Saturday, August 16, 2008

Love story

Love story at Meta House: Chea Lyda Chan and Narith Roeun
Lots going on at the Meta House on Street 264 in Phnom Penh this month. Tonight will see two of John Pilger's best documentaries about Cambodia, namely his groundbreaking hour-long Year Zero - The Silent Death of Cambodia, that he filmed in 1979 and the 1991 docu, Cambodia - The Betrayal and the continued support, at that time, for the Khmer Rouge factions by the West. In addition, young Aussie filmmaker Cameron Frost will be present to show his short documentary, A Cambodian Story, of a day in the life of a family and the trials and tribulations they endure, which was shot in 2006. Sunday (17th) will see the sensitive tale of love and lost souls in Rithy Panh's One Evening After The War. Panh is a master story-teller and Cambodia's only internationally-feted film director. The stars are Narith Roeun who plays a kickboxer, and bar-girl Chea Lyda Chan (pictured above), and who are joined by regular Panh collaborator, Peng Phan. Next week there's a host of Vietnam War-linked documentaries, the on-going Art of Survival Part 2 exhibition that opened up this week and much more.

posted by Andy Brouwer at 10:14 AM

3 Comments:

Blogger Andy Brouwer said...

Arrrggghhh...a raging stomach ache meant I missed tonight's John Pilger double bill and a short doc by 2 young Aussie filmmakers. Here's hoping it disappears in time for tomorrow's double-bill of football in the afternoon at the Old Stadium (2pm kick-off if you are at a loose end) and Rithy Panh's film in the evening!
Its been raining heavily again today but last night was the worst so far. I had dinner at a friend's house out past the airport and the whole trip by tuk-tuk was through flooded roads. Most traffic on the roads during heavy rain is fairly sensible (though it is Cambodia so perhaps sensible and car drivers don't actually go together!) except a couple of landcruisers who sped through the floods, soaking everyone (including me in my tuk-tuk) in their wake. I arrived looking like a drowned rat...

August 16, 2008 7:01 PM  
Blogger Andy Brouwer said...

Not that anyone much cares but I was well enough to take my place in the Bayon Wanderers side to face the Ministry of Labour at the Old Stadium this afternoon. And we ran out 5-3 winners. It should've been at least five-nil but we tired noticeably, me included.
With 20 of the squad taking part in a mini-tour to Saigon, another 20 turned up for this afternoon's game. So to win so well with so many substitutions and players coming on and off, is a feather in our cap.
And I finally notched my first goal of my comeback, some 7 years since I scored my last one. This was my 3rd game and I'm still well short of proper match fitness but its coming back slowly, so I will persevere. I certainly need to attend more training sessions though the rain this week put the dampner on that. In fact its raining again now, at 5pm, much the same as every day.
We scored just before half-time and then knocked in a few at the start of the 2nd half, including my effort, with our outstanding players being Chhay, Stuart and Francois. A big crowd of at least 20 people were watching from the stand! But we took our foot off the gas towards the end - well, to be honest it was tiredness more than anything - and allowed them to make the score a little more respectable. Nevertheless, its always good to win and to win well. Roll on next week.

August 17, 2008 5:09 PM  
Blogger Andy Brouwer said...

I watched the film, One Evening After The War last night - and what an excellent film it is. It played to a packed house at the Meta House last night and essentially a love story between two people, like all of Rithy Panh's movies, it contained some gritty performances and exposed some of the underbelly of life in Cambodia and Phnom Penh.

August 18, 2008 9:58 AM  

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