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Back to News Mount Professor Screens “Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten” for May 4 Kent State Commemoration

Mount Professor Screens “Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten” for May 4 Kent State Commemoration

5/4/2016

Riverdale, N.Y. – University of Mount Saint Vincent Assistant Professor of Sociology LinDa Saphan and film director John Pirozzi screened their award-winning documentary, Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll, on Thursday, April 28 at Kent State University. The screening was part of the 46th annual commemoration of the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970, when four unarmed students were shot by the Ohio National guardsmen during an antiwar protest. The students were protesting former President Richard Nixon’s decision to invade Cambodia, thus spreading America’s Vietnam War further in South East Asia.

Mr. Pirozzi and Dr. Saphan, the film’s lead researcher and associate producer, as well as a Khmer Rouge genocide survivor, were on the panel discussion following the film’s screening. The documentary was part of a series of events titled “Cambodia after Kent State,” commemorating the tragedy. Other events included a discussion with a survivor of the S-21 security prison, which detained and tortured more than 12,000 men, women, and children; and an address by Loung Ung, author of First They Killed My Father, who discussed her childhood experience under the Khmer Rouge and the reality of girls’ education in contemporary Cambodia.

Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten captures the twists and turns of Cambodian music as it morphs into rock and roll, and features the lives of Cambodian musicians, intertwined with political history, before and during the Khmer Rouge regime, from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. The film explains the impact of music in the struggle for political, ideological, and social change. The documentary was among 124 contenders to be considered for the 2016 Best Documentary Feature Academy Award, earned a nomination for the ABC News VideoSource Award at the 2015 International Documentary Association, and was awarded the Vijay Mohan Social Change Award from the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival 2015. The film, which has been shown in more than 40 states, as well as various countries including France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Denmark, provides a new, culturally-rich perspective on the country, which is usually associated with war and genocide. Additionally, the documentary has been featured at several international film festivals, including the London Film Festival and Rotterdam International Film Festival.

The annual May 4 Commemoration was sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences at Kent State University and presented by the May 4 Visitors Center and the Institute for the Study and Prevention of Violence at Kent State. For more information about the May 4 Commemoration, visit kent.edu/may4.

About the University of Mount Saint Vincent
Founded in 1847 by the Sisters of Charity, the University of Mount Saint Vincent offers nationally recognized liberal arts education and a select array of professional fields of study on a landmark campus overlooking the Hudson River. Committed to the education of the whole person, and enriched by the unparalleled cultural, educational and career opportunities of New York City, the College equips students with the knowledge, skills and experiences necessary for lives of achievement, professional accomplishment and leadership in the 21st century.