Here's a new, two-minute trailer made for Independent Film Week. We used some new footage from Cambodia and from Brad's earlier trip to see Vichea's widow in northern Europe, where she's in political asylum.


Click the image to play.

I'm writing this from Narita airport in Japan, on my way back from Bangkok, because I want to share some great news: 'Who Killed Chea Vichea?' has been shortlisted for ITVS funding we applied for last month.

(For those who don't know, normal people I mean, ITVS is the main funder for public television programming in the US. It gets its money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, i.e. the American public.)

Ours is one of 30 proposals in the running. If we get approved, it will mean major funding for all the work ahead of us putting the movie together, extensive broadcast in the US -- and a big load off our minds!

And there's more. We've also been selected to present 'WKCV' at Independent Film Week this September. That's to present the project, not show the film -- it's not done yet!

IFW is where films including 'Maria Full of Grace,' 'Born Into Brothels' and 'Mad Hot Ballroom' were presented to potential partners.

These are both big votes of confidence. Now it's going to be a busy month preparing for the next ITVS round and getting ready for Independent Film Week ... and that's on top of putting together a rough cut for the International Doc Fest in Amsterdam.

Wow, OK, deep breath.

OK, I lied a little. We didn't just go to Thailand, of course. We went to Cambodia for a few days of shooting. Lots of additional interviews, locations and background -- being careful all the time, of course.

One striking thing, among many, was that people constantly reminded us that this case is one of the most sensitive in recent years for the Cambodian government. Few people, whether officials, journalists, garment workers or anyone else will speak openly about it. That in itself tells you something about the country. But we filled out a lot of elements and it's going to be an even better film because of this trip. Especially because a number of people (who can't be named) helped us at some risk to themselves.

To top off the trip, we were able to talk our way up to the top of Phnom's Penh tallest building (under construction) for some nice aerial shots. Here's a still:

Team WKCV, which is normally spread out across the globe, has regrouped in Bangkok to do some additional filming (and to work face-to-face for a change). Well, not the entire team but at least Brad, Rich and Jeffrey.

The latter two will return to the U.S. later this month to await news from various funders, including the Sundance Doc Fund and ITVS, which funds the development of programming for public TV in the US.

What's especially encouraging about the ITVS application is that we're partnering in applying with WGBH Boston, and they had some pretty nice things to say about our project, for example:

The film is raw and it is real. Both horrific and tender, it captures the human experience at its most vulnerable moments. Who Killed Chea Vichea? is a transparent, "uncomfortable" story that makes us look at what we don't want to see and raises important questions about power and justice.

Thanks go out to several people for their help and advice on these applications, including Sarah T. and our grants coordinator Caroline Leopold. While I'm thanking people, I should also mention our crack translating team in southern California, headed by Jason Roberts. It's a tough job and we're glad Jason's doing it!