Young Cambodians salute golden era of 1960s filmmaking

Left to Right: Somvan Sodany, Vichara Dany and Kong Sam Oeun
Dy Saveth and Chea Yuthorn

Phnom Penh - At 26, Davy Chou is too young to have first-hand experience of the golden age of Cambodian filmmaking, which flourished in the 1960s and early '70s. But the curator of a nine-day event celebrating this neglected part of Cambodia's cultural history has a powerful personal link: his grandfather who disappeared in Cambodia in 1969 was one of the leading film producers of the time.

The '60s saw the start of a 15-year period when the local industry generated hundreds of films. Then tragedy intruded in the form of the Khmer Rouge, and Cambodia's film industry was destroyed in 1975.

"It's a very unique and very sad story," Davy Chou said of the period being marked in the exhibition, Golden Reawakening - '60s Cambodian Film Festival and Exhibition, which began in Phnom Penh Saturday and runs through October 25.

The festival, the first of its kind in the country, is screening 11 films from the period and also exhibiting film posters, photographs and biographies of the leading stars of the day at the Chinese House, a restored colonial building near Phnom Penh's port.

Former king Norodom Sihanouk was a prolific filmmaker and has provided one of his works. Davy Chou said that for most of the 1950s, Norodom Sihanouk was the sole filmmaker in Cambodia, but that changed around 1960.

"Then suddenly during 15 years, there was a boom in the film industry, and they produced - and it's difficult to say an exact number and I think that we will never know - at least 350 films, maybe more than 400 films," he said.

"Today, because of the Khmer Rouge regime, we can find 33 films, so it's less than 10 per cent," he said.

The destruction wrought by the Khmer Rouge still hangs over most aspects of Cambodia. The ultra-Maoist regime's efforts to destroy the country's rich cultural heritage make its baleful influence hard to escape at the festival.

Photographs portray a young, vibrant filmmaking scene with confident actors and actresses in '60s garb globetrotting to Singapore and France, but almost none of the stars from that time are alive. Davy Chou said most died during the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge era, when up to 2 million people, or up to 30 per cent of the population, are thought to have died from execution, starvation and overwork.

"If we count the top 10, we can just find two actresses today," he said, mentioning Dy Saveth, who continues to act, and Virak Dara, who lives in France.

He said other stars such as Kong Sam Oeun, Vichara Dany, Chea Yuthorn and Som Van Sok Dany died under the Khmer Rouge regime.

Dy Saveth was the doyenne of Cambodian actresses in the 1960s. The star of more than 100 films, she was a guest of honour on the exhibition's opening night. As the monsoon rain lashed down outside, she told the German Press Agency.