debut is a remarkable collaboration with co-director Phrasavath – a poetic, deeply personal film about the hidden, human face of war’s “collateral damage.” The film was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival 2008, nominated for Best Documentary at the 2009 Academy Awards, and was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards.

About the Filmmakers:

Ellen Kuras, an unprecedented three-time recipient of Sundance Film Festival’s Best Dramatic Cinematography Award, was first recognized for her black and white cinematography on Swoon (1990), Tom Kalin’s acclaimed independent film.  Other work includes Isaac Mizrahi’s Unzipped, Mary Harron’s I Shot Andy Warhol, and Spike Lee’s Oscar-nominated 4 Little Girls, as well as his features Summer of Sam, and Bamboozled.  She was also DP on Rebecca Miller’s Angela and The Ballad of Jack & Rose, Ted Demme’s Blow, and Harold Ramis’ Analyze That starring Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal.  More recent films include Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and Be Kind Rewind directed by Michel Gondry, Heart of Gold, the Neil Young concert film and Lou Reed’s Berlin. She is currently shooting Sam Mendes’ film Middlemarch.  The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) is her directorial debut.