Angelina Jolie hopes the people of Cambodia are "proud" of her new film ‘First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers’.
The ‘Maleficent’ star stepped behind the camera to direct the movie, which is based on the story of human rights activist Loung Ung, who lived through the genocide that happened under the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s.
Speaking in a BBC special about the film, she said: "I hope this doesn’t bring up hatred. I hope this doesn’t bring up blame. I hope the people of this country are proud when they see it, because they see what they’ve survived.
"I thought, ‘What story do I feel is really important to tell?’ I felt this war that happened 40 years ago and what happened to these people was not properly understood. And not just for the world, but for the people of the country. I wanted them to be able to reflect on it in a way that they could absorb.
"I hope the people of this country are proud when they see it, because they see what they survived. And I hope it sheds light on what it is to be Cambodian, and the beauty and love of the family."
It comes after Angelina revealed the movie helped her understand her son Maddox’s birth country of Cambodia much "deeper".
She shared: "This country means a great deal to me, this country has been through so much. This war affected every single individual here, and I wanted to understand myself. I don’t know much of Maddox’s birth parents, but I believe they would have gone through this war.
"I wanted to understand this country in a deeper way, and bring this story of Luong Ung who’s a dear friend of mine."
And Angelina – who has Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 10, and eight-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox with her estranged husband Brad Pitt – was very nervous about screening the movie in front of the Cambodian royal family.
She added: "I was very, very nervous. It’s an honour to be allowed to come into a country which is not your own country, and to tell its history."
Angelina Jolie hopes new film inspires pride not hatred
