by Project Brazen in partnership with PRX. Hosted by Ellen Wong.
Most Recent Episode
Apr 5, 2023
Episode 6: “Curiosity Killed the Cat”
Emma faces up to what she’s done, as Douglas, finally, is brought down, and Cambodia begins the gargantuan task of bringing its art back home. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Museum fights a rearguard action to cling on to its collection…a struggle that’s still raging.
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Mar 29, 2023
Episode 5: The Lion
A former Khmer Rouge child soldier, Toek Tik, codenamed “The Lion,” helps the Cambodian government identify looted statues. Eventually Sotheby’s agrees to return its piece. Douglas keeps on looting but he’s on the radar of investigators at the Department of Homeland Security. Martin Lerner leaves the Met and becomes a paid consultant for Douglas, helping ease the path to sales. When a New York dealer is arrested, Douglas and Emma are the focus of a criminal investigation.
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Mar 22, 2023
Episode 4: Art Sleuths
A British conservator comes across a pair of stone feet in a Cambodian jungle temple. His sleuthing leads him to deduce the feet belong to a statue in a U.S. museum and the trail ends at Douglas, the most serious scrutiny yet. Emma Bunker helps Douglas create fake documents to cover up his looting. But when a Cambodian statue goes on sale in Sotheby’s in New York, Douglas is tied up in a lawsuit and his name splashed in the newspapers for the first time.
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Mar 15, 2023
Episode 3: Unrequited Love
As Cambodia opens to the world, the looting enters a new phase as a hoard of Western collectors descend on the nation. Douglas becomes rich, with a chauffeured Rolls Royce in London, and he grows close to the Denver-based academic, Emma Bunker. He’s soon using Emma’s scholarship as cover for his looting. Amid questions from the UN, Douglas starts to return statues to Cambodia, and is awarded a knighthood. The Met curator, Martin Lerner, also returns looted Khmer statues, but at the same time keeps acquiring for the museum.
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Mar 8, 2023
Episode 2: Blood Statues
When the genocidal Khmer Rouge takes over Cambodia, killing 2 million people, Douglas senses an opportunity. Amid the bloodshed, murderous generals rob the nation blind – hacking statues out of jungle temples – and Douglas is a willing buyer. A senior curator at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and a Denver-based academic are eager participants in Douglas’ schemes.
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Mar 1, 2023
Episode 1: Greatest Art Heist
How Douglas Latchford, a nobody from colonial India, makes a name for himself dealing in Cambodian art. It’s the 1960s, and no one cares about Westerners stealing ancient statues from poor countries to sell in London and New York. But, as attitudes start to change, gossip mounts about Douglas.
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Host
Honing her skills under the direction of Edgar Wright, Ellen’s gone on to further success, including multiple SAG Award nominations for her work as “Jenny Chey” on the Emmy-winning and Golden Globe nominated Netflix series GLOW. Ellen has had memorable starring turns including her recent role alongside Michael Caine and Aubrey Plaza in the indie, Best Sellers. Ellen also headlined Cambodia’s entry for Best International Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, In The Life of Music, for which she won the Rising Star award from the Philadelphia Asian Film Festival. Next up, she’ll be appearing in AMC’s forthcoming series, Beacon 23. Ellen has been a vocal supporter for issues of equality and diversity, and served as an ambassador for Share Her Journey, a campaign dedicated to fighting for gender equality in film and TV. Ellen also sits on the board of directors for the Cambodia Town Film Festival and The Haing S. Ngor Foundation.
