The Betrayal (2008)

Synopsis: When she shot her first roll of film on THE BETRAYAL (NERAKHOON) back in the mid-1980s, Ellen Kuras was just another aspiring filmmaker. Over 20 years later, upon completion of her wildly ambitious... When she shot her first roll of film on THE BETRAYAL (NERAKHOON) back in the mid-1980s, Ellen Kuras was just another aspiring filmmaker. Over 20 years later, upon completion of her wildly ambitious project, she is one of America's most celebrated cinematographers. Her talent behind the camera has resulted in one of the most gorgeous documentaries the screen has ever seen. While Kuras wears many hats on the film--director, writer, cinematographer--she doesn't wear nearly as many as her collaborator, Thavisouk Phrasavath. Not only is Phrasavath the film's co-director, co-writer, and editor; most importantly, he's the star. With poetic grace, Kuras and Phrasavath tell his family's tragic, moving tale. From the war-torn fields of Laos to a refugee camp in Thailand in the 1970s, to the gang-ridden streets of Brooklyn in the 1980s, the Phrasavaths faced danger and hardship everywhere they went. Betrayed on a multitude of levels, it's a miracle they managed to survive. This is due in large part to Phrasavath, who kept his family together in their darkest hours. Kuras's greatest achievement with THE BETRAYAL is the way she tells a broad, epic, large-scale story with the intimacy of a home movie. But this sure doesn't look like a home movie. Using 16mm whenever possible, Kuras produces beautiful, luminescent imagery that one rarely encounters in non-fiction cinema. It is this commitment to artistry that makes THE BETRAYAL more than just a powerful documentary about an immigrant family in America. It is a profoundly inspiring tale of survival. [More]

Director: Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath

Director: Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath
Producer: Flora Fernandez-Marengo, Ellen Kuras
Composer: Howard Shore
Studio: Cinema Guild