Finding Face [to be screened in Los Angeles and San Francisco

Mon., Jul. 4, 2011
By Robert Koehler
Variety (USA)

Powered By A Spin Film presentation. Produced by Skye Fitzgerald, Patti Duncan. Directed by Skye Fitzgerald, Patti Duncan. Written by Duncan.

With: Tat Marina, Sequndo Tat, Srey Pou, Mu Sochua, Jason Barber, Mary Jo Baryza, Christy Kiernan, Daniel Driscoll, Chour Sreya. (English, Cambodian dialogue)

The troubling case of the grossly disfiguring acid attack on Cambodian karaoke star Tat Marina receives emotional and artful treatment in filmmaking team Skye Fitzgerald and Patti Duncan's "Finding Face." Inexplicably overlooked by major doc-leaning festivals, pic deserves considerable exposure for the impact of its story and an acute sense of injustice that goes beyond the usual document of human-rights violations. Pic has been floundering in minor fests, but wider broadcast on tube seems likely.

In 1999, 14-year-old Marina was stalked by Cambodia's Undersecretary of State Svay Sitha, who lied to her about his true identity. When the truth emerged, Marina was kidnapped (according to sister Srey Pou) by Sitha, whose enraged wife, Khoun Sophal, arranged an acid attack on the girl. Docu tracks her recovery and surgeries in the U.S. and her brother Sequndo's efforts to seek justice, but the David-vs.-Goliath nature of the case has ensured that no arrests have occurred a decade since. Pic's level of outrage over an international wave of acid attacks is hard to overstate.

Camera (color, DV), Fitzgerald; editor, Patrick Weishampel; music, William Campbell, Dengue Fever, Marketa Irglova. Reviewed on DVD, Los Angeles, June 2, 2011. (In Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, San Francisco Documentary Festival.) Running time: 67 MIN.

Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Filmmaker Hopes to Bring Justice in Acid Attack

Tat Marina

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
30 October 2009

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.”

Documentary details violence against women

Thursday, 15 October 2009
Written by Kelcie Moseley
The Argonaut (U. of Idaho newspaper)

Imagine yourself at 16 — barely settling into middle school or high school and oblivious to most of the world around you. Now imagine you were told you were being given a recording contract with a fairly well-known record label, and you’d be able to do what you always dreamed of doing: singing. Life is going well, and people begin to recognize you for your beauty and your voice. Then suddenly a man falls in love with you, but not just any man — a much older, powerful man, one who is important and noticeable throughout the country. And with that power, he coerces you into staying with him, though you do not love him. He threatens you if you say you want to leave and keeps a gun around to make sure you don’t try. So you stay.

But it’s not long before you find out he’s a married man. And one day, with no warning, his wife — whom you’ve never met — grabs you on the street by the hair, beats you and throws a liter of acid over your face and body.

The life you knew is instantly taken away, and the people who were responsible are never brought to justice.

This is the story of Tat Marina, a Cambodian woman who was allegedly attacked by Undersecretary of State Svay Sitha’s wife in 1999. Ten years and 25 surgeries later, Marina’s appearance is still a shadow of her former self. She was lucky enough to be granted juvenile amnesty in the U.S. after she was attacked, but every morning she literally draws most of her features onto her face in eyeliner, eyebrow pencil and lip liner.

Marina wears hoods to cover her face in public, and she lives in a constant state of fear for her family, who were still living in Cambodia at the time of the film, and were threatened many times by Sitha.

“Finding Face” does not play soft with its audience. Most of the film speaks for itself through Marina’s testimonial, in addition to her family’s, but the filmmakers also let the audience watch as Marina’s family sees her on film for the first time since she was attacked. Their reaction to her appearance — which they had assumed would be closer to her former self — is one of the most heartbreaking moments of the film.

Documentaries like this one are vitally important to see, even if it’s hard to watch. Not only does it illustrate the horror Marina and her family went through, but it also profiles several other women who were attacked with acid and were not as lucky as Marina.

Their appearances are much worse than hers, but their courage is astounding. One woman whose eyes are sealed shut and has burns across her face and down her neck said she actually feels more comfortable with herself than she did before she was attacked. She said she wants people to see what happened to her to raise awareness about the growing problem of acid attacks.

“Finding Face” brings this disturbing crime that is on the rise into harsh focus. They point out the highest rates of acid attacks are in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the United Kingdom and the U.S. — proving this is not just a third-world country issue.

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.

“Finding Face” is a film the viewer will never forget.

Acid Attack Documentary Finds Audience

Tat Marina answers questions about her current situation and living with the suffering and memories of the attack.

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
27 August 2009

“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.

Official Blames Wife in 1999 Acid Attack [-CPP Phay Siphan defends CPP Svay Sitha]

CPP Svay Sitha

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
24 August 2009

Svay Sitha, a senior official in the powerful Council of Ministers, put the blame of a 1999 acid attack on his now ex-wife, saying the disfiguring attack on Tat Marina, who is profiled in a new US documentary, should never have happened.

Svay Sitha said through a spokesman that he was a “victim” of his former wife, Khuon Sophal, “and he did not have any intention to create such an incident.”

“It was his wife who victimized him,” the spokesman, Phay Siphan, said.

Tat Marina, who is featured in the film, “Finding Face,” was paralyzed and nearly killed in the acid attack. She now lives in the US with members of her family.

The admission comes as “Finding Face” is set to screen in Portland, Or., on Sunday.

Tat Marina was doused with nitric acid while eating porridge at Phnom Penh’s Olympic Market on Dec. 5, 1999. After the attack, Svay Sitha was seen trying to get her treatment. He stayed briefly with her while she was sent for treatment in the US. They have then severed contact, according to Tat Marina’s brother, Tat Sequondo.

“He came to the US once, and for his trip here I don’t think he meant to continue his sweet love,” Tat Sequondo told VOA Khmer. “He was here to make sure that we didn’t file a complaint against his wife.”

Khuon Sophal could not be reached for comment; Phay Siphan said she received a five-year suspended sentence for the attack. He did not elaborate on the details of the court proceedings, and Phnom Penh police officials said they were unaware of it.

“This happened long time ago,” said Touch Naroth, chief of Phnom Penh Municipal Police. “It was before I became the police commissioner. I don’t know what the court’s decision is now. I have not much knowledge of the case.”

Court officials said to have handled the case could not be reached for comment Friday, no independent sources were able to confirm Svay Sitha’s divorce.

Repairing a Shattered Image

Chour Sreya, a survivor of an acid attack, prepares for her wedding in "Finding Face," a documentary about human rights that will make its Portland premier Sunday, Aug. 23 at the Portland Art Museum. (By Jake Thomas /The Portland Observer)

Film looks at gendered form of violence

The Portland Observer

In a country with limited opportunity for women, Tat Marina was a rising star.

Beautiful and talented, she was gaining an increasing amount of attention in Cambodia's karaoke scene. She eventually caught the eye of a powerful government official, Svay Sitha, who obsessed over her, and pampered her with luxuries that Tat Marina once thought she could only dream of.

However, she also drew the ire of the Svay's wife, who splashed acid on her face while feeding her niece fish porridge. The savage attack left Tat Marina disfigured and her life in shambles.

"Finding Face", a documentary produced by Skye Fitzgerald and Patti Duncan, is as much about the unaccountable power and the second-class citizen status of women in Cambodia as it is about Tat Marina's 10-year struggle to establish some semblance of normalcy after having her life violently unsettled.

Sadly, there is nothing uncommon about the sort of attack Tat suffered in Cambodia, where women are often hideously disfigured by jealous men who splash acid in their faces. The men who perpetuate these violent assaults are seldom held to account, and their victims rarely speak out.

The attack effectively ended Tat Marina's karaoke career, forcing her to hide the scars on her face with a piece of cloth whenever in public. She was pressured by Svay Sitha to remain quiet, but continued to speak out. She eventually fled to the United States to live with her brother. There, she got asylum and received reconstructive surgery, and gave birth to a child.

However, in Cambodia acid attacks continue against women with impunity. Svay Sitha even received a promotion, despite his involvement being well known.

"Finding Face", is an impactful and well-told story of one woman's courage to confront an injustice that is far-removed from many of its viewers, but is still very real for its victims.

The documentary recently premiered at the International Film Festival and Forum on Human rights in Geneva and will make it's Portland debut on Sunday, Aug. 23 at 7 p.m. at the Portland Art Museum's Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 S.W. Park Ave.

Tat Marina will be in attendance and answer questions after the screening.

Portland Filmmaker Documents Acid Attack Victim's Story

Tat Marina

Skye Fitzgerald

Portland, OR August 21, 2009
BY GEOFF NORCROSS
Oregon Public Broadcasting

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.

You can meet Marina and the filmmakers at a special screening, this Sunday evening at Portland Art Museum.

Acid Attack Film Debuts in Portland

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
20 August 2009

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.

“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.

Film about acid-scarred singer airs Tuesday [at Oregon State University]

Monday, May 25, 2009
Gazette-Times

The documentary film “Finding Face,” which recently premiered at The International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva, will make its Northwest premiere at Oregon State University on Tuesday.

The screening will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Gilfillan Auditorium, 2601 S.W. Orchard Ave., Corvallis. It is free.

The film, directed and produced by Skye Fitzgerald and OSU faculty member Patti Duncan, documents the case of Tat Marina, a young woman who was attacked with acid in 1999.

At 16, Marina was a rising star in Phnom Penh’s karaoke music scene. She was coerced into an abusive relationship with Cambodia’s undersecretary of state, and subsequently attacked with acid.

The film took more than two years to make and involved multiple trips to Cambodia and to the Boston area, where Marina now lives.

Duncan, an associate professor in the Women Studies Program at OSU, wrote the script for the film.

Fitzgerald, founder of Spin Film and producer and director of 2006’s “Bombhunters,” co-produced the film and is the principal cinematographer. Both will be in attendance on Tuesday.

The event is sponsored by OSU’s Women Studies Program.

For more information, see www.spinfilm.org or www.findingface.org.

"Beauty Is A Burden," Tat Marina's Mother Says

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Video Editor: Manilene Ek
18 March 2009

A message from Ms. Tat Marina's family:

Sure you can attack anyone you desire, but you must pay for what you had done. If the government cannot provide justice to the people throughout the country, then domestic violence and revenge will occur daily.

I myself always blame my sister for having an affair with Svay Sitha. This matter should be solved peacefully without violence. If you take matter into your own hand then you must face the law. If the law is protecting the CPP only then I assume that I should take matter into my own hand [as well].

Next time LOCK your husband in your bedroom. So that he won't go around lying to other people that he was this and that. I don't know what your husband did to you. Perhaps he is just like Svay Sitha, who physically divorced his wife, but still have some emotions for her. He considered his wife more like a sister than a sex partner.

People have different quality of life, opportunity and different level of education. There are people who can't be a star, and there some people who can only find work in the factory, but we all can respects each others as the same quality, because we are human.

"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."

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.

Tat Marina with her son, says he givers her courage to move on with her life.
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.

Acid attacks in Cambodia: dangerous liaisons, punitive operations and overt impunity

13-03-2009
By Stéphanie Gée
Ka-set

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.

Click to Read More...

Film Explores Impact of Acid Attacks

Karaoke star Tat Marina in 1999.
Sequndo shows Marina's picture to the family for the first time in more than eight years.
A song performed by Marina before the attack took place which disfigured her for life.
Svay Sitha, Cambodia's secretary of state at the Council of Ministers.
Marina: "It is my son who gives me courage to live on."

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
12 March 2009

A new documentary exploring the impact of acid attacks premiered Wednesday 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 by the jealous wife of a senior government official.

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

Nearly 10 years have passed, but her family continues to seek justice for the attack.

“Once the film is out, there must be a frustration, and I am absolutely sure that they will not leave my family in peace,” Tat Sequndo, the star’s brother, told VOA Khmer Tuesday in a phone interview. “However, for the sake of justice, we have to release the film”.

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

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 all over her face and chest. These are what she has to live with for the rest of her life.

Tat Marina’s family express disappointment when they see 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 family bursts into tears.

“Oh, my child!,” Tat Marina’s mother says, weeping as she watches part of the video. “She’s not as beautiful as before. She was a beautiful girl. She was too beautiful. It’s a burden.”

Until today the attack still traumatizes Tat Marina. In a recent interview with VOA Khmer, she wept most of the time as she tried to recall what happened to her.

“What they did to me was like taking my life away,” she said. “I live in misery, half alive and half dead. This is crueler than killing me. They spared my life, but mentally killed me. They think they suffer, but what they did was they left me to live in hell for the rest of my life.”

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

“It is my son who gives me courage to live on,” Tat Marina said. “He makes me strong, to cope with mental depression. I’ll do everything for my son’s future.”

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.

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.

Cambodian acid attacks highlighted by new film

Tat Marina prior to the acid attack against her
Tat Marina and her brother following the acid attack (Photo: The Cambodia Daily)

March 12, 2009
ABC Radio Australia

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

Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)

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.