Rithy Panh

Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh addressed his country’s terrible past in his previous works as well; Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge exterminated more than two million people. When Panh decided to shoot a highly personal documentary in which he planned to share his memories from the labor camp where many of his family members lost their lives, he realized that he didn’t have any photographs from 1975 to 1979 that might help to paint a picture of the horrors of genocide and thus truthfully depict a piece of Cambodia’s history. “Of course, a photograph on its own cannot be proof of mass murder,” says Rithy Panh. “But it can force you to think. While vainly searching archives and documents throughout the country, it occurred to me to replace it with something that I would make myself and that would take the place of the missing photograph.” Using ceramic figures, the director has succeeded in bringing to life his lost childhood while providing eloquent testimony to his family’s tragedy.

48. MFF Karlovy Vary