FREEDOM DEAL: The Story of Lucky (PDF Presskit)

1111 ‘FREEDOM DEAL: The Story of Lucky’ http://www.freedomdealmovie.com [email protected]

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RT 24:56 Dramatic Fiction

(Niches) War – Asian – Youth - Supernatural – Human Rights

CCCCamamamameeeerarararadodododo SESESESE AsAsAsAsiiiiaaaa Attn: Jason “Jack RO” Rosette Rosette * Phun Sokunthearith PO Box 707 12000 Phnom Penh, Cambodia 855 011 736 206 INT’L 1 818 748 8355 SKYPE kingcamerado [email protected] Website http://www.freedomdealmovie.com

TRAITRAITRAITRAILLLLEEEERRRR: https://vimeo.com/60932720

‘FREEDOM DEAL: The Story of Lucky’

CREDITS:CREDITS:CREDITS:CREDITS:

KHOUN DARITH...Samnang

SOK POLYNN...The Travelling Musician

Sok Socheat...Lon Nol Officer

Pran Sareoun...Jeep Driver Aran Lun...The Ghost (Local Version) Chum Sameth...Bicycle Man Refugee

Nin, Jay, Pen, Vanny & Uncle Oun...Refugees

Written, Edited, and Directed by Jason ‘JACK RO’ Rosette Co-Produced by ALEC CESCHI

Cinematography by JASON ROSETTE Consulting Producer JUDY HENRY

Original Compositions MIYHUN KIM Tro Khmer Music TOEU VORN Visual FX MICHAEL MARTIN

Assistant Director & Translator PHUN SOKUNTHEARITH

Location Sound & Coordinator TIENG RATHA Transportation SUONG SAMBATH & PRAN SAREOUN

Local Publicity and Outreach (Cambodia) SOMA NORODOM International Outreach & Development Associate KAMI LENNOX

Associate Producer PENG SOKENIN

Thanks to the Village Chief GONG LIEN

Thanks to the Cambodia Daily newspaper

Some Sound Effects Courtesy FREESFX www.freesfx.co.uk

Permits through the Department of Cinema and Diffusion, Ministry of Culture and Fine Art Phnom Penh Cambodia

‘FREEDOM DEAL: The Story of Lucky’ (c) 2013 Jason Rosette & Camerado SE Asia


SYNOPSIS

During the 1970 US-Vietnam conflict, a combined US & Army of South Vietnam military operation enters Cambodia to locate and destroy North Vietnamese and Viet Cong sanctuaries. Meanwhile, a Cambodian youth named Samnang (‘Lucky’) and an ornery but likable wedding musician named Nuon make their way through the conflict - encountering landmines, traditional Cambodian ghosts known as ARBS, and marauding helicopters as they go.

Aran Lun as the Cambodian supernatural being known as an ‘ARB’ – rarely if ever seen in the West. The ARB appears in FREEDOM DEAL to taunt and challenge our protagonists on their journey

SHORT SYNOPSIS

May 4, 1970. A combined US & ARVN military force enters Cambodia to destroy North Vietnamese and Viet Cong sanctuaries, while a Cambodian youth named Samnang (‘Lucky’) and wedding musician named Nuon make their way together through the conflict.

ABOUT THE MOVIE

‘FREEDOM DEAL: The Story of Lucky’ is the first ever dramatic movie set during the 1970 expansion of the US-Vietnam conflict into Cambodia, as told from a local (Cambodian) point of view. To date, several dramas and documentaries have explored this significant era in history, but universally from a Western point of view –often associating Nixon’s 1970 ‘Cambodia Incursion’ with the subsequent student protests and shootings at Kent State and Jackson State universities.


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‘FREEDOM DEAL: The Story of Lucky’ dramatizes this perspective through the eyes of a Cambodian youth named Samnang (‘Lucky’) and the people he meets as journeys to find his family in the distant provincial capital.

DIRECTOR STATEMENT: J ‘JACK RO’ Rosette

I’m a US national and film and media maker, living in SE Asia since 2005 as an independent media practitioner, freelancer, and teacher. Jack RO is an Asian aka, given to me by some students of mine in Cambodia who found it preferable to call me “Jack” (versus “Jason”, my given name.) To date, I’ve spent about six years living as an independent media maker and teacher in Cambodia, where I learned the language well enough to direct a few movies for NGOs while undertaking independent projects like

‘FREEDOM DEAL’. FREEDOM DEAL is the story of a country youth and a travelling wedding musician...two regular folk who might have been there in 1970 when history “pivoted” for the US and Asia in a way that’s never yet been depicted on screen until now.

I first became interested in the subject of FREEDOM DEAL while I was travelling from Phnom Penh to the Mekong river town of Kratie, Cambodia, in 2007 or so. Along the way, we stopped for lunch at a small town named Snoul, a crossroads town near the Vietnam border.

Later I learned that Snoul had seen heavy main-force fighting between US and Vietnamese units during the Cambodian Incursion of 1970.

The controversial Cambodian Incursion, seen by some as an expansion of the US-Vietnam conflict, was designed to locate and destroy long established NVA and Viet Cong sanctuary areas inside Cambodia. The effort succeeded at least tactically in relieving pressure against the beleaguered Lon Nol government while supplying them with the captured communist equipment.

As a US national, I was interested in finding out firsthand about this corner of my nation’s history, as it intersected with the Asian country where I was living and working.

I’m also a native Ohioan. I recalled that Nixon’s US incursion had led to significant protests Stateside, including Kent State, Ohio, where students (some protesting, some not) were shot by National Guard units.

ABOVE: Snoul at present, above, with photo of US APCs on the same corner in Spring, 1970


My goal in making Freedom Deal: The Story of Lucky, is to tell the story of a couple of civilian persons caught up in an uninvited conflict on their doorstep – a conflict brought on by geopolitical forces beyond their influence, but not beyond their comprehension.

PRODUCTION NOTES

‘FREEDOM DEAL: The Story of Samnang (‘Lucky’) was shot on location in Kandal province, Cambodia, in August –September 2012. The final edit, mix, and color correction (i.e., “completion date”) was May, 2013. Production in Cambodia poses unique challenges. There are no rental houses as may be found in developed production environments, with equipment being sourced from a variety of local individuals and some being borrowed or purchased and shipped in directly for production. The budget for FREEDOM DEAL was limited, with financial support coming through global friends and strangers alike as part of our crowdfunding efforts. In the end, though, much of the movie was paid for out of pocket, with much of the production gear being sold off to complete the movie. In the end, FREEDOM DEAL was a true group effort, with Cambodian colleagues and friends taking part in the production all the way down the line!

On location in Kandal province, Cambodia, shooting ‘FREEDOM DEAL: The Story of Lucky’. August 2012. Ratha Tieng (Sound, seated), Phun Sokunthearith (Assistant director, with script), Suong Sambath

(Transportation/Grip), and actors Polynn Sok (Nuon) and Khoun Darith (‘Lucky’)

We had a very slim window of opportunity to shoot, as our funding – raised through one of Cambodia’s first crowd funding efforts for a movie production - was extremely limited.


Rainy season had nearly arrived, and once the rain began in earnest, production would become much more difficult. We were therefore racing against the weather, while trying to raise enough money to start the shoot on time as planned. As it was, our crew van was caught in the mud on the first day of shooting and we had to swap out vehicles for a 4 x 4 for the remaining days. Luckily, the Department of Cinema and Cultural Diffusion in Phnom Penh expedited our permits, and there was wholehearted support for our unique, independently produced foreign-Cambodian hybrid team effort:

“I am very pleased having received the script of FREEDOM DEAL ”The Story

of Samnang”. The Department of Cinema and Cultural Diffusion totally supports your initiation into film production. I hope that C amerado Movie and Media Production will succeed in producing this film. I h ave the great pleasure in assisting and collaborating with you.” Sincerely, Mr. Sin Chan Saya

- Director Department of Cinema and Cultural Diffusion

‘Fr‘Fr‘Fr‘Freeeeeeeeddddoooommmm DDDDeaeaeaeallll:::: TTTThhhheeee SSSSttttoooorrrryyyy ofofofof Lucky’ has full permission and support from the Cambodian government, who supports our aim of helping to further develop an independent film industry in Cambodia!

International producers may contact the Department of Cinema and Cultural Diffusion in Phnom Penh with any shooting, production, or permit inquiries in Cambodia

Attn: Mr. Sin Chan Saya, Director

855 012864769 [email protected]


Assistant director Phun Sokunthearith (aka Mr. Tol) reviews script with actors on location (LEFT); actor Socheat Sok (Lon Nol Commanding officer) prepares for a day of shooting (RIGHT)

Ratha Tieng (LEFT) and Darith Koun (‘Lucky’) celebrate the end of the final day of shooting.


Khoun Darith, left (‘Lucky’) and Polynn Sok, right (Nuon the musician) are cast through a series of open casting calls in Phnom Penh; the “open casting call”, common in developed film industries, is still unusual in Cambodia

Due to our limited budget, we “adopted” a section of the Phnom Penh post office for our additional castings while the staff were away on their lunch break (with Associate producer Peng Sokenin)


Ad for the first open casting call in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for ‘FREEDOM DEAL: The Story of Lucky’. Thanks to the Cambodia Daily newspaper for providing us with ad space in the Khmer version of the newspaper.

Protagonists of ‘Freedom Deal’: ‘Lucky’ (played by Khoun Darith) and Nuon the Musician (Polynn Sok


DIRECTOR BIO

Filmmaker Jason Rosette, aka Jack RO (IMDB

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0742891), has been living in SE Asia since 2005 as a filmmaker, media consultant, and educator. He’s spent nearly six of those years living full time in Cambodia as a media freelancer and teacher, working on a variety of fiction, documentaries, and edutainment projects. Previous movies include the award winning urban New York feature documentary ‘BookWars’ (‘Terrific’ – LA Times; ‘Superb’ – NY Film Critics Circle), the feature road movie ‘Lost in New Mexico’ (‘Great

Road Pic’ – Angelika Entertainment, NYC; ‘Recommended’ – Library Journal), and a varied filmography of commissioned and independent documentary and fiction. A filmography can be seen @ http://www.jasonrosette.com/filmography He is also the founder and co-organizer of Cambodia’s first international film festival since the end of the Khmer Rouge regime, CAMBOFEST: Cambodia Film & Video Festival (www.cambofest.com – now on hiatus) and another regional ASEAN festival event, the Bangkok IndieFest (www.bangkokfest.com). He has a BFA from New York University (Film & TV) and an MA from the Royal University of Phnom Penh (Development Studies)

SEE THE FREEDOM DEAL

TRAILER HERE

WEBSITE:

http://www.freedomdealmovie.com

FREEDOM DEAL: The Story of Lucky (PDF Presskit)

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