Daron Ker is a
Cambodian-American
Cambodian Americans,; also Khmer Americans, are Americans of Cambodian or Khmer ancestry. In addition, Cambodian Americans are also Americans with ancestry of other ethnic groups of Cambodia, such as the Chams and Chinese Cambodians.
Accordi ...
filmmaker
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...
best known for his feature documentaries "Rice Field of Dreams" and "I Ride."
Early life
Born in
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
two years before
Pol Pot
Pol Pot; (born Saloth Sâr;; 19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998) was a Cambodian revolutionary, dictator, and politician who ruled Cambodia as Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea between 1976 and 1979. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist a ...
swept into power, Ker and his family were imprisoned by the
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge (; ; km, ខ្មែរក្រហម, ; ) is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. ...
in Battambong
concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
from 1975–1979. During the fall of the regime in late 1979, his family was able to escape to a Thai
refugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...
. Ker has stated that one of his earliest childhood memories was seeing
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
's epic "
Spartacus
Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising ...
" projected onto a bedsheet at the camp in
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, an experience that inspired him to become a filmmaker. In 1981, his family moved to
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
after being sponsored by a local church group. After working for a time as a messenger in and around
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
, Ker moved to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
to attend film school at the
Academy of Art University
The Academy of Art University (AAU or ART U), formerly Academy of Art College and Richard Stephens Academy of Art, is a private for-profit art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded as the Academy of Advertising Art by Richard S. S ...
.
"Rice Field of Dreams"
His first film, "Rice Field of Dreams" saw Ker returning to Cambodia for the first time in almost thirty years to document the creation of the countries' first
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
team. "Rice Field of Dreams" follows Cambodian-American Joeurt "Joe Cook" Puk as he coaches Cambodia's first national baseball team to compete in the
2007 Southeast Asian Games
The 2007 Southeast Asian Games ( th, กีฬาแห่งเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ 2007, Kila haeng echiye tawan oak chiyeng tai 2007), officially known as the 24th Southeast Asian Games, was a South ...
in Thailand. The premiered at the Long Beach Art Theatre in April 2011 and will be released by FilmBuff in December 2011.
"I Ride"
Ker's second film, "I Ride", is a documentary about the Fryed Brothers Band, also known as "America’s Biker Band". The film focuses on American
biker culture, with Ker following the brothers as they travel the roads of America, playing concerts for
motorcycle club
A motorcycle club is a group of individuals whose primary interest and activities involve motorcycles. A motorcycle group can range as clubbed groups of different bikes or bikers who own same model of vehicle like the Harley Owners Group.
Ther ...
s, recalling old stories, and creating new legends along the way. The film is being released by FilmBuff is December 2011.
Upcoming projects
Ker is currently developing his first narrative feature, "Holiday in Cambodia, " about a Cambodian immigrant who gets deported for being at the wrong place at the wrong time and because he isn't an American citizen. Although in the early stages of development, Ker has already recruited veteran
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
-nominated cinematographer
Hiro Narita
Hiro Narita (born June 26, 1941) is an American cinematographer.
Early life and education
Narita was born in 1941, in Seoul, Chōsen (now part of South Korea) to Japanese parents.
In 1945, he and his family moved to Nara, Japan, and later to ...
("
The Rocketeer
The Rocketeer is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books originally published by Pacific Comics. Created by writer/artist Dave Stevens, the character first appeared in 1982 and is an homage to the Saturday matinee serial heroes ...
," "
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," "
Never Cry Wolf
''Never Cry Wolf'' is an account of the author's experience observing wolves in subarctic Canada by Farley Mowat, first published in 1963 by McClelland and Stewart. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1983. It has been credited for dra ...
") to shoot the film.
Ker is also dedicated to helping create a modern Cambodian
cinema
Cinema may refer to:
Film
* Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography
* Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image
** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking
...
and has stated he dreams of opening the countries' first
film school
A film school is an educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training ...
.
See also
*
List of Khmer films of 2010
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ker, Daron
Cambodian film directors
Academy of Art University alumni
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)