Dir.: Ellen Kuras; Co-Dir.: Thavisouk
Phrasavath; Prod.: Flora Fernandez-Marengo
The Cinema Guild
Filmed over the course of 23 years, The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) is the epic story of a Lao soldier family's journey from war-torn Laos to the mean streets of New York. Thavisouk Phrasavath tells his own deeply personal story as a young man struggling to survive a war and the later hardships of immigrant life, counterpointed by his mother's astonishing tale of perseverance. Renowned cinematographer Ellen Kuras' directorial debut is a remarkable collaboration with Phrasavath-a poetic, cinematically resonant film about the hidden, human face of war's "collateral damage."