Kalyanee Mam is a lawyer, photographer, writer and now filmmaker. She worked as a lawyer in Iraq, assisting the Iraqi government in reforming their commercial laws. She has worked on human rights issues in various countries including Mozambique, China, South Africa, and Cambodia. Kalyanee and her family escaped war-torn Cambodia in 1979 and eventually fled to the United States as refugees in 1981. She is a graduate of Yale University and UCLA Law School.