Film Showing Celebrates Collaboration with Lowell Schools

On November 13, 2007, Primary Source hosted a special showing at the Waltham Embassy Theater of New Year Baby with director Socheata Poeuv, to celebrate a collaboration between the Lowell Public Schools and Primary Source.

New Year Baby tells the powerful story of the Poeuv family's survival of the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia and their subsequent emigration to the United States. More than 160 people filled the theater, including a number of Cambodian-Americans who were inspired to share their own stories with the director and the audience after the film.

The following day Ms. Poeuv showed her film to 500 Lowell High School students. This event was also part of Primary Source's partnership with the Lowell Public Schools, an initiative to provide teachers with curriculum resources, content knowledge, and cultural literacy to better serve the community's large Cambodian-American student population. Lowell students and teachers responded enthusiastically to both the film and the opportunity to speak with Ms. Poeuv about her experiences.

With the help of the Theodore Edson Parker Foundation, this summer Primary Source will be taking a group of Lowell teachers on a study tour to Cambodia and Vietnam to help them gain an understanding of the region in order to better understand their students' personal histories.