Cinema Cambodia Meetup
May 30th, 2006 by Jinja
Cinema Cambodia
In a nutshell: small group, big aspirations.
The previous two years, ‘Cinema Cambodia’ had a larger media budget.
http://jinja.apsara.org/blog/2005/02/2nd-annual-cinema-cambodia-film.htm
http://jinja.apsara.org/blog/2005/02/2nd-annual-cinema-cambodia-film_13.htm
This year less resources were available. But with new animation to show, and filmmakers like KM Lo and Jason Rosette available to talk about technique, Pannasastra Dean Ray Leos decided to keep the continuity and have some screenings. The schedule was finalized the day before the event.
It was sparsely attended but revealed there’s more to local film than just the endless stream of horror films at Phnom Penh theatres.
In the morning the ‘Visualising Cambodia‘ team showed clips from the local project and Monash University, and KM Lo talked about animation technique, illustrating examples with a 2003 music video clip.
In the afternoon University of Phnom Penh students showed some clips illustrating daily life in Phnom Penh and environs that were very well composed and executed. (Above)
By then the crowd had grown to a small handful and there was some informal discussion of film resources and training needs.
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| Animation discussion, morning – RUFA students on ‘Visualising Cambodia‘ |
Animation still | Royal University of Phnom Penh students discuss their documentary films |
Comment from KM: Cambodia has grown from virtually no films in 2001 to 50 films a year in 2006. That’s the fastest growing film industry in Asia.
After short films and a short break there was a screening of the documentary BookWars. The participants discussed trying to do some more informal screenings, to develop a more active community of film and animation creators that meets more than once a year. If all goes as planned there should be more screenings (with a bit more advance warning).
KM Lo blogs his day : http://www.ourmedia.org/node/229994
Discussion at Topix.net:
http://www.topix.net/forum/world/cambodia/TRUKVTA7MRBI7HQD5
