NOMINATED FOR AN EMMY AWARD FOR "OUTSTANDING INFORMATIONAL PROGRAMMING - LONG FORM"
Sentenced Home is a gripping documentary exploration that humanizes the United States' tragically flawed immigration policy. It follows the story of 3 Cambodian-American immigrants living in Seattle (who came as children in the early 80s, when a multitude of Cambodian refugees were given housing in the city's projects) whose teenage rebellions catch up with them in a horrific way. The confluence of their non-citizenship (they are "permanent residents") and post 9/11 anti-terrorism laws lead to their immediate deportation.
Directors Nicole Newnham and David Grabias follow the men back to their native Cambodia, a country that is unfamiliar and fearsome to them. Weaving a complex tale that touches on everything from immigration, genocide and our present culture of fear to the redeeming and healing ties of family, Sentenced Home is a remarkable, and urgent, story.
Over the course of three years, the filmmakers have captured intimate moments that crystallize the raw emotion and human impact of deportation: Loeun Lun saying a painful farewell to his wife and two young daughters the day of his deportation; Kim Ho Ma turning to alcohol and drugs in Phnom Penh as a way to deal with his anger and hopelessness; and Many Uch proudly pledging allegiance to the United States during a baseball game, even as he waits for his turn to be deported.
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"Our culture often moves so impulsively, trying to resolve complex conflicts quickly, forcefully. The directors (Nicole Newnham and David Grabias)...are slowing us down. Bringing us back. Sentenced Home is a long and unflinching look at the sobering and continuing human cost of a rushed and uninformed intervention into a faraway part of our aching planet."
