From 1960 to 1975, Cambodian directors made some 500 films, an average of more than 30 per year. But then the Khmer Rouge came and wiped the film industry out of existence. It has never really recovered. Today, maybe one or two movies make it to the screen every year.
“It’s not good,” says Seila Prum, summing up the general state of Cambodian filmmaking. “You can’t really call it an industry today.”
Prum, an independent filmmaker and videographer himself, wants to do something about that. He joined up with other film lovers to form the collective Kon Khmer Koun Khmer (‘Cambodian Film, Cambodian Youth’) to make films and show Cambodia what their country used to be able to do with celluloid.
He and his partners’ most recent project was the Chaktomuk Short Film Contest 2012, which asked aspiring filmmakers under 30 to create short films from one to five minutes. In March, an international jury chose three prizewinners. Now, the wider public will get to see those stand-outs as well as the other entries at Meta House on May 23 and get a taste of what the future of Cambodian film might well look like.
The theme of this year’s contest was ‘love’, and the films’ subjects ran the gamut from blossoming affection between two people to love found, lost and then regained for a bicycle, to a more destructive love affair with wine. Jury members, who hailed from as far away as Australia and France, looked at criteria such as scriptwriting, camera use and editing, as well as how the young filmmakers used the medium to tell their stories.
None of the contest participants are professional filmmakers, and while some of them had semi-professional equipment, others were armed only with small digital cameras with a video function. The results speak to their enthusiasm and love of the craft.
“Our goal is to reach people who want to make films and encourage them to do it,” said Seila. “A lot of them simply lack confidence.”
Seila acknowledges that the Cambodian film scene still has a long road ahead of it. There is a serious skills deficit, he says, and then there’s the money issue. Seila is realistic enough to know that Cambodian films aren’t going to see big international distributors knocking on the door anytime soon, but he does think some of these young people, given the right encouragement and mentoring, could get future films on the festival circuit. Who knows, next stop Hollywood?
The important thing, Seila says, is to nurture that early spark to see where it leads. “People who submitted to the contest are continuing to make their own films and try new things out,” he said.
A big turnout at Meta House could go far in giving budding filmmakers a little boost to keep on going. Viewers might just get a glimpse of the early work of a Khmer Jean-Luc Godard or a Steven Spielberg. Now that would be something to tell the grandkids.
WHO: Aspiring filmmakers
WHAT: Entries of the Chaktomuk Short Film Contest 2012
WHERE: Meta House, #37 Sothearos Blvd
WHEN: 7pm May 23
WHY: The next generation of Cambodian filmmakers at work