Election Update Well, everyone's got inkstained fingers and a smile on their face. (High illiteracy rate so a fingerprint is the usual equivalent for a signature.) So far, the election has been the most peaceful one since UNTAC. But big changes are afoot in the political infrastructure here, and it's going to be very interesting. Nathan Dexter weighs in with a photo that took some travel and effort to get. Some of mine to follow once I finish the roll.

TV Time: "Where is my artifact?" says John Miksic. An interesting program about burial jars from the Cardamoms on National Geographic's International Channel. Good fun, keep your eye on the schedule for reruns! On the Trail of Cambodia’s Tutankhamen: A Forensic Mystery

Election day (Sunday 27th) is fast approaching. Party caravans are cruising the streets: Here's the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), Opposition Sam Rainsy Party, and Khmer Front Party. In total 23 parties are fielding candidates. The big two are CPP and Funcinpec, with Sam Rainsy party the largest beyond those. More at www.bohchnout.info.

Odds and Ends: If you're in the USA, check out 'The Flute Player' on PBS tomorrow. Life during Wartime: tuition hike at Cal State Long Beach: 33 percent! Ouch. Back in Cambodia, Lecture on Burma, 24th at EFEO - Siem Reap.

Exhibition mooted: Recycling weapons for art. Sasha Constable + Development technology workshop = something new. Watch this space for more info. And on the development technology angle, from the Viridian list: http://www.viridiandesign.org/notes/351-400/00372_ted_saves_the_world.html

Tum Teav part II Aha! Other Tum Teav movie showing on Norordom. More news to follow.

Night Please Go Faster / The Glass Box The National Theater will present two performances of "Night Please Go Faster" - an evening of contemporary Cambodian dance and theater, including "The Glass Box": a contemporary dance by Sophiline Cheam Shapiro (who choreographed RUFA's Cambodian dance interpretation of "Othello") inspired by the tragic death of the great Cambodian dancer Piseth Pilika and "Photographs From S-21": a short play by Catherine Filloux, in Khmer with English simultaneous sur-titles. Saturday and Sunday July 19 and 20, 6pm at the North Campus Theater of the Royal University of Fine Arts, Street 70 next to the Old Stadium. Tickets riel 3,000, available at the door. Performances sponsored by the Kasumisou Foundation. Program Note: A show entitled "Photographs from S-21: 1975-1979" was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in the summer of 1997. In the play, two photos come to life in this true-life exhibit. They are a young Cambodian woman and man whose photos were taken by the Khmer Rouge right after removing their blindfolds at the Tuol Sleng Prison in Phnom Penh.

TUM TEAV Managed to catch 'Tum Teav', the 'Cambodian Romeo and Juliet' at Kirrirom Cinema. Theatres are making a comeback in Phnom Penh which is great. For a low budget local production, this one got it just right. Lots of karaoke stars, a fairly faithful adaptation of the story (up to the end, at least), and no cheesy special effects. For 6000 riel that's a good deal. What's interesting is that Tum Teav challenges both traditional ideas about marriage and has an authority figure as a bad guy. Maybe traditional culture in Cambodia isn't as 'traditional' as it seems. *** This just in - there's another film of 'Tum Teav' that just finished showing on Monivong! Any info on that would be appreciated.

Lecture by EFEO's Christophe Pottier on the 17th. Click on the link for more info.

Cast Your Vote... Doing some web work in Phnom Penh, pitching in with the team producing BohChnout.info for Asia Foundation. (Nope, I can´t take credit for the swanky design, I´m just helping around the edges.) The tricky part is the Khmer font, since there is no unicode support for Khmer just yet. (I´ll see if I can dig up some links on this.) Once you get into the issue of Khmer fonts and linguistic families it gets pretty complicated. Most of the pioneering work is being done by techies and missionaries. I'm just glad we've moved into the digital age. Imagine the typesetting headaches! Here's a picture of an old Khmer typwriter. Election time in Phnom Penh is curious... lots of political jargon being thrown around. Trucks full of party supporters blaring slogans via megaphones. Political posters plastered on every home and wall. This time around the Prime Minister is being elected, as well as local candidates. In 1998 there was a bit of violence attending the election. Here´s hoping this one will be the quietest yet. Khmer Unicode Mailing list Controversy over Khmer Unicode

Preah Kho Bot Sovanna Phum presents Actors, Puppets, Dancers, Shadows playing together the story of Preah Kho Bot Friday 11th July 03 at 7:30 pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Entrance fee: 5$ Sovanna Phum Theatre #111, street 360(corner105) - Phnom Penh 012 84 60 20 sovannaphum@yahoo.com

The Sovannasam Cheadok An exhibition of new paintings by the students of the Reyum Art School Opening at Reyum on July 9, 2003 5-8:00 pm #47 Street 178, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Reyum is pleased to announce the opening of an exhibition and the publication of a catalogue entitled "The Sovannasam Cheadok". Over the last six months, the students of the Reyum Art School have been studying the Sovannasam Cheadok (or Jataka) which tells the story of one of the lives of the Buddha prior to the life in which he finds enlightenment. The story of the Sovannasam Cheadok is often represented by a scene or two on the walls of temples throughout Cambodia, but it is never, to our knowledge, shown in all its narrative detail. For this exhibition, the older students of the Reyum Art School have painted twenty-four large acrylic on canvas paintings which illustrate the story of Sovannasam in detail. In addition, younger students of the School will offer various renditions of scenes from the story created from their imaginations. The exhibition is accompanied by a full color catalogue which presents a synopsis of the story of Sovannasam. The catalogue includes an article by San Phalla and Preap Chanmara setting the Sovannasam Cheadok into the larger context of temple painting in Cambodia. Examples of representations of the story from various temples in Cambodia are discussed and ways of representing the characters are illuminated. A final short essay describes the state of temple painting commissions today. Conceived and funded by the Kasumisou Foundation, the Reyum Art School remains a collaborative project between the Kasumisou Foundation and Reyum Institute of Arts and Culture. Founded three years ago, the Reyum Art School offers free half-day classes in drawing and painting for disadvantaged children who are willing to come on a regular basis and participate in lessons with some degree of concentration and commitment. The goals of the school are to train children in representational drawing, while developing their creative and imaginative thinking, and giving them a basic understanding of their rich cultural heritage. The current exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Kasumisou Foundation; the Toyota Foundation supports San Phalla and his ongoing Reyum research project on temple painting. The exhibition is free and open to the public. Please note that Reyum now has a home page at http://www.reyum.org where we post information about our ongoing exhibitions, publications and research projects. The Sovannasam catalogue will be available through our distributors in Thailand, the United States and Europe as listed on our web page. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS EXHIBITION AND PUBLICATION, PLEASE CONTACT REYUM AT reyum@camnet.com.kh 023-217149 / 012-876471

Shadow Puppet Theatre Preah Kho Bot story Friday 4th July at 7:30 pm in Sovanna Phum Entrance fee: 5$ Sovanna Phum Theatre #111, Street 360 (corner105) - Phnom Penh 012 84 60 20 - sovannaphum@yahoo.com

Film Frenzy Down in Phnom Penh heaps of happenings regarding cinema. The European Union Film Festival is on at French Cultural Centre. Wed 2 July 2003 6:30 PM "La Patinoire" - Ice Rink (Belgium) Thursday 3 July 2003 6:30 pm ?n Kaerlighedshistorie - Kira's Reason: A Love Story"(Denmark) Friday 4 July 2003 4:00 pm "La Chambre3 des Officiers - The Officer's Ward" (France), 6:30 pm "Historie Milosne - Love Stories" (Poland) Saturday 5 July 2003 4:00 "Historie Milosne - Love Stories" (Poland) 6:30 pm ?n Kaerlighedshistorie - Kira's Reason: A Love Story"(Denmark) Sunday 6 July 2003 4:00 pm "La Patinoire" - Ice Rink (Belgium) 6:30 pm "Nirgendwo in Afrika - Nowhere in Africa"(Germany) Plus there is a special screening of Rithy Panh's S-21 film this weekend at French Cultural Centre, Popzone is showing Australian flick 'Latlanta' 3rd and 4th of July at 7:30 (#9a Street 178). And let's not forget Khmer film! Tum Teav, the classic love story, is playing at Kirirom Cinema on Sihanouk Boulevard. Whew, I think that covers it all. Meanwhile, in Siem Reap, local boy (right down the street from me!) makes good. "Stone Temple Pilot" from Time Asia: http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501030519-451026,00.html

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