Netflix greenlights Angelina Jolie child war movie

Streaming service Netflix and actor Angelina Jolie Pitt are working up a film adaptation of a memoir about surviving Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime.

Jolie Pitt will direct and produce the adaptation of First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, which is from Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung and recalls her life as a child under the deadly administration.

The film, which will be released in English and Khmer, will debut next year on the international streaming television service, and will be submitted to major film festivals.

Jolie Pitt, who has an adopted Cambodian son, said Netflix’s global reach was a major factor in her decision to create the film with the Los Gatos-based streaming service.

“Films like this are hard to watch but important to see,” said Jolie Pitt. “They are also hard to get made. Netflix is making this possible, and I am looking forward to working with them and excited that the film will reach so many people.”

Jolie Pitt will work alongside acclaimed Cambodian director Rithy Panh, who is also a producer on the title, which will comprise part of the Netflix Original Film-branded movie push that debuts next month with another child war film, Beasts of No Nation.

Ung was forced to become a child soldier in a camp for orphans after the Khmer Rouge took power of Cambodia in 1975 and subsequently killed more than two million people. She wrote her memoir in 2000, which she later adapted into a screenplay with Jolie Pitt.

“We are proud to be working with Angelina Jolie in bringing this emotionally powerful and ultimately uplifting story exclusively to Netflix members around the world,” said Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos.

“Loung Ung‘s incredible journey is a testament to the human spirit and its ability to transcend even the toughest circumstances.”

First They Killed My Father begins production later this year.