Ngoy would often visit Las Vegas for a period of a week, unbeknownst to his wife. The totally surprising and extraordinary roller coast life of Ted Ngoy is the stuff of a good movie drama ….. except that this is a documentary of his almost unbelievable real life.. A word of warning here, before you start to stream Alice Gu‘s wee film, go grab yourself a box of donuts, as her film has you gasping to eat more than a few.. The Khoeuns immediately sent for an ambulance for Ngoy and had Suganthini locked in her room for days following the event. Despite her sheltered life and being forbidden from having friends or leaving the house other than for school, Suganthini fell in love. He saw an opportunity to expand his business and help the large number of poor, unassimilated Cambodians who had fled the Khmer Rouge to the United States. It’s the story of Ted Ngoy, a 1970s Cambodian refugee who built a Southern California cruller empire and dedicated himself to enriching the lives of so many of his fellow countryfolk sent to America with nothing. At the heart of the story is Ted Ngoy, born Bun Tek Ngoy in 1941 Cambodia. You get the sense that a man with Ngoy's restless enterprise and financial savvy would have been a runaway success at any place and time. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy; 1942) is a Cambodian American entrepreneur and former owner of a chain of doughnut shops in California. In 1975, Ngoy fled the Khmer Rouge with his wife and three children to Camp Pendleton. By 1987, Ngoy owned 32 Christy's Donuts locations, largely accomplished by living out of a motorhome allowing him and his family to travel up and down the state of California establishing new locations. In 1975, Ted Ngoy fled the war in Cambodia with his wife and three kids and arrived in America as a penniless refugee. At a time when the plights of refugees and immigrants have been necessarily shunted from the front page by the coronavirus (despite the greater vulnerability of these populations to contagion), Gu celebrates their potential and their perseverance, while never losing sight of their complicated humanity. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy; 1942) is a Cambodian American entrepreneur and former owner of a chain of doughnut shops in California. "[1], After the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1993, Ngoy returned to Cambodia for the country's first elections. It’s the rags to riches story of a refugee escaping Cambodia, arriving in America in 1975 and building an unlikely multi-million-dollar empire baking America’s favorite pastry, the donut. But that would be taking for granted the extraordinariness of Ngoy's life story, as well as the thoughtfulness with which Gu crafts this accessible yet honest overview. The Donut King (DVD) : The rags to riches story of Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian refugee arriving in America in 1975 and building a multi-million-dollar empire baking America's favorite pastry, the donut. He is nicknamed the "Donut King." He would forge her signature on checks and even borrow money from relatives who leased stores from him. Distraught at the turn of events, Suganthini overdosed on sleeping pills and fell into a coma, causing her parents to relent to the union shortly after the couple recovered. Ngoy's political career ended in 2002 after breaking with two powerful allies, the commerce minister and the head of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce. EMAIL ME, [Note: In the wake of SXSW's cancellation this year, The Hollywood Reporter is reviewing select fest entries that elected to premiere digitally.]. Weaving together two histories hidden in plain sight, the film is a heartwarming yet three-dimensional portrait of a man who lifted hundreds of his shell-shocked countrymen out of poverty and despair, but was later consumed by his own maniacal ambition and zeal. As the movie opens, we are in today's southern California, as we are intro to various donut shops and its owners, talking about (in)famous Uncle Ted, who started it all back in the 1970s. Gu’s portrait of Ngoy shifts to favour the greater empire Ted built: one of a rich Cambodian-American community that thrived through the donut king’s pay-it-forward ethic. It's an improbable achievement, and each biographical detail that we get from Gu's film underscores just how unlikely Ngoy's entire life has been, from his innovation of carnation pink as the donut-box color to his marriage to the daughter of a wealthy and influential family as the son of an impoverished single mother (herself a Chinese migrant to Cambodia). The nonfiction jury at this year's (canceled) SXSW Film Festival must have felt the same, as it gave first-time director Alice Gu's. Sitemap | After cry, go back gambling." Combined with the archival footage of Democratic and Republican presidents alike embracing immigrants and refugees, Leaders and visionaries like Ted Ngoy benefit the lives of more people than they can even imagine. His story is one of love, hard knocks, survival, and redemption. The Donut King (DVD) : The rags to riches story of Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian refugee arriving in America in 1975 and building a multi-million-dollar empire baking America's favorite pastry, the donut. Gu's efforts to deliver a peppy, music-driven documentary does make it occasionally difficult to understand Ngoy's story within a larger context. [4], Ngoy secured work as a janitor with Peace Lutheran Church in Tustin, California. "[1] In 1977, the Ngoys took a trip to Las Vegas where Ted saw Elvis Presley. “isn’t all sweet but it is a treat.” Thursday, November 19th, 2020. Though seldom traditionally gorgeous, The Donut King is strikingly inventive and image-centric, with animated sequences in place of (most) recreations and an unofficial tour of Southern California's many immigrant-owned donut shops via skateboard. The Donut King (DVD) : The rags to riches story of Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian refugee arriving in America in 1975 and building a multi-million-dollar empire baking America's favorite pastry, the donut. He did not fare well in either the 1993 or 1998 parliamentary elections, but his friend, Prime Minister Hun Sen, made him an advisor on commerce and agriculture. Through the maneuvering of his brother-in-law, chief of police and briefly future president of Cambodia, Sak Sutsakhan, Ngoy was promoted to the rank of major and appointed military attache at Cambodia's embassy in Thailand. FACEBOOK While working a second job at a gas station, Ngoy took notice of a busy local doughnut shop and inquired of its operators about learning the business. The Donut King (DVD) : The rags to riches story of Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian refugee arriving in America in 1975 and building a multi-million-dollar empire baking America's favorite pastry, the donut. Ted Ngoy came to America in 1975 after fleeing the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. He subsequently received training through an affirmative action program to increase minority hiring within the Winchell's chain of doughnut shops, and managed a store in Newport Beach where he employed his wife and nephew. By 2005, after a failed political career in Cambodia, Ngoy was penniless and living on the porch of a fellow Parkcrest Christian Church parishioner's mobile home. | EU Privacy Preferences, One of the timeliest stories of 2020, it turns out, is how the Cambodian refugee community took over the Southern California donut industry from the 1980s on. Ngoy lived in a small attic apartment a couple blocks away from the Khoeun mansion and would play flute music at night to woo Suganthini. Pertinent statistics are drowned out by an electronica score and the rattling of skateboard wheels in an early montage, and the film's summary of the history of Cambodia as a battleground in the Vietnam War and the takeover of the Khmer Rouge thereafter might only make sense to those who come to the doc already knowledgeable about that period. The Donut King (DVD) : The rags to riches story of Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian refugee arriving in America in 1975 and building a multi-million-dollar empire baking America's favorite pastry, the donut. The titular donut king is 77-year-old Ted Ngoy, who has attained mythic status among many Cambodian Americans in Los Angeles and Orange County since his arrival in the U.S. more than four decades ago. One of the timeliest stories of 2020, it turns out, is how the Cambodian refugee community took over the Southern California donut industry from the 1980s on. Ngoy would make a habit of returning monthly to watch performers such as Tom Jones, Diana Ross and Wayne Newton and indulging in the incentives pit bosses of major casinos offered all the while spending even larger sums at the card tables. In a final segment, Gu chronicles how the American-raised children are updating their parents' donut shops for the social-media age and reutilizing them to anchor neighborhoods. Ted sponsored hundreds of visas for incoming refugees and helped them get on their feet teaching them the ways of the donut business. This documentary tells Ted Ngoy's story that is one of fate, love, survival, hard knocks, and redemption. Ted sponsored hundreds of visas for incoming refugees and helped them get on their feet teaching them the ways of the donut business. He and his family fled the fighting in that country in 1975 and ended up in Tustin, Calif., an hour’s drive south of Los Angeles. [8], Military Career and Immigration to the United States, "Rise and fall of Cambodian refugee 'Donut King' charted in award-winning film", http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jan/19/local/me-donutking19, "The story of the man they called the doughnut king", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ted_Ngoy&oldid=991486239, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 30 November 2020, at 09:04. He dissolved his party and accused the government of corruption. Ngoy had become an example to other Cambodian immigrants, who began to follow his business model for their own entrepreneurial endeavors. © 2021 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. Cinematographer: Alice Gu Find contact info for Ted Ngoy - phone number, address, email. Terms of Use | Ngoy also involved himself in American politics, joining the Republican Party and hosting fundraisers for George H.W. In spite of the eye-popping age difference, they both say they’re deeply in love. [1], After a particularly devastating gambling loss in 1990, Ngoy flew to Washington, D.C. and joined a Buddhist monastery where he spent a month meditating. At the airport, Ted Ngoy slaps my shoulder and pumps my hand vigorously. Venue: SXSW Film Festival (Documentary Feature Competition). Ngoy declares that his relationship with donuts was love at first sight because they reminded him of nom kong, a Cambodian dessert. The Ngoys decided to keep uniformity amongst their shops, naming subsequent acquisitions Christy's. His story is one of love, hard knocks, survival, and redemption. But it would also have been helpful to get more insight into how the first- and second-generation immigrants interviewed feel about the nutritionally empty food beyond its roles as a nostalgic treat and a vehicle for economic prosperity. His story is one of love, hard knocks, survival, and redemption. At the heart of the story is Ted Ngoy, born Bun Tek Ngoy in 1941 Cambodia. His story is one of love, hard knocks, survival, and redemption. Running Time (minutes): 94. [2], In 1967, Ngoy was sent by his mother to study in the capital, Phnom Penh, where he fell in love with Suganthini Khoeun, the daughter of a high-ranking government official. Following the event to Las Vegas for a surprisingly guileless presence despite his obvious to... 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