Jimmy Chhiu is a Cambodian-American, born in Santa Rosa, CA. He now lives in a house he purchased in Van Nuys, perhaps the only person I know under 35 who bought a house in the San Fernando Valley without wealthy parents.
I met him 15 years ago when he was a 20-year-old working at Trader Joe’s in Studio City. Magnetic, funny, hard-working, he built up career as an accomplished stunt man, now stunt coordinator.
He’s going to direct “Khmerican”, his first film based on his life growing up in Santa Rosa where his family’s donut shop was the center. It’s the story of poverty, violence, family and struggle and the displacement of rural Cambodians who found themselves adrift and fighting in small town and urban America after their own once verdant homeland was savagely destroyed in war and then a genocidal civil war.
“After escaping the horrors of genocide, a generation of refugees must navigate identity and culture in a country that isn’t theirs.“
He also explains on his Kickstarter page that he is motivated to make movies in LA where moviemaking is declining. Imagine LA without Hollywood. It could happen, the same way our city has lost department stores, restaurants, and affordable housing.
I backed this film and Khmerican is within $500 of their goal of $15,000. I believe in Jimmy Chhiu, and I think he will tell a great story, because he comes from a great story.
Here in Van Nuys 
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