Rithy Panh

Infobox Person


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name = Rithy Panh
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birth_date = Birth date and age|1964|4|18|mf=y
birth_place = Phnom Penh, Cambodia
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education = Institut des hautes études cinématographiques
occupation = Film director
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website = [http://www.bophana.org/ Bophana: Audio Visual Resource Center – Cambodia]

Rithy Panh (born April 18, 1964 in Phnom Penh) is an internationally and critically acclaimed Cambodian documentary film director and screenwriter.

The French-schooled director's films focus on the aftermath of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. Rithy Panh's works are from an authoritative viewpoint, because his family were expelled from Phnom Penh in 1975 by the Khmer Rouge. One after another, his father, mother, sisters and nephews died of starvation or exhaustion, as they were held in a remote labor camp in rural Cambodia.

Biography

Early life, escape from Cambodia

Rithy Panh was born in Phnom Penh. His father was a school teacher and inspector of primary schools.cite web | last = Pahn | first = Rithy | title = Cambodia: a wound that will not heal | publisher = UNESCO Courier | date = 1999 | url = http://www.unesco.org/courier/1999_12/uk/dossier/txt07.htm | accessdate = 2007-07-14 ]

His family and other residents were expelled from the Cambodian capital in 1975 by the Khmer Rouge. Rithy's family suffered under the regime, and after he saw his parents, siblings and other relatives die of overwork or malnutrition, Rithy escaped to Thailand in 1979,cite web | last = Shankar | first = Lekha | title = Cambodian director talks about his work and the ‘nuclear bomb’ that struck his homeland | publisher = ThaiDay | date = 2006-02-03 | url = http://www.manager.co.th/IHT/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9490000015095 | accessdate = 2007-07-14 ] where he lived for a time in a refugee camp at Mairut.

Eventually, he made his way to Paris, France. It was while he was attending vocational school to learn carpentry that he was handed a video camera during a party that he become interested in filmmaking.cite web | last = Turnbull | first = Robert
title = Staring down the horrors of the Khmer Rouge | publisher = International Herald Tribune | date = 2007-04-05 | url = http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/05/arts/fmlede6.php | accessdate = 2007-07-15 ] He went on to graduate from the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (Institute for the Advanced Cinematographic Studies). He returned to Cambodia in 1990, while still using Paris as a home base.

Career as director

His first documentary feature film, "Site 2", about a family of Cambodian refugees in a camp on the Thai-Cambodian border in the 1980s, was awarded "Grand Prix du Documentaire" at the Festival of Amiens.

His 1994 film, "Rice People", is told in a docudrama style, about a rural family struggling with life in post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia. It was in competition at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, and was submitted to the 67th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, the first time a Cambodian film had been submitted for an Oscar.

The 2000 documentary, "The Land of the Wandering Souls", also told of a family's struggle, as well as showing a Cambodia entering the modern age, chronicling the hardships of workers digging a cross-country trench for Cambodia's first optical fiber cable.

His 2003 documentary, "", about the Khmer Rouge's Tuol Sleng prison, reunited former prisoners, including the artist Vann Nath, and their former captors, for a chilling, confrontational review of Cambodia's violent history.

More post-Khmer Rouge events are documented in the 2005 drama, "The Burnt Theatre", which focuses on a theater troupe that inhabits the burned-out remains of Phnom Pehn's Suramet Theatre, which caught fire in 1994 but has never been rebuilt.

His 2007 documentary, "Le papier ne peut pas envelopper la braise", delves into the lives of prostitutes in Phnom Penh.

Bophana, the Audiovisual Resource Center - Cambodia

Rithy, along with director Ieu Pannakar, has developed Bophana: Audio Visual Resource Center – Cambodia, with an aim towards preserving the country's film, photographic and audio history. The center's namesake is the subject of one of his early docudramas, "", about a young woman who was tortured and killed at S-21 prison.cite web | last = Rosenberg | first = Scott | title = Exclusive interview: Cambodian film director Rithy Panh – “Angelina Jolie, come visit the Audiovisual Center Bophana!” | publisher = Monsters and Critics | date = 2006-12-26 | url = http://movies.monstersandcritics.com/features/article_1234058.php/Exclusive_interview_Cambodian_film_director_Rithy_Panh_%96_%93Angelina_Jolie_come_visit_the_Audiovisual_Center_Bophana!%94 | accessdate = 2007-07-14 ]

Filmography

* "Site 2" (1989)
* "" (French television) (1990)
* "" (1991] )
* "Rice People" ("Neak Sre") (1994)
* "" (1996)
* "One Evening After the War" (1998)
* "The Land of the Wandering Souls" (2000)
* "Que la barque se brise, que la jonque s'entrouvre" ("Let the boat break its back, Let the junk break open") (French television) (2001)
* "" (2003)
* "The People of Angkor" (2003)
* "The Burnt Theatre" (2005)
* "Le papier ne peut pas envelopper la braise" (2007) (Paper Cannot Wrap Up Embers)
* "Un barrage contre le Pacifique" (2008)

See also

* Cinema of Cambodia

References

External links

*
* [http://www.bophana.org/ Bophana: Audio Visual Resource Center – Cambodia]
* [http://jinja.apsara.org/rithypanh.htm Rithy Panh Film Festival]
* [http://www.festival-cannes.fr/index.php/en/archives/artist/13982 Artist profile] at Cannes Film Festival