Author, actor, and filmmaker Jean-Baptiste Phou screens two works that explore protagonists’ yearning and attempts to connect with other people and places across seemingly insurmountable differences wrought by traumatic histories and forced displacement.

First, Phou will screen an excerpt from his stage play, Cambodia, Here I Am. With a premiere in Paris in 2011, Cambodia, Here I Am, focuses on the meeting of four women at an immigration office, where they share their stories and aspirations. This screening will be followed by a screening of Phou’s shortf ilm, My Mother’s Tongue, which tells the story of a mother and son who don’t share a common language. 

After the screenings, Phou and Professor Penny Edwards from the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies will bring these two works into conversation to expand on their shared themes and provocations.