Often, in discussions about Southeast Asian cinema, Cambodia is overlooked, or pauses at the oeuvre of the country’s living master Rithy Panh. Now, Panh’s work is justly celebrated. Having seen his family suffer under the brutal Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, Panh became a well-known chronicler of the regime’s atrocities. Take a look at some of his recent work, his 2013 film The Missing Picture won the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes, and also scored an Oscar nomination. He served as a producer on First They Killed My Father (2017), directed by Angelina Jolie, while Graves Without A Name was Cambodia’s entry to the Oscars last year.
Emerging in Cambodia from under the massively benign shadow cast by Panh is young outfit Anti-Archive. Set up in 2014 by Davy Chou, Steve Chen and Kavich Neang, with Park Sungho joining in 2016, the company is a veritable hothouse for emerging Cambodian talent. Much of their work is celebrated around the world. Chou’s terrific Diamond Island (2016) looks at new Cambodia from the point of view of teenage construction workers who can ill afford the fancy condominium they are helping build. The film won the SACD award at Cannes, the Grand Prix at Cabourg and best film at our own Mumbai film festival.
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Anti-Archive is also nurturing a generation of young women filmmakers. One of them, Danech San debuted with the short
Much like Lao New Wave Cinema Productions in neighbouring Laos, Anti-Archive is set up as a collective with everybody pitching in on almost every project. For example, San served as production manager on Last Night I Saw You Smiling and as an assistant on the short California Dreaming .
Meanwhile, if you are in the process of accessing these films, head over to Netflix and catch Jimmy Henderson’s slick 2017 movie
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