Alice Gu’s THE DONUT KING: Naples International Film Festival INTERVIEWS; Cambodian force of nature with a donut is the stuff of American legend

Alice Gu’s THE DONUT KING: interviewed at Naples International Film Festival about her project which focuses on a Cambodian force of nature with a donut is the stuff of American legend

From the shock of its still-born SXSW debut followed by the subsequent award doled out by that film festival to the regional virtual film festival tour that transpired, Alice Gu’s THE DONUT KING quickly regrouped to become one of this year’s most popular and ubiquitous titles on the circuit.

And why not?

Recently screening at the Naples International Film Festival, the story of Ted Ngoy’s rise and fall making millions as a Cambodian force of nature with a donut is the stuff of American legend.

The story of how he built his own success, and sponsored hundreds of Cambodians with a dream to start a new life in this country and provide for their families only to lose everything due to greed and gambling is America itself.

On paper, the film is a can’t miss proposition. Onscreen, it pays its bills, delivers, and even gives you an unexpected coda, which can basically be described as Donut 2.0, showing how the next generation has taken Ngoy’s inspiration and work ethic and upgraded with new technology and marketing savvy. THE DONUT KING isn’t satisfied with being a cut and paste rags to riches story. It provides historical, cultural, and stylistic layers within its deceptively simple documentary confection.

In the interview, Gu and I talk about her experience doing the COVID virtual film festival tour and the bittersweet nature of it all. We also discuss the protective nature of film festival programmers toward their filmmakers, my usual rant about filmmakers not delivering good production stills to promote their films, how much the virtual application has affected the connection to other filmmakers and ability to maybe work with them in the future. We finish with a “Thumbs up/Thumbs down” assessment of different donuts.

Alice Gu’s THE DONUT KING: Naples International Film Festival INTERVIEWS; Cambodian force of nature with a donut is the stuff of American legend