The Missing Picture, Rithy Panh’s 2013 documentary, is among the director’s most disquieting films on life under the Khmer Rouge. It is certainly his most celebrated.
Panh’s film screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival under the Un Certain Regard section, where it took first prize. In October the Busan International Film Festival, Asia’s largest, beknighted Panh with the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award. The movie was Cambodia’s sole entry to the 86th Academy Awards, submitted under Best Foreign Language Film.
It represents Panh’s personal recollection of the Khmer Rouge takeover and its inhumane aftermath. “It was a time for study and books,” reads narrator Randal Duoc as the camera pans across a setting of motionless clay figurines who stand in for the director’s lost family. “I remember how sweet life was. I loved to hear my father read us poetry at night.
“Then came the war,” he continues in French, his voice soaked with joylessness. “The bombs drew near in the 1970s. I remember the first who died. Our fear. My sorrow as a child.” So goes much of Cambodia’s history, composed in languages few locals understand and presented to audiences in faraway, inconsequential cities. In this case, however, the historical oversight will be mended when The Missing Picture screens in Khmer at the 2013 Cambodia International Film Festival.
The week-long event runs from December 7 – 12 and films will be screened at five locations, including Rithy Panh’s magnificent Bophana Centre and a giant outdoor screen at Koh Pich. The other theatres are Legend Cinema at City Mall, Platinum Cineplex at Sorya and La Cinema at the French Institute. Entry is free to more than 60 public screenings.
Cambodia, as might be expected, is well represented in the festival’s show list. In addition to Panh’s award-winning entry, the schedule includes the much talked about Kalyanee Mam film A River Changes Course; Australian James Gerrand’s historical documentary The Prince & The Prophecy (as well as Cambodia Kampuchea and The Last God King) and the debut of Sok Visal’s first feature-length film, Gems On The Run.
The programme also includes a tribute to the country’s newest celluloid starlet Thorn Thanet, who has captured the heart of Phnom Penh’s cinematic community with her penchant for scoffing at pulp roles and KTV drivel, regardless of the money on offer.
In addition to Cambodia-focused works, the festival will also screen a series of ‘Cult Indian Classics’, including Rajkumar Hirani’s feature film 3 Idiots, India’s second-highest grossing film (after the 2013 romantic comedy Chennai Express).
The Archive Lounge at Bophana Centre will serve as the festival’s social centre and organisers promise a caffeine-fuelled week of cinematic observations and moving images.
WHO: Celluloid lovers
WHAT: Cambodia International Film Festival
WHERE: Cinemas across Phnom Penh (see cambodia-iff.com for details)
WHEN: December 7 – 12
WHY: Foster dialogue between different cultures through the seventh art