Event Calender

LET’S GET LOST (1988, 120 min) is a brilliant portrayal of how talent, youth and beauty are destroyed by excess.

Phnom Penh-based, Australian trumpet player Cameron Smith will present a short set from the Chet Baker songbook before the screening.

English language.
Free Entrance.

Yet in one of the 20th century’s most extreme examples of the effects of politics on popular culture, Cambodia’s pop scene — along with virtually every other manifestation of modern society there — was brutally stamped out with the 1975 arrival of the Khmer Rouge, whose nearly four-year reign led to the deaths of 1.7 million people.

Since then, pre-Khmer Rouge pop has survived in fragments, but the history behind it has remained frustratingly incomplete. Now, after a decade of research by an American filmmaker, John Pirozzi, that history has been told thoroughly in “Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll” (2014, 105 min).

Free Entrance. English subs.

Australian writer-director Kim Mordaunt came to his debut fiction feature via a documentary, Bomb Harvest, about Laotian children who collect scrap metal from American bombs. Laos is reportedly the world’s most bombed country, per capita, and The Rocket conveys a strong sense of the devastation. It also shows a documentarian’s eye for the earthy rural culture, with its phallic talismans and animal sacrifices. “The Rocket” (2013, 100 min) is a feel-good success crafted with care.

Free Entrance.
English subs.

A philosophical fairytale (the title means “once upon a time”) steeped in the ceremonial traditions of Bhutan and shot in a remote village whose inhabitants actively participated in the cast, the picture has a modern prologue and epilogue suggesting its intentions to be both timeless and universal.

Free Entrance.
English subs.

An absorbing slice-of-life drama led by a remarkable Kôji Yakusho performance, Perfect Days adds a quietly soaring gem to director/co-writer Wim Wenders’ estimable filmography.

Free Entrance.

From safe havens in Thailand, the Khmer Rouge received aid from China and the United States to wage an insurgency against the new Hanoi-backed government. Legendary East-German documentarians Walter Heynowski und Gerhard Scheumann (Studio H&S) investigated this for THE JUNGLE WAR (1983, 90 min).

English subs.
FREE ENTRANCE.

Matthew Watson’s ‘The Girls Of Phnom Penh’ (2007, 60 mins) examines in intimate detail the complex relationship these girls have with their mothers, who sold them. The film also tells the story of the incredible friendship between Srey Leak, Minea, and Cheata. Together these girls are like sisters united against the world and all the horrors it throws at them. They face their brutal existence with courage and humor.

Their story is one of sisterhood through adversity; a friendship that offers each a very simple form of support as they struggle with balancing their childhood dreams and teenage expectations of life with the very adult lives they lead by night.

Soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis!
Free Entrance, English subs.

Luke Hunt is an Australian journalist, war correspondent, academic, and author (“Punji Trap”) known for his extensive coverage of conflicts and socio-political issues, primarily across Asia and the Middle East, for the past three decades.

Please be our guests.

FREE ENTRANCE

The screen is constantly filled with moments of wonder and beauty whether it is the dragon boat races, Buddhist monks chanting, festivals, children playing, a kickboxing match, rickshaws on the quiet streets, a theatrical reenactment of the legend of Rama, Sita, Ravana, and Hanuman and finally a visit to the grandeur of Angkor Wat.

English subs.
Free Entrance

Filmed over a period of almost five years and in 25 countries, Samsara transports us to sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial sites, and natural wonders. By dispensing with dialogue and descriptive text, Samsara subverts our expectations of a traditional documentary, instead encouraging our own inner interpretations inspired by images and music that infuses the ancient with the modern.

Free Entrance.

Set against the turbulent backdrop of the Cold War leading into present day, the film spans six decades as le Carré delivers his final and most candid interview, punctuated with rare archival footage and dramatized vignettes.

“The Pigeon Tunnel” is a deeply human and engaging exploration of le Carré’s extraordinary journey and the paper-thin membrane between fact and fiction.

English language.
Free Entrance.

BONNE NUIT PAPA (2014, 101 min) is a moving film about conciliation, connection, and farewell. It documents Marina Kem‘s search for her father’s story. A father who was strange to her in two regards; strange because of his Cambodian origins, strange because of his silence.

English language version.
Free Entrance.