Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday met with actress and director Angelina Jolie at the capital’s Peace Palace to discuss her upcoming film project in the Kingdom, as well as the conservation work of her Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

Eang Sophalleth, a spokesman for the premier, told reporters after the meeting that Hun Sen had offered his approval of Jolie’s organisation’s efforts in Battambang’s Samlot district, and received her assurances that her film – an adaptation of the Khmer Rouge survivor memoir First They Killed My Father – would offer a balanced view of Cambodian society.

“Jolie informed . . . Hun Sen that the film won’t [just] show the cruelty of Cambodian society, but will show the lives of Cambodians, traditional culture and the love of parents for their children,” said Sophalleth.

“[Hun Sen] expressed his support for the film, and said that the film will show the truth to the young generation.”

Som Sokun, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Culture, said preparations for the film – co-produced by Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh and based on a screenplay by Jolie and the memoir’s author, Loung Ung – had been under way since August, with shooting set to take place from November to February 2016.

Noting that the memoir tells the story of the daughter of a former Lon Nol official, Sokun added that he too believed it would help young people “understand the killing fields”.