Documentary

DN LFF08: The Betrayal – Ellen Kuras

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

It’s the time of year when I get to pretend I’m hard done by; slaving away in darkened cinemas, gorging on the finest films the Times BFI 52nd London Film Festival has to offer. The upside to my valiant sacrifice is that I’m a sharing kinda guy:

When documentaries set out to chart lives still being lived the process can very easily become extended as it’s hard to know when to draw a line under events. Even with that in mind, director Ellen Kuras couldn’t have known that it’d take 23 years for her debut feature The Betrayal – a personal exploration of identity and the complex relationship between the US and the Laos fighters and their families whose sacrifices remain unrecognized to this day – to be completed.

This marks the end of our LFF08 interviews. Be sure to send over an email to let us know what you thought of the coverage this year and the hiatus of our regular format which will return next week.

• DN LFF08: Largo – Andrew van Baal
• DN LFF08: South Main – Kelly Parker
• DN LFF08: Sex Positive – Daryl Wein
• DN LFF09: Trimpin: The Sound of Invention – Peter Esmonde
• DN LFF09: Trash Humpers – Harmony Korine

Author: MarBelle

MarBelle has a strange compulsion to watch as many films as he can get his hands on and find jobs that give him a legitimate excuse to drill filmmakers about their work. Directors Notes is the latest incarnation of this disorder and so much cheaper than film school. Twitter: @MarBelle

Tags: Documentary, Ellen Kuras, Experimental, Feature, Interview, LFF08, London Film Festival, The Betrayal