Not Love Songs (2021)
A video of young Cambodian rapper Kea Sokun performing social justice-themed, nationalist songs goes viral in 2020. But these songs ultimately lead to his arrest and imprisonment for a year on charges of “incitement to commit a felony” — one of the most common tools of suppression by the Cambodian government. This law has increasingly been wielded against citizens expressing political opinion on social media. While the government portrays Sokun as an opposition-funded musician calling for an uprising, his parents argue that he was just a kid making music in his room.
Not Love Songs follows Sokun’s rise and fall against the backdrop of the country’s authoritarianism under Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian People’s Party.
Walking with Grandma in the Disappearing Neighborhood (2021)
Walking with Grandma in the Disappearing Neighborhood follows my friend Kion’s delightful grandmother as she reflects on her journey from the South Korean countryside to rapidly developing Seoul, centered around the house she and her husband built and which anchors the family to this day…but soon, their house will be demolished to make way for a modernizing neighborhood.
I co-directed and shot this film with Heather Nelson and Haeryun Kang during my brief time in South Korea as a 2020-2021 Luce Scholar. Credit to Haeryun for the editing!
Newsy short videos:
Jack Brook 