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Actor Sam Waterston To Lead Discussion Of  'The Killing Fields'

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Actor Sam Waterston

To Lead Discussion Of  ‘The Killing Fields’

RIDGEFIELD — For anyone who has ever wanted to go behind the scenes to check out how a film gets made, The Ridgefield Playhouse should be visited for a special program this month.

The Ridgefield Playhouse Film Society’s Lost and Found Film Series will present the three-time Oscar winning film The Killing Fields, along with its lead actor, Sam Waterston, on Friday, October 19, at 7:30 pm.  The Killing Fields is an often-harrowing account of civil war and its bloody aftermath once the Khmer Rouge began its take-over of Cambodia in the early 1970s.

As Sydney Schanberg (Sam Waterston) and colleague Dith Pran (Haing S. Ngor), along with photographer Al Rockoff (John Malkovich) and journalist Jon Swain (Julian Sands) are reporting US involvement in Cambodia, Schanberg persuades Pran to stay behind with him in Phnom Penh after the US Army evacuation even though this is putting his colleague at risk. Despite the protestations of the Western journalists and their efforts to make a fake passport for Pran, he is turned over to the Khmer Rouge, and struggles for survival when put to work in “the killing fields.”

Schanberg returns to the United States and wins the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting. What follows is the story of Pran’s struggle for survival and a guilty-ridden Schanberg’s attempts to rescue him.

While this 1984 masterpiece garnered three Oscars, it was nominated for another four including Best Picture and Best Actor in a Leading Role, which Mr Waterston.

As with all Film Society events there will be a Q&A, this time with Mr Waterston, who television viewers can find weekly on the small screen in “Law and Order.” The evening will be hosted by Morton Dean, Ira Joe Fisher and Faith Daniels.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $7.50 for seniors and $5 for students. For tickets and further information call the box office at 203-438-5795 or go online to RidgefieldPlayhouse.org. The Playhouse is at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street.

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