MON 25 | Rithy Panh’s latest, unscreened documentary “La France est Nostre Patrie” (“France is Our Homeland”) is the story of a failed encounter between two cultures with different sensitivities and fantasies. The film centres on colonisation marked by brutality, in which chaos and destruction could have been avoided. The film uses archive footage and carries the titular theme throughout. The film will be followed by a conference with Andre Malraux, creator of L’Indochine newspaper, but perhaps better known for having stolen statuettes from Banteay Srei temple, where he will discuss the complexities pertaining to claiming equal rights for colonised Indochinese and French colonisers. While the film will be in French, the conference will be translated to Khmer and English.
WHO: Rithy Panh & Andre Malreaux
WHAT: New Rithy Panh documentary screening & Andre Malraux conference
WHERE: Institut Francais, #218 St. 184
WHEN: 5:30pm (film)/7pm (conference), May 25
WHY: Rithy Panh is amazing. Always. Malraux just makes it even greater.