Skye Fitzgerald - "Finding Face"

“…[the filmmakers] weren’t just committed to telling a story. They quite possibly held the lives of their subjects in their hands.”

- The Oregonian

“Finding Face does not play soft with its audience… Documentaries like this are vitally important to see, even if hard to watch… The film accomplishes everything it set out to do and more—getting people talking about an issue largely ignored before, telling a powerful story of injustice, human rights violations and gender-based violence.” – University of Idaho) - University of Idaho

“…a startling portrait of a young woman’s life forever altered by an inhuman crime. While difficult to witness, this film’s harrowing story is deeply important to acknowledge.” - World Pulse Magazine

BY GEOFF NORCROSS

Portland, OR August 21, 2009 6 a.m.
Finding Face

Ten years ago, Tat Marina was 16, a pretty rising star in the karaoke video scene in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

She was involved in a sexual relationship with a middle-aged man, who – she later learned – was in fact Cambodia’s Undersecretary of State: a man named Svay Sitha.

In December of 1999, Cambodian police say Marina was attacked in a Phnom Penh market.

She was thrown to the ground, knocked unconscious, and doused with nitric acid.

Tat Marina: “I felt something burning behind my neck through my back. And I got up and there’s acid all over my body and my face,and I’m trying to look for who did that. I feel it burning, and I scream for help. The acid was on my body, burning badly. I couldn’t see, couldn’t open my eye. And I thought I’m going to be blind.”

Marina was burned on more than 40 percent of her body.

The burns were so deep on her face, her ears eventually had to be removed.

According to witnesses, one of the perpetrators was Svay Sitha’s wife.

A warrant for her arrest was issued, but Cambodia’s culture of impunity has protected her and her powerful husband for ten years.

Portland filmmaker Skye Fitzgerald has documented Marina’s story in a new film called Finding Face.

Fitzgerald says he and his collaborators were considering a film about acid attacks on women in general, but Marina’s story kept coming up in their research.

Tat Marina has had over two-dozen reconstructive surgeries on her face in the past ten years, most of them at Shriners Hospital in Boston, where she now lives.
- Oregon Public Broadcasting

Story by Emily Hutton

Tat Marina was only sixteen years old and a rising karaoke star in Cambodia. In 1999, she became involved with the country’s Undersecretary of State, Svay Sitha. Both romance and her career fizzled when he locked her alone in a hotel room for two weeks and threatened to harm her family if she left him. When the politician’s wife, Khoun Sophal, heard of her husband’s affair, she stalked Marina through a Phnom Penh marketplace and dowsed her face with a vile of nitric acid. Shoppers and vendors crowded around, watching helplessly as the acid instantly dissolved the skin and bone on her face. Almost immediately, Marina became permanently blind.

While shooting Bombhunters in Cambodia in 2006, documentary filmmakers Patti Duncan and Skye Fitzgerald discovered the premise of their next film, Finding Face: the emerging prevalence of acid violence worldwide. More and more, people drench their enemies with chemical liquid to permanently disfigure their faces. A study on acid attacks conducted by Afroza Anwary at Minnesota State University in 2003 suggests that this type of cruelty is not exclusive to Cambodia. Instead, it is increasing in countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and China. Wives throwing acid at their husband’s mistresses and second wives is the most common reason for this type of violence, as reported by the Cambodian League for the Promotion of Human Rights’ Project Against Torture. The 2003 report “Acid Attacks: Living in the Shadows” reveals these angry wives desire to mar the victims’ attractiveness. It states, “The perpetrator [of acid violence] usually does not want to kill the victim, but to do something worse than murder—make them suffer forever.”

Marina’s suffering assumed many forms. That day in the marketplace, the acid ran from her face, scalding more than forty percent of her body. When her wounds became infected, gangrene set in, and doctors had to remove her ears. Marina has undergone twenty-five surgeries in the past ten years to counteract the debilitating effects of the chemical. In addition to continued physical affliction, the threat of violence did not end after the attack. The high profile of the perpetrator put the Marina family at risk of further harassment if they pressed charges or even went public with the story. Living in the Shadows reveals, “While some acid throwers have been convicted and sent to prison, others—especially those with power or money—live freely.” Khoun Sophal lives freely.

Regarding Sophal, “I don’t say alleged perpetrator. I say perpetrator,” Fitzgerald declares. There were no disputes among the many witnesses that Sitha’s wife was in fact responsible for Marina’s attack. Fitzgerald would have liked to interview Svay Sitha both for the sake of the story and to satisfy a personal curiosity. He knew, however, that it would be too dangerous to get him involved.

Before the attack, Sitha told Marina that her family would be in danger if she left him. After the story of the attack went public in Cambodia, the risks only intensified. Finding Face’s content remained one-sided.

“I’m not a journalist. I don’t pretend to be a journalist,” Fitzgerald says. He’s sitting in his office chair surrounded by movie posters for Bombhunters and Finding Face. Although traditional and mainstream journalists produce timely, balanced and unbiased material, Duncan and Fitzgerald believe that this is a fruitless way to present narrative. Fitzgerald says, “the fair and balanced definition of good journalism, while I believe in it, is not the only way to tell stories well and truthfully.”

The filmmakers ensured that Marina’s family moved out of the country before premiering their film this year. Confident that Finding Face could not be publicly broadcasted in Cambodia due to government interference, they are quietly seeding, or Internet sharing, the film into the country. With the help of the Voice of America, a multimedia broadcasting company with an international audience of 125 million, they plan to stream the film onto the company’s website in Cambodia’s national language, Khmer. Outlets like these will help to sustain Finding Face past its premiere to spread worldwide awareness of acid violence.

The “long-term, familial” relationships they have formed during filming will also sustain Duncan and Fitzgerald’s passion for their project as it branches into new forms. More research led them to another acid violence victim, Chour Sreya, who plays a minor role in the documentary. Sreya is also blind as a result of an acid attack, and she currently lives in Phnom Phen with her parents, siblings, husband, and daughter in a one-bedroom apartment. “She told us about her desire to live more independently,” says Duncan. “Knowing how much she wants this, we embarked on a fundraising campaign, telling our community about her and requesting donations.”

Sreya, her husband, and daughter will soon move into a new apartment using the fund - Ethos Magazine

In Finding Face, filmmakers Skye Fitzgerald and Patti Duncan present a startling portrait of a young woman's life forever altered by an inhuman crime. Tat Marina was once a beautiful and rising karaoke star in Cambodia. Today she is a survivor of an acid attack that took place more than 10 years ago. While many faced with the same fate hide their disfigured and transformed selves, others, like Marina, continue their lives in the public eye to spread awareness about the violence they have endured, and the violence others may still face. While justice has not been served for Tat Marina, like the many similar cases in post-genocidal Cambodia, in this documentary Marina and her family speak out publicly about the unmentionable—the dehumanizing effects of acid attacks—and express the need for the perpetrators of these crimes to be held accountable. Though their voices are quiet and strained with pain, they are unwavering, and heralded in Finding Face as a courageous call for the protection of human rights. - KATU Television

Talk Box: "Finding Face" director Skye Fitzgerald. The Portland premier of this devastating story of acid attacks on woman is this Sunday at the Portland Art Museum. - KGW News

The documentary follows the story of Tat Marina, a rising star in Cambodia’s emerging karaoke scene. After being coerced into an abusive relationship with government official Svay Sitha, Marina was attacked with acid by Sitha's wife in front of hundreds of witnesses. Finding Face documents the fracturing of Marina’s family across national borders, as well as her family members’ disparate responses to the fact that Marina’s attackers have never been arrested and there has never been justice in her case. - A Closer Look with Pam Atherton

By Allison Voigts

Beauty is a burden," states the mother of Marina Tat, tears streaming from her eyes as she sees images of her daughter’s acid-scarred face for the first time in 10 years.

In the late 1990s, music producers plucked 14-year-old Marina from her family’s home in a poor neighborhood in Phnom Penh, Cambodia promising that her beauty would lead to stardom in karaoke videos. They were right; Marina’s videos turned heads. Unfortunately, one of the heads she turned belonged to Sitha Svay, the undersecretary of state and one of the most powerful men in Cambodia.

The much older Svay, who had a wife and children, was smitten. He began to follow Marina and shower her with expensive gifts. Once, he kidnapped her and held her hostage in a hotel room in another city, threatening her with a gun to never leave him. Marina, fearful for her family’s safety, relented and remained his mistress. That’s when the acid attack came.

An absorbing new documentary from local film company SpinFilm, Finding Face tells the stories of Marina and scores of other Cambodian victims of acid attacks.

While the number of acid attacks around the world has risen in the past decade, in Cambodia the absence of investigations, trials, or even acknowledgement of the attacks has led to a trend of violence, particularly against young women. The motives behind the attacks range from rejected marriage proposals to jealous lovers to domestic violence.

In Marina’s case, the assault came not from her violent lover, but from his wife and a gang of five angry family members. While Marina walked in the neighborhood market one day, Svay’s wife leapt from a car and dragged Marina by her hair into the street, where Svay’s nephew doused Marina’s face and chest with nitric acid.

"I thought at first that it was water, then I felt the burning," says Marina, who was 24 years old when the documentary was filmed. She currently lives in the United States.

None of the bystanders dared to intervene; everyone knew who Marina’s attacker was. After 10 years, there has been no investigation into the attack, and Svay remains a high-ranking official in the national government. Marina’s family went into hiding after they continued to receive threats. They eventually left Cambodia for asylum elsewhere.

Perhaps even more shocking, an estimated 25 to 60 acid attacks take place each year in Cambodia, but fewer than 15 people have been prosecuted for the crimes. The victims, who often go into hiding for the rest of their lives, receive little to no sympathy for their monstrous scars.

"They think we must have done something wrong," says Chour Sreya, a victim turned activist who now walks freely in public, despite the blatant stares and whispers the camera captures around her.

The criminals behind such attacks succeed not only in harming their victims physically, but in altering their very identities for the rest of their lives. A dozen surgeries later, Marina painstakingly applies her makeup in the bathroom mirror, but nothing can cover the deformities.

Her brother Sequndo, who narrates the film, has written letters repeatedly seeking justice from Cambodian authorities and human-rights organizations to no avail. The filmmakers, Patti Duncan and Skye Fitzgerald, along with the Cambodian-American Community of Oregon (which collaborated on the film), hope the documentary will be a step in the worldwide solution to the problem. Finding Face debuted at the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland last spring. It opens in the United States August 23. - Asian Reporter

Written by Cat Barton and Sam Rith
Friday, 27 March 2009

After surviving a brutal acid attack, former karaoke star now fights impunity.

TAT Marina was beaten unconscious by the bodyguards before the well-heeled, middle-aged woman poured five litres of nitric acid onto her face. Brought to by the pain, the teenage girl flailed around in agony on the market floor, in full view of dozens of horrified onlookers, as the caustic liquid melted her skin, liquefied her flesh, burned off her ears, blinded her eyes and washed away her young, beautiful face.

"When those people did that to me, they took my life away, made me live in hell, I survived but something died [that day]... that's how I feel - I am alive but something of me died," Tat Marina said Tuesday by phone from the United States, where she now lives as a political refugee.
Ten years after the brutal, broad-daylight attack, Tat Marina's story remains still another of Cambodia's examples of impunity. The alleged perpetrator, Khoun Sophal, wife of Marina's then-lover, the high-ranking minister Svay Sitha, has never even been questioned by police, despite having an outstanding arrest warrant against her. Svay Sitha himself has been promoted to secretary of state at the Council of Ministers.

"I just want them to pay for what they've done. It would be a warning to other people: Do not hurt other people. They took my life away, took my future away.... I know how it feels and I don't want anyone else to feel like me now," Tat Marina said.

Like many other victims of crimes by high-ranking officials, Tat Marina has never been able to seek justice in the Cambodian courts. But a new film titled Finding Face, by filmmakers Skye Fitzgerald and Patti Duncan, seeks to give Tat Marina a voice within the court of public opinion.

"This family has been living under the spectre of injustice and threats for nearly a decade now. It's time they had a chance to exercise their fundamental right to free speech," Fitzgerald said via email, explaining why he decided to make the film.

"Marina's case continues to be (and should be) an embarrassment to the government of Cambodia," he wrote. "Although Cambodia is in theory a democratically elected government, the reality is that it is a functioning dictatorship run by Hun Sen and a fairly small circle of well-placed government officials. Svay Sitha happens to be one of these - and it is this corruption at the highest level that allows cases like Marina's to be slipped under the rug."

The release of Finding Face, which was launched at the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva in March, follows the December 2008 release of a graphic novel, Shake Girl, produced by the Stanford University Graphic Novel Project and inspired by Tat Marina's story.

The book follows Tat Marina's rise from poverty-stricken student to fruit-shake vendor (hence the name of the book) to karaoke star - and describes how, as a 15-year-old singer, she caught the eye of then-undersecretary of state Svay Sitha, who initially told her he was an unmarried American businessman. When she discovered the truth, Tat Marina says she tried to leave him but he responded with violence.

"I fell for him because he used sweet words," Tat Marina said Tuesday. "Now, I never speak to him. It's over between him and me."

A criminal investigation was launched after the attack, but progress was stymied by police fears of probing too deeply into the machinations of the rich and powerful.

Svay Sitha paid the costs of Tat Marina's medical treatment after the attack - on the explicit condition that she would not press charges against him or his wife. Eventually, Tat Marina's brother, Tat Sequando - who was then studying medicine in the United States - got her to America, where she received reconstructive surgery at the Shriners Burns Institute in Boston. They managed to rebuild the basic elements of her face, but the extensive damage from the attack is still clear.

"I feel awful when I walk on the street and people stare at me," she said. "I scare the kids - they freak out because of the way I look."

In the face of continuing local and international outcry over Tat Marina's case, the government argues the incident has been taken out of context and used by activists to unfairly lambaste their management of the country.

"It is an injustice for Svay Sitha that the case of his wife has been politicised and used to [advocate for] a law or regulations relating to women's rights protection," Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan told the Post last Friday.

"The case of Svay Sitha's wife has been used to denigrate the government because Svay Sitha is a member of the government," he said, adding that the couple had divorced in 1999 soon after the attack, and while Khoun Sophal should face the legal repercussions for her actions, these were not applicable to Svay Sitha.

But according to opposition parliamentarian and - Phnom Penh Post

A US production company has released a feature film highlighting the issue of acid attacks in Cambodia.

Finding Face features a case involving a heinous acid attack on a young karaoke singer by the wife of a senior Cambodian official in 1999. With many similar attacks going unpunished, the film's producers hope the movie will provide victims some sense of justice.

Presenter: Girish Sawlani
Speaker: Tat Marina, acid attack victim; Patti Duncan, producer, Finding Face; Skye Fitzgerald, producer, Finding Face; Jason Barber, human rights consultant, LICADHO

SAWLANI: Tat Marina was just 16 when she was brutally attacked by the jealous wife of a high level Cambodian government official.

The teenage Karaoke singer had been in a relationship with Cambodia's undersecretary of state Svai Sitha, but didn't realise who he was at that time or the fact that he was married.

When his wife Khoun Sophal learnt of her husband's affair, she was raged with jealousy. And in December 1999, she and an assailant, believed to be her nephew, attacked Marina and poured highly toxic acid on her face outside Phnom Penh's Olympic market.

The attack left her with severe burns to her face and body. Her lips were burnt to raw swollen blisters and had her ears removed by doctors as gangrene set in. While a warrant for Khoun Souphal's arrest was issued soon after, she's never been caught and is still believed to be hiding in Cambodia.

Marina's story's now being revisited in the documentary film Finding Face produced by the US based Spin Film. The film's co-producer Patti Duncan says putting the film together was an enormous challenge, but was driven by the need to raise awareness of acid attacks that have since increased substantially.

DUNCAN: She wanted to raise awareness about the topic of acid attacks, particularly in Cambodia where they have been on the rise. We hope that the film can also provide a vehicle for Marina as she continues to go through her own healing process.

ANONYMOUS VICTIM: They closed my case, they've never contacted me for any investigation or they never investigate anyone, they just close the case immediately, maybe right after the night of the accident, I don't know why they did this.

SAWLANI: Finding Face also explores the plight of other acid attack victims in Cambodia and underscores the fact that many of them will never find justice. Here's Jason Barber, a consultant with Cambodian Human Rights group Licadho.

BARBER: There's no reason to think that every acid attack in Cambodia ends up in the newspapers. So the real number of attacks we have no idea, I think no one has any idea. In '99 to 2004 I think there were 75 attacks reported, with more than 100 victims.

SAWLANI: In this respect the film's other producer Skye Fitzgerald sees Finding Face as a tool for justice for Marina and other victims.

FITZGERALD: The fact that there's never been any justice in any form and likely there'll never be any justice within the judicial system for her, this film is a way for them to seek some small form of justice and at least in the court of public opinion. There's a power and a strength to that that the family has reason to ? that in itself is a goal worth achieving.

SAWLANI: In the months, and years following the brutal attack, the perpetrators husband, Svai Sitha had contacted Tat Marina in the United States expressing concern and even offering to take care of her needs. But he warned Marina and her family not to pursue a legal case. And with many of Marina's Cambodian based family members speaking out in the film, their safety is a matter of concern. But Co producer Skye Fitzgerald says any threats against them would incur a backlash.

FITZGERALD: We were very careful to collaborate with and brief a number of organisations including Human Rights Watch, the US embassy in Phnom Penh, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia, local human rights NGOs. We're very careful to brief them over the nature of the family's vulnerability when the film was released, and to create what we like to call a cultural or public accountability so that if someone were so foolish as to make a threat against the family there's be a significant outcry within the international community.

SAWLANI: It's been more than nine years since the attack and Tat Marina has moved on and lives in the United States with her brother and young son. But the main perpetrator, Khoun Sophal remains at large.

While Marina's role in the film gives her with some sense of justice, she remains haunted by the ordeal.

MARINA: I always get nightmares every time, sometimes it's not every time. I've tried to leave my past behind but it's so hard. When strange people come out of nowhere and they saw me the way I look and they look at me what I've done to myself, and that is I come home at night time and always have a nightmare. - ABC - Radio Australia

By Stéphanie Gée

Cambodia is amongst the countries where the highest numbers of acid attacks have been numbered. These aggressions, characterised by their unusual barbarity, mainly target young women, who are most of the time the victims of domestic violence or the vengeful anger of wives who will try to oust forever their youthful rival because they got themselves into a relationship with their husband. Generally speaking, the authors of such attacks are identified but most of them manage to dodge justice. The issue was brought out in the open in December 1999 with the story of Tat Marina, a rising star in the Cambodian showbiz discovered in karaoke films, who was in turn doused with acid by the wife of a member of the government. Her tragic story was internationally acknowledged and is still heard today as shown by the preview screening of a documentary about her story, presented on Wednesday March 11th at the International Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva.



"Finding Face"
As they were leading their own enquiry about acid attacks in Cambodia, the Americans Skye Fitzgerald and Patti Duncan took a particular interest in the case of Tat Marina, who now lives in exile in the United States where she obtained political asylum 2 months after having been reduced to a ghostly being. She is now living a life torn between fear and the exhausting healing of her scars. The authors of the documentary aimed at giving back a human face and dignity to the young woman, now unable to show any facial expression with her features despite the countless operations she went through. This explains the title of the documentary: "Finding Face " . For ten years, Marina has been silenced and justice has not been given to her.

Yesterday, the young and spruce teenager was featured in video-clips, all sweetness and light. Today, she says with certain sadness in her voice, that she “is not like others” and explains she wants to see the way forward and cling onto life for her son, born in America. To start with, the authors simply show a shadow, her outline, and eventually openly expose Marina’s disfigured face in front of the camera.

Tat Marina: from the nymphet to the ghost
Her story is unfortunately an ordinary one among many others. Born in a modest background, she sells shakes to help her family. All eyes are set on the pretty girl until that day when a man came to offer her a job in a karaoke bar intended for local jet-setters. She hesitates and finally accepts, convinced that she was going to be able to improve her family’s standard of living. It is in that same place that she got to know a Cambodian man who was a lot older than her and introduced himself as single and as a businessman from the States. Then aged 15 years-old, Marina believed him and was won over by his caring attentions and generous presents. But it was not long until she found out that her ever-so-perfect lover was but an under-secretary of State at the Cambodian government. On top of that, he was married, Marina’s sister recounts. She got scared and tried to escape from that relationship which had turned into a highly risky situation. But it was too late for her to back down. The man threatened to kill her or attack her family if she left him and showed her, by brute force, that she had no other choice but to remain his servile mistress.

In December 1999, as she was offering her nephew some lunch at the Olympic market in Phnom Penh, a mature woman suddenly grabbed her hair and pulled her. In a matter of seconds, Marina understood she was dealing with the wife of the lover she could not get rid of. The woman was furious and beat her up with the help of her nephews, until the final blow was struck: she doused a full bottle of acid on Marina’s head and chest. More than 43% of Marina’s body was burnt: her skin, her muscles and bones were ravaged. Miraculously, she survived her wounds and her brother, who lives in the United States, decided to take her with him and place her in a secure environment, for her to receive free quality treatment on American soil. Without any surprise, the under-secretary of State deterred Marina’s family from filing a complaint and indicated that such a decision might have terrible consequences, Marina’s brother says. The young woman’s family still lives in Cambodia.

Discredited victims
Marina openly shows her face but does not tell her story – or only by bits. Relatives, those who healed her and took care of her tell her story together with newspapers articles. Other Cambodian victims of acid attacks who stayed in the little Southeast Asian Kingdom tell their story in the documentary. “There is no rule of law here!”, one of them says. “Justice closed my case, why?”, another one says with anger.

Jason Barber, from the Cambodian NGO for the defence of Human rights LICADHO, explains that these girls, whose lives are forever shattered, do not get any sympathy from their fellow Cambodian citizens. - Ka-Set

“Finding Face,” a new documentary detailing the life of an acid attack victim, showed in the US on Sunday, moving Cambodian and American audience members to take a stand against the crime.

The film profiles Tat Marina, a karaoke singer and mistress of a powerful government official, who was doused with acid in 1999, allegedly by a jealous wife, and nearly died a result. Over 40 percent of her body, including head and face, were burned.

“Many, many people asked what are the concrete actions that we can take to help not only on this issue of acid violence in Cambodia and worldwide, but about Tat Marina’s case,” Skye Fitzgerald, the films producer, told VOA Khmer.

The film had moved some viewers to inquire with their congressmen in the US to learn what actions can be taken in the case of Tat Marina, who now lives in the US, and whether lawmakers should more carefully consider whether donor funding is tied to human rights.

Tat Marina, who narrates the film, was present at the screening and was available for questions afterward. Dressed in dark robe with hair covered up her shoulders, Marina walked steadily to the podium as the audience vigorously applauded. She was asked about her current situation and living with the suffering and memories of the attack.

“I was happy to have received care and support from our people, other nationals, and the Cambodian Association in Portland,” she told VOA Khmer later. “I am excited that hundreds of people supported me and gave me encouragement by showing up in a large crowd.”

She had decided to cooperate with the film after initially thinking she would remain quiet, after committing a “sin.” She eventually decided to allow her story to be documented as a way to seek justice for other victims, even if it meant putting her own family at risk, she said.

The film describes the love affair between Tat Marina and Svay Sitha, an official at the Council of Ministers, who told VOA Khmer through a spokesman the attack had been difficult for him as well. He said he was victimized by the act and publicity that blamed him.

“I find it hard to believe that any logical, sane individual could possibly define himself as a victim when they themselves were instrumental in protecting the perpetrator of a crime like this,” Fitzgerald said. “If indeed he is a victim, as a member of the Cambodian government, I would think he would be motivated to ensure that justice was done for all in the case.”

That would mean implicating his former wife, Khuon Sophal, and her nephew, Khuon Vandy, who allegedly committed the attack, for arrest and prosecution, he said.

Meanwhile, US television stations have begun to show more interest in airing the film. A preview can be seen at its Web site: www.findingface.org. - VOA - Voice of America

“Finding Face,” which examines the life of Tat Marina, a karaoke star who was terribly disfigured and nearly killed in an acid attack, will show in Portland on Sunday.

Meanwhile, members of her family have gone into hiding under the protection of UNHCR, for fear of reprisals.

Tat Marina was the mistress of a powerful official, whose wife is suspected behind the attack. Acid attacks are a common phenomenon in post-war Cambodia.

The film is narrated by Tat Marina herself, making it sound as though she is telling her story to the audience, said the filmmaker, Sky Fitzgerald.

The film was produced by SpinFilm, and organizers hope Portland’s Whitsell Auditorium screening will see thousands of attendees, including US representatives. The screening will be followed by a question-answer session with Tat Marina.

“It is my belief that it is a fundamental human right, that one has a chance to speak their mind to tell their story and not be silenced by others because simply they are in a more powerful position in a particular country,” Fitzgerald said. “So I became very committed to ensure that [Marina’s] family had an outlet in a way that they hadn’t for a very long time.”

Tat Marina was doused with nitric acid in December 1999 while feeding porridge to her niece at a market in Phnom Penh. The film demonstrates that Tat Marina had a secret affair with Svay Sitha, who was then an undersecretary of state at the powerful Council of Ministers.

“When Marina was wounded, we were pressured and threatened not to file a complaint,” said the victim’s older sister, Tat Pov Rachana, speaking to VOA Khmer by phone while in hiding. “We’ve lived in pain for nine or 10 years now.”

Eight of Tat Marina’s family, including four children, fled Cambodia the day before the film was premiered, at a human rights film festival in Geneva in March.

“I also miss my country, but the suffering and injustice clouding over my family makes us unable to stand it any longer,” Tat Pov Rachana said, sobbing.

Meanwhile, police officials in the family’s neighborhood said they were surprised the family had fled.

“They left without informing us, and I don’t even know at which location they lived,” said Yin San, police inspector of January 7 district.

The family did not go to the police for protection as the film debuted.

“They came to Licadho and other organizations for their protection and safety,” Om Sam Ath, chief investigator for Licadho, told VOA Khmer Monday. “They said they cannot go on living in Cambodia, due to a film about their true life and Marina’s and fear of threats and repression.”

VOA Khmer was not able to reach Khoun Sophal, the wife of Svay Sitha, to check on her involvement in the case. Sources say she is living a normal life with Svay Sitha, who has now been promoted to secretary of state.

Reached by phone, Svay Sitha declined to comment, and an aid said he did not want to remember the incident.

Fitzgerald said he plans to have the documentary shown in many states and on television in the US. He hopes to screen it in Cambodia but is not sure if officials will allow it. The next step is to put the film on DVD format and distribute it in Cambodia. - VOA - Voice of America

A new documentary exploring the impact of acid attacks premiered Wednesday, March 11, 2009, at a film festival and human rights forum in Geneva, raising questions of impunity that persist in Cambodia.

“Finding Face” investigates acid attacks through the story of victim Tat Marina, a karaoke star who was doused with a liter of nitric acid allegedly by the jealous wife of a senior government official.

Tat Marina was attacked on December 5, 1999, while she was having porridge with her niece at a Phnom Penh market.

Nearly 10 years have passed, but her older brother, Tat Sequndo, continues to encourage his sister to seek justice for the attack.

“I asked her to come forward to find justice for herself, because she is the victim, not me. I always told her to find justice for the country, the people, and for herself," Tat Sequndo says in the documentary.

Tat Marina appears more calm and mature in the film, a contrast to the mischievous face she put on in her performances some 10 years ago. Despite several reconstructive surgeries, scars are visible on her face and chest. These are what she has to live with for the rest of her life.

In the documentary, Tat Marina’s family expressed disappointment when they saw video footage shown to them by Tat Sequndo. It is the first time they have seen her picture in the more than eight years since Tat Marina was given asylum and received treatment in the US.

The footage left her older sister, Srey Pou, speechless and in shock. Meanwhile, Tat Marina's mother believes that beauty is a curse.

“She was a beautiful girl. She was too beautiful. It’s a burden. Mom feels so sorry for you, it’s breaking my heart,” she said.

Tat Marina says in the documentary she is coming to terms with what happened to her.

“My family, I don't want anything to happen to them. Right now, I’m not scared no more, because she already got what she wanted,” she says.

The film features Tat Marina and her child at about four years of age, though the identity of the father is not revealed.

“If I could make it, we will have a family life. The mummy and the son together in a happy family. Everyone wish for (a) happy ending. I know that it is only a dream, but sometime dreams do come true,” she says.

The acid attack topic caught producer Skye Fitzgerald’s attention while he worked on another film in Cambodia. When he and his team started working on the movie, he saw a mixture of fear and reluctance. For instance, it took Tat Marina and her brother a while before they agreed to participate, fearing reprisal.

In the documentary, Tat Sequndo is heard telling family members to watch for their safety, and he gives them phone numbers of international organizations in case of possible threats.

“This is who we met with. When there is a problem, contact these places: UN Center for Human Rights, the US Embassy, the Cambodia Daily and LICADHO. When there is a problem with threats, because they may know what we are doing,” he says.

Tat Marina’s former lover, Svay Sitha, has now been promoted from the rank of undersecretary of state at the Council of Ministers. He could not be reached for comment on the film.

His two telephone numbers were answered by two different females saying they did not know him; a third number went unanswered.

Svay Sitha’s wife, Khun Sophal, identified by witnesses at the scene of the 1999 attack, remains at large, despite police affirmation that the case is not yet closed.

An investigating judge who once told reporters an arrest warrant had been issued for Khun Sophal now says he can’t remember whether he handled the case.

This documentary, "Finding Face", confronts us with injustice, despair, and sympathetic to Tat Marina's, who is now just beginning to pick up the broken pieces, while trying to leave her history behind, and moving forward into the future of her life with her son. - VOA - Voice of America

A new documentary exploring the impact of acid attacks... - VOA - Voice of America

Skye Fitzgerald, whose recent documentary, “Finding Face,” chronicles the life of acid attack victim Tat Marina, hopes support built from the film will go toward punishing the perpetrators and finding justice for his subject.

“One of our strategies with releasing the film here in the United States is to garner more support,” Fitzgerald told VOA Khmer in Washington, where he is on a tour to promote the film.

He had come to the capital, he said, “to make sure that legislators, politicians, and folks from the human rights community have a chance to access the film, learn about Tat Marina’s story, and hopefully get more fully engaged with the issues the film raises.”

Tat Marina, a young karaoke singer who was severely disfigured and nearly killed when she was doused with acid at a market in Phnom Penh in 1999, is expected to speak at the film’s launch in Washington, as she did when it showed in Portland, Ore.

Fitzgerald has also begun sending DVDs by request to Cambodia and has encouraged the distribution of copies.

“It’s not been a project that we engaged with for financial gains necessarily,” he said, “but it is a project that we couldn’t say no to.

“It was one that we felt very powerfully about, because of the nature of the story, because we knew that Marina hadn’t had a chance before to seek out any justice for herself or the family,” he said. “And so we felt very dedicated to making sure we took our resources and used them to help her and the family to tell the story.”

The film has invoked anger and sympathy in its viewers so far, from Americans and Cambodians alike. (The wife of a senior official is suspected in the attack, but no arrests have ever been made.)

“Through what I’ve heard it is injustice for her, and I want to personally see her pictures, and want to know how good the story is,” Keo Ang, a market vendor in Svay Rieng province, told VOA Khmer by phone. “Therefore I want a DVD, to show it to my family and some people so that they are able to understand more about her life.” - VOA - Voice of America