Golden Voice film screening

Sophea Pel plays the part of Ros Sereysothea

This is a still taken from the DVD of the film The Golden Voice, which was screened at Meta House last night to a packed audience. Filmmaker Greg Cahill was in attendance to introduce his film and to answer a series of questions from the assembled throng. The film documents a small slice of life for Cambodia's brightest female singing sensation of the late 60s and 70s, Ros Sereysothea and is a prelude to a two-hour film biopic that Cahill hopes to develop over the next year or two. He's seeking $5million+ to finance the film and is currently in Cambodia for a holiday and to scout a few locations. His 25-minute short film has been widely-acknowledged, earning rave reviews at a series of film festivals in the States and has given Cahill the impetus to transform the life story of this fabulous singer, who met an untimely death at the hands of the Khmer Rouge regime, into a full-length motion picture. Cahill spoke about some of the behind-the-scenes work that went onto make The Golden Voice, with all filming completed in just five days in and around Los Angeles in 2006. All the actors were amateurs but Cahill was so impressed with Sophea Pel, that she will continue in the lead role of Ros Sereysothea in the forthcoming film. An interesting fact is that both the singer and the actress who played her, originate from Battambang province. After wowing the Cambodian audiences with her voice in the late 60s and early 70s, Sereysothea like many of the country's leading artists, eventually lost her life in the latter part of the 70s.

The author meets filmmaker Greg Cahill (right) at last night's screening