Actress-filmmaker Angelina Jolie hopes her new film First They Killed My Father will encourage people to go to Cambodia.
The 42-year-old has directed the film based on author Lung Ung’s account of the Khmer Rouge 1975-79 regime in Cambodia. It depicts a difficult period in history, but she wants viewers to see past that and embrace the “beautiful” land and its people.
“I love this country so much and I hope that when people see the film, they don’t just see the war and the suffering, but they get to really know this Cambodian family,” Jolie told Psychologies magazine, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
“My wish is that they see the beautiful culture, language and talented artists. I hope people will come and bring work and travel to Cambodia,” she added.
Jolie, who raises Maddox, 16, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 11, and nine-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne with estranged husband Brad Pitt, thought it was very “special and beautiful” to work on the movie with local creatives.
“I was so proud of everybody in Cambodia and how hard they worked and participated in the creation of the film.
“It was also important for them because one of the first steps the Khmer Rouge took was to kill all the artists and writers and anyone who could be creative and expressive. So seeing Cambodian artists contributing to this film was special and beautiful,” she said.