A filmmaker on the vanguard of virtual reality designs an up-close refugee experience

When Pin Yathay miraculously escaped the genocide that claimed at least 1.7 million lives in Cambodia, he made a vow that was both universal and personal: to bear witness to the atrocities that happened in his country, and find the 6-year-old son he left behind.

Yathay wrote a book, “Stay Alive, My Son,” in 1987. It details the rise of the Khmer Rouge communist party in 1975, the deaths of 17 of Yathay’s family members, his escape through the jungle to freedom in Thailand, and his harrowing decision to leave his son, Nawath, at a hospital in an effort to save his life.

Decades later, Yathay's story has come to life in a movie powered by virtual reality, a pioneering form of technology that uses video game mechanics to create an immersive film. The project, “Stay Alive My Son: A True Story About a Father’s Relentless Search for His Son," is the work of technologist and former Chicago resident Victoria Bousis, a filmmaker who is working on the vanguard of the medium.

Viewers must download the film directly to a VR headset or view the film on a computer using a VR headset. The experience allows them to assume Yathay’s point of view and witness key moments from his life.

Following his escape, Yathay, now 81, resumed his career as an engineer, remarried and had more children. He currently lives in France, and still searches for Nawath, who, if alive, would be 54 today. (In the movie, Bousis has included a digitally aged image of what Nawath may look like now in hopes that he may one day be identified and reunited with Yathay.)

Since its release on the Steam gaming platform in 2024, the award-winning VR experience has been shown to audiences at the Cannes and SXSW film festivals, genocide survivors in Cambodia, and policymakers at United Nations forums. And this year, Bousis released a short film, “Darkness to Light: When Technology Heals Generations,” which documents the impact of the project. (She is currently seeking distribution for the documentary.)

Bousis, a former prosecutor for former Illinois Attorneys General Jim Ryan and Lisa Madigan, said she designed “Stay Alive My Son” to highlight the humanity of refugees who are disparaged or inaccurately labeled as criminals upon escaping to host countries.

“These people are scientists, mathematicians, doctors,” said Bousis, who discovered Yathay’s book on a trip to Cambodia in 2013. “I feel like they're almost deprived of their own human dignity because they chose to live.”

The Khmer Rouge stayed in power for four years and decimated a quarter of the population until 1979, when Vietnam invaded and overthrew the regime.

Yathay said reliving his story through the immersive film was difficult, but he also enjoyed seeing depictions of his life before the Khmer Rouge took over. He also called the project a “powerful” educational tool for young Cambodians.

“They did not live that sad story,” he said. “So they don't even believe that it’s possible.”

Yathay also said he hopes the project will not only prevent a similar tragedy from happening again in Cambodia, but inspire an end to suffering in other places.

“You have to remember and to try to fight back to not let that happen freely,” he said.

An alumnus of DePaul University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bousis pivoted from a career in law to filmmaking and emerging media. She founded her own company, UME Studios, and now splits her time between Los Angeles and Greece, where her family is originally from. Bousis and her team took five years to develop “Stay Alive My Son" — including a PC version — that Bousis financed herself.

A standout feature of the virtual reality experience is the hyper-realistic digital replica of Yathay, which participants encounter before they embody him. Bousis said she used artificial intelligence to ensure Yathay’s digital eyes followed the participant's movements, thus establishing an emotional connection. Next, participants take a "hero's journey" through Yathay's memories as he processes his choices and feelings of grief and love, she said.

The immersive film has elicited strong emotions among viewers, including Ted Schilowitz, a Los Angeles-based entertainment industry veteran who specializes in emerging technology.

“It was incredibly moving to me,” said Schilowitz, who has worked for 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures. “One of the things that virtual reality does extraordinarily well is it brings you to an emotional state more powerfully than traditional media, because you start to feel that it's actually happening to you.”

Schilowitz also described "Stay Alive My Son" as a "pioneering effort" in the immersive storytelling field.

In 2023, the project was given the Producers Guild of America Innovation Award. Longtime entertainment producer Eric Shamlin chaired the jury.

"Her passion really stood out," said Shamlin, of Los Angeles, who chairs the artificial intelligence task force on the board of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. "She really bonded with this older man about the loss of his son."  

Earlier this year, Bousis and Yathay presented "Stay Alive My Son" in Cambodia to audiences of all ages. Though survivors have historically been reluctant to discuss the genocide, some were inspired to share their experiences after participating in the immersive experience, Bousis said.

"I felt like we had some small part in helping to heal," she said.

She has also partnered with the United Nations to show the project to policymakers who specialize in refugee advocacy, including efforts to reunite families.

"We found out that a lot of policymakers had never met a refugee," she said. "Yet they were still writing policies that had no bearing on the refugee experience or the challenges that are faced by refugees."

Amid the fear about AI, Bousis said she hopes "Stay Alive My Son" can demonstrate the positive effects of technology.

"If the wielder of technology is not well-intentioned, it could go astray," she said.

"I wanted to show a piece where I used technology with the best intentions in mind: to tell this really unique story, because I cared about this man. I cared about this country. I care about these people that I met around the world, and I wanted to show that technology can bring generations together and can heal nations."