Series Site
September 24–October 6, 2023
“Cambodia is a young country, and we must give prospects to the youth. The past tells us what may happen tomorrow; and images are here to make us think and feed us; it is a great strength to move forward. Education helps us analyze the images and master the techniques; creation enables us to speak up but also express what we see and how we feel.” —Rithy Panh, cofounder of the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center
BAMPFA and UC Berkeley’s South and Southeast Asian Studies Department have formed a new partnership with the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center in Cambodia. In August we hosted three archivists from Cambodia for a summer residency at the film archive, and looking ahead to January 2024, several members of BAMPFA’s staff will visit their institution in Phnom Penh. In the interim, we welcome Sopheap Chea, the executive director of the Bophana Center, who will share a firsthand report on the important work that is being done to reclaim Cambodian film heritage and train young filmmakers throughout the country. The film program on October 6 showcases some of those recent films.
Also selected for this spotlight series is Kavich Neang’s White Building, an impressive feature debut that has received praise for its lead actor, Piseth Chhun, and exceptional cinematography. The film addresses the housing situation in Phnom Penh, in one of the city’s infamous tenement buildings. Davy Chou’s Golden Slumbers is a lyrical investigation of the lost cinematic heritage of Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge destroyed all the movies made between 1960 and 1975. Rithy Panh’s Bophana: A Cambodian Tragedy, an early and seminal work, tells the story of a young couple who were both arrested, tortured, and executed by the Pol Pot regime. Panh fittingly named the Bophana Center after the young female victim, who died in her mid-twenties but whose memory now lights the way for future generations.
—Susan Oxtoby, Director of Film and Senior Film Curator