Arthur Dong, a visiting instructor for LMU’s School of Film and Television has received a National Endowment for the Humanities Award totaling $475,840 in production funds for his film, The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor. This full-length documentary covers the periods before, during and after the Khmer Rouge’s tyrannical rule over Cambodia as seen through the eyes of Dr. Haing S. Ngor. The Cambodian physician later escaped to America and recreated his experiences in The Killing Fields, winning an Oscar® for his first film. Dr. Ngor became the de facto worldwide ambassador for truth and justice in his homeland, only to be gunned down in Chinatown Los Angeles – a case still muddled with transnational conspiracy theories.
The film will be produced and directed by Dong, and is based on Ngor’s autobiography, Survival in the Killing Fields, written by Haing S. Ngor with Roger Warner. Over the past year, Arthur Dong taught Advanced Production for documentary grad students and pre-production for 1st and 2nd year documentary graduate students.
Congratulations to Arthur Dong for this wonderful achievement!