They wont trust you, he said. Streaming now on PBS. Director Alice Gu makes her film debut with The Donut King, following the life of Ted Ngoy. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. The two had met as teenage classmates in Phnom Penh. Im Chinese American. He taught them the names of the doughnuts: old fashioned, jelly-filled, glazed. It was helping his community and it was a bit of a cautionary tale.". He wanted to buy more, but he was exhausted running the five he owned. On the porch of a friends mobile home in Long Beach, the Cambodian doughnut king falls asleep each night shivering. At 16, she had no friends, could not talk to boys and was forbidden to leave home alone. He subsists on small handouts from friends. Hes really funny. The United States alone is home to more than 25,000 donut shops and they produce more than 10 billion donuts each year. One involves reggae and another focuses on Puerto Rican musicians. You cannot resist against it.. He was fortunate to escape with his wife, two kids and some relatives, arriving in California where he and his family were housed in a. Christy and Ted bought a $1-million, three-story, 7,000-square-foot house with palm trees and a three-car garage on Lake Mission Viejo in Orange County. That really broke the ice for us. "But what shall we do in the morning? He was raised by his mother, who was from Shantou, Guangdong, and who only spoke Chinese. Some of those he borrowed from were the people he had leased doughnut shops to. Ted was dismayed. At the end, I win. The Donut King Long-lost ship found at the bottom of Lake Huron, confirming story of tragic collision, TikTok to set default daily time limit of up to 60 minutes for minors, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, The chance of a lifetime: Five friends ski the tallest mountain in Los Angeles, TikTok faces bans in a number of countries over security fears. He was, however, invited to become a government adviser on commerce and agriculture. , some of the dough (see what we did there?) Ted Ngoy, who was known as the doughnut king, lives in Phnom Penh. He built a donut empire and $20 million in wealth, but his fortune built on donuts would crumble and he would lose it all. He was bleeding out and her parents were like, 'Oh, God. Theres this portion in the film that goes into Ted and his ex-wife Christys experiences in Orange County during the 70s. He joined Gamblers Anonymous but was back at the tables in no time. I cant take credit for it, but I do feel like in the making of this film and having some of these people face feelings that they hadnt confronted in many years, it was very healing. He formed the Free Development Republican Party (ahead of the countrys UN-backed elections), believing that he could show others the path to wealth and hoping that being a politician might stymy his gambling addiction. "If I need to shower, I knock on the door, 'Lady can I take a shower?' "[1], Ted Ngoy was born in the Cambodian village of Sisophon near the country's border with Thailand. Ngoy joined the army. What is Ted up to in Cambodia nowadays?Ted is doing well. He was born Bun Tek Ngoy. That's a disaster," he says. An immigrant story with a (glazed) twist, The Donut King follows the journey of Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy, who arrived in California in the 1970s and, through a mixture of diligence and. "I never back down. On hearing the music float across the quiet city, Suganthini's mother remarked that whoever was playing must be in love. Through doughnuts, many Cambodians stepped out of isolation and into the American mainstream. Suganthini replied, "Well be careful, if you don't jump into my room, you'll jump into my mum's room.". They saw Elvis Presley perform, and Ted played a little blackjack. Some of his relationships didnt end well. "Ted, again, is Mr. Nine Lives. Ngoy ended his political career abruptly in 2002, breaking with two powerful allies, the commerce minister and the head of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce. He had sold what few shops remained. Naturally he agreed, and set his sisters up with doughnut shops. People made fun of his accent. It was really wonderful. He helped them apply for permits. "And she says, 'Because Cambodian people make them.'". He sat on the roof of his apartment and played his flute, the music sweeping over the neighborhood. Ted kept a low profile until the LA filmmaker Alice Gu got in touch a couple of years ago. [5], The film received 69/100 on Metacritic, receiving "generally favorable reviews. I say, Ted, who are you? I really dont know.. The rise & fall of The Donut King. Working all hours, Ted and Christy knew very little about what was happening back home in Cambodia, but what they heard was bad. I think thats the American way the power of connections and people. I told them I'm very sorry 1,000 times. But from then on, every store Ngoy and his wife bought or opened they named Christys Doughnuts. Money, doughnuts, sleep.. The stranger who crept into her room more than 35 years ago is a stranger again. Six weeks later, Gu and her producer, Jos Nuez, were on a plane to Cambodia where they spent three days interviewing Ngoy and shooting B-roll. Ngoy bought his first doughnut. Tell me more about how they connected to the local community.Ted came in the 70s and it was quite homogeneously white in Orange County at the time and a lot of people had never seen an Asian person, much less heard of a place called Cambodia. When people know about the bad reputation, people are not going to vote for me. The Ngoys helped hundreds of refugees find housing and apply for Social Security cards. "[9] In a mixed review, Brad Wheeler of The Globe and Mail said the film is "well worth watching" while saying there "are holes in this doughnut story. Every evening, he sat by his open window and played the flute. [1], When his wife visited California for the birthday of their grandchild in 1999, Ngoy began an affair with a young woman; Christy divorced him soon after and has not since returned to Cambodia. "'You want to tell my story? I go to borrow. Ngoy had become an example to other Cambodian immigrants, who began to follow his business model for their own entrepreneurial endeavors. Ted is my great uncle,'" Gu says. He tasted his first donut at a Tustin gas station, trained as a baker in a La Mirada Winchells and ran his own Winchells store in the Balboa Peninsula. That phrase Donut King is already so eye-catching right off the bat. As word of Ted's success spread, Cambodian immigrants started seeking him out when they arrived in Southern California. He hosted Dan Quayle and Pete Wilson at his house. [4], Ngoy secured work as a janitor with Peace Lutheran Church in Tustin, California. Did working on this film change or contribute to your perspective of the American dream or immigrant stories?It seems like these days the American dream is harder and harder to attain. A child of immigrants herself, she had become curious why Californian doughnut shops were so often run by Cambodians, and why there were so many of them. The Cambodians worked hard and because the whole family pitched in, they did not have to pay out any wages. "I had true love for her.". And then I hate the gambling and then I hate that I treat Christy so badly, treat my children so badly, because of the gambling, so I hate myself," he says. The Donut King is a documentary directed by Alice Gu that covers the life of Ted Ngoy, one of the primary reasons behind the Cambodian American donut shop boom. Still homeless, he moved to the coastal town of Kep, on the Gulf of Thailand. He also sponsored more than 100 Cambodian refugee families and established a path of financial opportunity for them in America. In less than two years, while working on other jobs and projects, Gu directed and shot the 94-minute documentary. One night he asked the woman at the counter if saving $3,000 would be enough to buy a doughnut shop. and California landscape with a familiar coat yellow strip mall signs with red lettering reading Christys Donuts. Alongside doughnuts, they sell imported American goods - everything from Pop-Tarts to Starbucks Frappucinos. Here's Why It's Especially Dangerous To Hike SoCal Mountains Right Now, How 4 Words Upended A University's Journalism Program, And Stirred A Reckoning Over Race, What A Popular Yoga Teacher's Descent Into Conspiracy Theories Says About The 'Wellness To QAnon Pipeline', Ancient Lung Disease Strikes Countertop Cutters In LA. Im also, again, the daughter of Chinese American immigrants and my dad was a big Republican party supporter. He had $50,000 riding on many Sundays. It led many voters to assume, incorrectly, that he was against Cambodia's royal family, and he didn't win a seat. "[10], Whittaker said that "as Asian Americans face increasing racism, its closing message about how immigrant communitiesdefine America has only become more timely."[8]. If you walk into a doughnut shop in California, the chances are it's owned by a Cambodian family. Her father was a high-ranking government official. Filmmaker Alice Gu (left) poses with Mayly Tao outside DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. Ted became known as the Donut King - or Uncle Ted, because of the many Cambodian immigrants he'd sponsored. What new information did you learn in the making of the film?There was a lot that was new to me. [9], Ngoy is the subject of the 2020 documentary film The Donut King. Ted became their first South East Asian trainee. But I still win. Then, after falling out with a powerful political rival he feared for his life and fled to the US. To Christy, this was the final betrayal. Ngoy managed to escape just as Phnom Penh was falling and brought his wife, Suganthini, and their three children to America in the mid-1970s. Everybody cry," he said. Ted became deeply religious. The world moves so quickly now, but I do believe that it is still real and it is still possible. "It's a crazy story, but it's true," says Ted, now 78. It actually made national, if not international, news about the kindness of these people in Orange County. At the weekend the oldest children, Chet and Savy, then nine and eight, helped out by pouring coffee, packing doughnuts and folding boxes. I just first hurt my wife, Christy, my children and hurt many, many other people, too, because, when we needed money. Ngoy fled with his wife, three young children, two cousins and a nephew to the United States in 1975. He left behind his new wife and their two children, and what he had seen as his last chance at redemption. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. [5], Ngoy was hesitant to return to California for the film; he was estranged from his children and former friends. Once a paragon in the community, refugees now avoided him for fear of being asked for a loan. Also Jerry Brown, who weve seen in California as our beacon of hope and morality, in 1975 was actually the opposite. Once, I said I would die if something happened to him, Christy said of her ex-husband. "You can't find any prettier woman besides her.". The Donut King diretcor Alice Gu talks about what led her to make a film about Ted Ngoy, her first intro to the phenomenon of Cambodian donut shops and how she got a Wu-Tang song in the score. He did as he was told, but then pulled out a knife and stabbed himself, declaring he would rather die than live without her. The film details how Ngoy fled Cambodia with his family during the Vietnam War and later went on to build a donut shop empire, only to lose it all because of a gambling addiction. Christy always forgave him, but word got around that Ted could no longer be trusted. That same year, President Gerald Ford signed the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act, allowing 130,000 people from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to come to the U.S. California's Governor at the time, Jerry Brown, opposed the move, saying, in a clip that's featured in The Donut King, "When we have a million people out of work, when we have our own people taxed to the hilt, I'm just very slow to just open the floodgates and say come on in unless we provide a way to put Americans to work.". After earning a communications degree at UC San Diego, Tao worked for a while at a news station but wasn't enthused about that career path. [2][3][4], The Donut King was directed by Alice Gu, and is her first feature film. The son of a peddler had no chance with such a girl, no right even to think of loving her. . While he was recovering in hospital, Suganthini also made an attempt on her life. called The donut business isnt easy. "Ultimately, this is a story of a guy who came to the country with nothing, and with some hustle, and dreams, and a little luck, really made quite a charmed life for himself.". the After Ted revealed his presence to Christy, he hid under her bed until he was eventually discovered and her family allowed them be together. When he lost big, he would sign the stores over to them. Doing this film was really an exploration for me of understanding where you come from. "Using money to provide for others is a feeling as powerful as any drug," he later wrote. He took a real estate class but said he couldnt retain the details. Los Angeles Times Ted encouraged others to do the same. youths avoid juvenile hall comes to an end, As it approaches its first decade, the Frida Cinema abides, Shake Shack gets ready to shake things up in Orange County, Santa Anas Electric City Butcher moves online, Brews&Bites beachside beer festival comes to the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, 13 couples say I do on Valentines Day weekend at the Anaheim Marketplace, Broadway Divas serve off-Broadway realness at Segerstrom, Dine your heart out this Valentines Day with special menus throughout Orange County, 43rd annual Orange County Black History Parade & Unity Fair a source of pride in Anaheim. He had burned a lot of bridges and at the time his children hardly spoke to him. Ted and a lot of the Asians who came aligned themselves with the Republican party. Ngoy wrote to her. Within a decade, he had become a multimillionaire with a lakeside mansion . If there's anything she wants people who watch The Donut King to know, it's that this seemingly simple treat has a deeper cultural resonance. He said hes Chinese Cambodian and we spoke Mandarin for a couple of minutes. He ran to the shop across the street where he bought a donut. Ted Ngoy: Well, when I was in a high school in a French school, my wife's Suganthini. He also figured that as a prominent politician, he would be forced to control his gambling habit. I have to go to school.". I wanted to tell this story in a way that was inspirational and optimistic. Ngoy attempted Gamblers Anonymous, but denied it helped with his situation, stating that when he went to meetings "I cry, everybody cry. "Many times I try to commit suicide because I hate myself. The Donut King is told through archival footage, animation, and interviews with family members alongside Ted Ngoy, who has tried to make peace with those who he's hurt including Mel Allison, a 91-year-old baker still at it at Winchell's. In the end, filming the documentary was a healing experience for Ted. ", But in the end, he says, he beat it. The family were among the many tens of thousands of . Ted had met Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., [Richard] Nixon. They pricked their fingers and squeezed drops of blood into a cup of water. Ted's parents and sisters fled across the border to Thailand, and Ted got a call from the US embassy there asking if he would sponsor them to live in the US. In doing the research and finding that it was President [Gerald] Ford who issued the executive order to receive the refugees, a Republican president that was a huge surprise to me given that during the time that we were making this film we were hearing Donald Trumps rhetoric. Boozy Dole Whips. In the early 1970s, Cambodia was in the midst of a brutal civil war that displaced two million people, more than a quarter of the country's population. All three were taken to the police station but they were too scared to mention the cash in the boot. "He was afraid of being shunned and feeling lonely - but I forced him!" Then he would return to Vegas in an attempt to win back what he had lost. I did not have time to expand. He co-signed loans for supplies and equipment. He had to guess which room was hers. One night under a full moon, they knelt and prayed. After setting up a sweet shop of his own, he helped fellow . To make sure he went through with it, they insisted on hiding behind a curtain while he said his spiel. Ngoy would open more shops and lease them to fellow refugees. Doughnut shops were easy to run. Designers Andrew Hem and Charlie Le were awarded a SWSW Film special jury recognition for their poster design of The Donut King in 2020. He became Ted. 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