Heads up for Cambodian art movie fans.
This short-fiction-movie is due to be screened in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for the first time tomorrow, after winning international aclaim:

‘Further and Further Away’: Film on Bunong Evictions Wins International Acclaim
Daniel Zak
| Thu Dec 15, 2022 9:57 am

Polen Ly’s short film “Further and Further Away,” which was filmed in Cambodia in the Bunong language, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year. It has collected several international accolades, including best actress at the Singapore International Film Festival, and best short film at the Palm Springs International Festival, qualifying it for an Academy Award. It will be screened for the first time in Cambodia on Friday.

The film is a meditative piece, using stunning cinematography to show audiences a snapshot of the lives of Bunong siblings (played by Bopha Oul and Phanny Loem) forced to leave their traditional village due to the construction of a hydroelectric dam, and to make a decision about visiting their parents’ flooded tomb on the way out.

While the two protagonists are fictional, the setting is very real. The director has been documenting the village of Kbal Romeas, whose mostly Bunong residents were forced to relocate due to the construction of the Lower Sesan II dam, over a period of around five years. During this time, some villagers accepted an offer from the company to be relocated to a village far away from the river, while others refused and eventually moved themselves to a location around 4 km away, where the land was high enough to keep their homes out of the floodwaters which engulfed their village.

The film does not portray or even mention the yearslong fight the villagers had with the government, but rather shows their ancestral village as it is today: a few abandoned structures and trees jutting out of a surreally still lake. The dam itself is only shown very briefly.

“It’s not about the dam,” said the film’s director, Polen Ly. He said he did not want the audience to focus too much on the environmental or economic implications of the dam itself, but rather on the mental health of individuals relocated from ancestral homes.

When he first came to the village as a translator for an independent French documentary, he explained, the residents were able to get almost everything they needed from the land and river around them. Now, many of the young people have had to get grueling jobs on nearby rubber and cashew plantations or in the cities in order to get money to buy the things they need to survive. While Ly has been working on a documentary about their struggle, which he describes as more directly political than this film, he made this short film to capture the human impact of this transition.

“There are things I can express better with fiction than with a documentary,” he said. The actors in the film are actual former residents of old Kbal Romeas, and there was no casting process. “When you’re in a village for so long, you know who you want.”

Filming took place in May last year, on location [in Cambodia], over the course of 10 days. Filming in a flooded forest presented difficulties, as it took over two hours to get the three boats holding cast and crew from the relocation village to the remnants of their ancestral home, and at one point one boat started to sink and had to be repaired on the water.
Full article: https://vodenglish.news/further-and-fur ... l-acclaim/

Cambodian Film Seeks Oscar Glory
By Po Sakun December 16, 2022 11:50 AM
[excerpts]
PHNOM PENH – A short film by Cambodian writer and director Polen Ly has qualified as an Oscar contender after winning four international film awards and taking part in more than 30 theater competitions.

“Further and Further Away,” shot with non-professional actors and crew, took a Best Performance award in Singapore and Best Live-Action Short Over 15 Minutes prize in the US.

The US award at the Palm Springs International Short​fest 2022 made the film eligible to enter next year’s Oscars competition.

The story starts with an indigenous boy and his sister who want to leave their hometown in Kbal Ro Meas commune in Stung Treng province to work Phnom Penh.

The girl feels sad to leave her life surrounded by nature and full of childhood memories. Wishing to see her home for the last time, she asks her older brother to visit their old village that had been destroyed by flooding due to a dam construction. The boy, however, does not go with her.

Nevertheless, she goes alone by boat across the flooded forest. The hometown full of hope, joy, and memories has become a silent abandoned village, with nearly 100 empty houses. The ruined trees, bedding, roofs, yards and things she used to play with are painful to see.

Indirectly, the story tells of the fate, sadness and problems of the indigenous people in the village and of other or minority groups facing similar problems.

Non-professionals produce a better outcome
The film was made by a group of indigenous people who lived in the area.
In May, 2021, Polen was the first to visit the site where the film is set. However, shooting was due to start on the day the capital was locked down, hindering the cast and crew’s ability to get there.
Polen decided to make the film without waiting for his team. He selected young people there. Only one had training on audio recording while the others did not know much about making films.
Before shooting, Polen taught selected people for a short time. The film was made based on the team’s hard work without complaining.
“I only taught them the basics of making the film,” he said. “They are young, but they are very active and creative.
“I didn’t know if they could relate to the story but they acted very well as if it was their own life story. I am so proud of this film.”

The competition journey
The 24-minute film had its first showing at the Berlin International Film Festival 2022, a huge international event for independent films.
It also won the Air Canada Award at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival 2022 in Canada and the “Best Short Film” award at Laceno D’oro 2022 in Italy.

Originally written for ThmeyThmey, this story was translated by Meng Seavmey for Cambodianess.
https://cambodianess.com/article/cambod ... scar-glory