SSBD didn't stir me

The two stars of SSBD, David Kross and Apinya, alongwith director Detlev Buck on stage before tonight's screening

Tonight was the Cambodian premiere of the movie Same Same But Different, which would've been fine if it started on time, at 7pm, and we hadn't had to sit through nearly 90 minutes of pre-film twittering from director, producer, numerous cinema people and my cat before the picture started. It was a full house and I managed to watch about forty minutes of it before I had to leave for another appointment. I wasn't impressed at all with what I saw. A bagful of cliches including rocket launcher and cow, before backpacker meets hooker, girl has HIV and boy decides to stick by her. That just about sums it up and despite a lot being made of the German-meets-Cambodian connection, it won't make my 'must buy' list. Considering the film is shot entirely on location in Cambodia, the fact that the main actress is Thai is a bit of a kick in the teeth.
Prior to the screening, I popped into Le Lezard Bleu on St 240 to catch the Ancient Pagodas of Battambang painting exhibition before it closes at the end of the month. There's nearly 30 paintings by two artists, Long Kosal & Leurm Lorn, both out of the Phare Ponleu Selpak organization that is creating quite a buzz in Battambang and beyond for their artistic creativity. The paintings were damn good and sell for around $200 apiece.

The pagoda of Wat Kandal in Battambang province

One of the walls at Le Lezard Bleu with the paintings on display

On a roll

Some of you will be worn out by the number of football-related posts on my blog in recent weeks. I know I am. But it was for a good cause as I tracked at close quarters the Cambodian U23 football team's efforts to bring some SEA Games medals back home. We knew it was going to be a tall order and so it proved. However, the overall Cambodian team that took part in the 25th SEA Games in Laos performed admirably and when competition finished yesterday, they'd accumulated no less than 40 medals - an incredible increase on their previous best in 2007 of 18 medals. The roll of honour included 3 golds, for which the winning athletes will each get a personal monetary award of $6,000, 10 silvers and 27 bronzes. Kudos to all of the Cambodian sportsmen and women who took part in making this SEA Games the country's best-ever. The final medal standings showed Thailand at the top with 86 golds (and 266 medals in total) with Vietnam just 3 golds fewer and Indonesia in third place with 43 golds. Laos, the hosts, grabbed no less than 33 golds. An incredible result for them.
Now, turning away from the SEA Games, I will try and get back to some sense of normalcy with blog postings on books, films, exhibitions, ancient temples and the usual array of goodies that cross my path. Talking of which I've just had an invitation to attend the premiere screening on home soil of the film Same Same But Different at the Cine Lux cinema in Phnom Penh this evening. Shot in 2008 in various locations around Cambodia, its a love story with a twist and all the film's stars will be in attendance. You can find out more about the film here. I'll let you know what I think later. I also had an email today from one of the producer's on the Passport to Asia, a television travel show with American host Samantha Brown, which will be coming to Cambodia for the shooting of an hour-long episode in January. Ms Brown's travel shows are incredibly popular on the Travel Channel in America and this will be another rung on the ladder of opening up the wonders of Cambodia to a wider audience.