LOS ANGELES, Aug 4 — First They Killed My Father looks at Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime through the eyes of a child.

The film, directed by Angelina Jolie, will be available September 15 on Netflix.

Loung Ung was five years old when Pol Pot’s regime came to power in Cambodia in 1975.

Her family was forced out of Phnom Penh and had to leave all their belongings behind. In the regime’s labor camps, Ung’s family then lived through hunger, exhaustion, fear and separation.

Separated from her family, Ung became a child soldier, experiencing the horrors of the regime firsthand. She lost her parents and two of her sisters to Pol Pot’s regime, along with two million Cambodians at the time.

In 1979, the Khmer Rouge was removed from power by Vietnam.

The young girl was then reunited with her brothers and sisters, and together they fled to the US.

To pay homage to her parents and her country, and as a duty of remembrance, Ung wrote about her experiences in an autobiography published in 2000, called First They Killed My Father.

Touched by the memoir, Jolie decided to bring Loung Ung’s story to the screen.

The Hollywood star directed the movie and wrote the screenplay with Ung’s help.

Jolie’s adopted son, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, who was born in Cambodia, was also involved in production alongside the star.

First They Killed My Father is the actress’ fourth stint behind the camera.

She has previously directed other movies about war, like 2011’s In the Land of Blood and Honey, set in Bosnia, and Unbroken, about a World War II hero taken prisoner by the Japanese. — AFP-Relaxnews

'First They Killed My Father,' directed by Angelina Jolie, will screen next month at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada. — AFP pic