Stay Alive, My Son (Chapters 1 & 2) (MIFF XR)

Rating:

A quest for personal and national healing, based on the experiences of a Khmer Rouge survivor.

When Pin Yathay and his wife fled a forced labour camp in Cambodia, they left behind their six-year-old son Nwath, who was too ill to make the perilous journey to Thailand. Yathay’s courageous determination to reunite his family – and to find justice for his country, later testifying at a United Nations Special Tribunal – touched readers worldwide when he published his acclaimed memoir in 1987.

This interactive VR work invites players to experience Yathay’s story firsthand, leading us through Cambodia’s tragic history and enduring culture; within the work, completing puzzles unlocks hidden memories and heals the grieving father’s heart, visualised by the sacred Buddhist temple Angkor Wat. Premiering at Venice and later screening at SXSW, Stay Alive, My Son (Chapters 1 & 2) is a powerful, poignant and inspirational story of survival.