Media & Studio Arts Symposium
Time-Based Arts & Technology
Year Zero
by University of Michigan Alumni & Filmmaker, David Siev
February 14, 2019 | 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
David Siev
Description: University of Michigan Alumni, David Siev, presents his award-winning short film Year Zero with an introduction and Q&A to follow the screening. When Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime seized control of Cambodia in 1975, the country plunged into civil war and was ravaged by mass killings, famine, torture and disease. With no end in sight to the hunger and starvation and nothing left to lose, two young brothers stop at nothing for a chance to survive.
Presenter Bio:
As the child of a Cambodian refugee, David grew up listening to his father’s countless stories of surviving the Cambodian genocide that claimed the lives of at least 2 million people. After graduating from the University of Michigan’s film school in 2015, David moved from his rural hometown in Michigan to Los Angeles to pursue his passion for the film industry. In his heart and mind, he always knew that one day when the time was right, he would have the experience he needed to share his families’ stories with the rest of the world. Making his directorial debut, David Siev brings to life the brutality of the Khmer Rouge regime and the resilience of Cambodian people in his film, Year Zero.
Year Zero has screened at festivals around the world. The film won Best Narrative Short at its world premiere at the DC Asian American Film Festival in May 2018 and has gone on to screen and win at various other festivals since then. David was selected as a finalist among 5 other directors for the first annual Studiofest – a worldwide competition that chooses 5 directors to compete for a chance to direct their first feature film. David currently works in Los Angeles at Jeff Tremaine’s production company, Gorilla Flicks, where his daily responsibilities range from developing and producing tv shows to shooting additional photography for major motion pictures. David served as a Visual Consultant for Netflix’s highly anticipated Motley Crue biopic titled The Dirt.