MONKEY DANCE

San Francisco Premiere

USA 2004 | 56mins | Video Color

In person: Directors Julie Mallozzi and Christopher Woon

Identity issues, nagging parents, high school dating, cool cars and college applications is terrain familiar to any American teenager, whether born in suburban Massachusetts or at a refugee camp in Thailand. Filmmaker Julie Mallozzi presents a compelling portrait of three teens in Lowell, Massachusetts, a community that boasts the country's largest number of Cambodians. What connects Linda, Sochenda and Sam is the Angkor Dance Troupe, which provides a place for creative expression and serves to anchor them, through rigorous study in dance, to their Cambodian heritage. What also connects them is their parents' journey, from escaping the Khmer Rouge to beginning a new life in an America they barely comprehend.

In the end it's this familial past that makes these kids' experience unique in the land of teenage waste. Whether it's Linda recounting her rolodex of boyfriends, Sam fretting over college prep English exams, or Sochenda arguing with mom about curfew, Mallozzi brings you a real reality show.

Preceded by:

AMONG B-BOYS

USA 2004 | 6mins | Video Color
DIRECTOR: Christopher Woon
Talented Hmong break-dancers find community and fun by battling on the dance floor instead of the streets.

—Maritoni Tabora