Afterlife of Cinema

Le sommeil d'or Golden Slumbers
ដេវី ជូ Davy Chou, Cambodia/France 2011, 96 min. 

Davy Chou’s Golden Slumbers is one for cinema lovers. It is a film which shows how deeply political conditions shape the ups and downs of the movie industry in Cambodia, but also sheds light on the possibility of survival through the lens of the Khmer diaspora. Through conversations with its surviving actors, the film is a nostalgic longing for a time when the Cambodian film industry was flourishing.

Sopheap Chea (សុភាព ជា) was born in 1984 in Cambodia and grew up with a family who went through the Khmer Rouge regime. He works as Executive Director at the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center. The Center was founded by internationally acclaimed documentary filmmaker Rithy Panh and Ieu Pannakar, former Senator and Minister of the Royal Palace. It aims to preserve the visual memory of Cambodia’s past, providing young Cambodians (from Khmer and ethnic minorities) with vocational training and cinematographic skills. The Center has launched a series of documentary projects focusing on the Cambodian indigenous women, and Khmer Rouge survivors.