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Cambodia genocide film wins Cannes prize
12:06 - 26.05.13
An autobiographical French-Cambodian film, "The Missing Picture,"
which explores the bloody history of Pol Pot's dictatorship in late
1970s Cambodia, has won the "Un Certain Regard" prize at the Cannes
Film Festival, The Associated Press reported.
To rousing applause, director Rithy Panh collected the award at a
ceremony Saturday night, expressing his gratitude to be able "to have
the freedom to do the films I want to do."
Panh's film, based on his nightmarish memoir "The Elimination,"
documents his own family's experience under the heavy-handed Communist
Party's Khmer Rouge, which resulted in the death of his parents and
sisters.
The "Un Certain Regard" accolade, presented one day before the Palme
d'Or and decided by a jury of cinema insiders, rewards works from
up-and-coming filmmakers or those that transmit original messages and
aesthetics.
The premise of the "missing picture" in the film is that because of
censorship within Cambodia, no photo exists that documents the
atrocities committed against Panh's his family and relatives during
Pol Pot's four-year reign of terror from 1975 to 1979.
The tale is told using old documentary footage, or whatever footage
remained from the time, which was mainly of propaganda by the
dictatorship. To represent his deceased relatives, Panh used hundreds
of carefully carved clay figures.
Director Thomas Vinterberg, who was this year's jury president, said
he was "very honored to be awarding this prize, which we all agree is
for a fantastic movie."
He praised all of the 18 works, which, as well as including several
directorial debuts, were made up of a handful from well-known
filmmakers such as Sofia Coppola, who opened the category with "The
Bling Ring."
"This selection was ferociously non-sentimental but poetic
nonetheless. It was political, highly original, sometimes disturbing,
varied, but above all unforgettable," Vinterberg said.
"Clay figurines, extreme beauty, violence... systematic humiliation of
human nature... are images that will follow us for a long time...
Moments that remain in our collective memory, a mirror of our
existence," he added.
The "Jury Prize," the category's secondary award, was awarded to the
Palestinian film "Omar," a war-torn love story, directed by Hany
Abu-Assad.
Vinterberg was one of a five-strong jury that included French actress
Ludivine Sagnier and Chinese starlet Zhang Ziyi, who came to the stage
wearing a sparkling white couture gown.
Armenian News - Tert.am
12:06 - 26.05.13
An autobiographical French-Cambodian film, "The Missing Picture,"
which explores the bloody history of Pol Pot's dictatorship in late
1970s Cambodia, has won the "Un Certain Regard" prize at the Cannes
Film Festival, The Associated Press reported.
To rousing applause, director Rithy Panh collected the award at a
ceremony Saturday night, expressing his gratitude to be able "to have
the freedom to do the films I want to do."
Panh's film, based on his nightmarish memoir "The Elimination,"
documents his own family's experience under the heavy-handed Communist
Party's Khmer Rouge, which resulted in the death of his parents and
sisters.
The "Un Certain Regard" accolade, presented one day before the Palme
d'Or and decided by a jury of cinema insiders, rewards works from
up-and-coming filmmakers or those that transmit original messages and
aesthetics.
The premise of the "missing picture" in the film is that because of
censorship within Cambodia, no photo exists that documents the
atrocities committed against Panh's his family and relatives during
Pol Pot's four-year reign of terror from 1975 to 1979.
The tale is told using old documentary footage, or whatever footage
remained from the time, which was mainly of propaganda by the
dictatorship. To represent his deceased relatives, Panh used hundreds
of carefully carved clay figures.
Director Thomas Vinterberg, who was this year's jury president, said
he was "very honored to be awarding this prize, which we all agree is
for a fantastic movie."
He praised all of the 18 works, which, as well as including several
directorial debuts, were made up of a handful from well-known
filmmakers such as Sofia Coppola, who opened the category with "The
Bling Ring."
"This selection was ferociously non-sentimental but poetic
nonetheless. It was political, highly original, sometimes disturbing,
varied, but above all unforgettable," Vinterberg said.
"Clay figurines, extreme beauty, violence... systematic humiliation of
human nature... are images that will follow us for a long time...
Moments that remain in our collective memory, a mirror of our
existence," he added.
The "Jury Prize," the category's secondary award, was awarded to the
Palestinian film "Omar," a war-torn love story, directed by Hany
Abu-Assad.
Vinterberg was one of a five-strong jury that included French actress
Ludivine Sagnier and Chinese starlet Zhang Ziyi, who came to the stage
wearing a sparkling white couture gown.
Armenian News - Tert.am