A special screening and live discussion with director, Alice Gu. The Donut King has won awards at SXSW, the Bentonville Film Festival, Sun Valley Film Festival, and is a NYT Critic's Pick! 

"A terrific story in an unlikely place" - 

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Kinema

In 1975, Ted Ngoy and his family immigrated from Cambodia to Camp Pendleton in San Diego as part of a refugee program. By 1977, he saved up enough money to buy his first donut shop. By the mid-80s, he owned 32 shops and had amassed millions of dollars. This award-winning documentary from Alice Gu charts Ngoy’s meteoric rise to the title of “The Donut King” –– and his subsequent devastating fall. 

Everything you thought you knew about the donut begins with Ted Ngoy. This is the unlikely story of a Cambodian refugee arriving in America in 1975 and building a multi-million-dollar empire baking America’s favorite pastry, the donut. 

This is a story about fate, love, survival, hard knocks, and redemption. 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.  Ted sponsored hundreds of visas for incoming refugees and helped them get on their feet teaching them the ways of the donut business. By 1979 he was living the American Dream. But, in life, great rise can come with great falls.