Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Director Rithy Panh’s film submitted to the Academy

Director Rithy Panh’s film submitted to the Academy

Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh poses at his office at the Bophana Center in Phnom Penh
Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh poses at his office at the Bophana Center in Phnom Penh. AFP

Director Rithy Panh’s film submitted to the Academy

Cambodian director Rithy Panh’s film The Missing Picture has been submitted for the 86th Academy Awards.

The movie, which tells Panh’s autobiographical story of how his family members were killed during the Khmer Rouge genocide of the 1970s, has been selected as Cambodia’s entry for the Oscars’ Best Foreign Language Film category.

A shortlist of the 76 entries will be announced in January next year, followed by the final nominations and then the official winners in March.

Cambodia has previously submitted two films to the category, the first being the docudrama Rice People in 1994, also directed by Panh and depicting a rural family attempting to put their lives back together after the Khmer Rouge.

Lost Loves, a drama also dealing with the Khmer Rouge regime and directed by Chhay Bora, was submitted last year.

Panh, who escaped to Thailand following the Khmer Rouge and then to France where he learned filmmaking skills, was named Asian Filmmaker of the Year at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea last week.

Earlier this year, he won the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes International Film Festival.

The Missing Picture uses clay figures, previously unscreened archival footage of the Pol Pot era and narration to depict the plight of Panh’s family.

Mariam Arthur, chairwoman of the Cambodia Oscar Selection Committee, which selected the film for submission, said the panel members were incredibly moved by the film.

“They felt that it told a story in a new way and in a very avant-garde cinematic way, and that it was worthy of representing Cambodia to the world,” she said.

Cedric Eloy, CEO of the Cambodia Film Commission, said: “We are very happy that the film will compete with the best films of the world in the Academy competition.

“We are convinced that this film is very unique in its form and has a universal outreach.

“It summarises the work of a lifetime that Rithy Panh has pursued throughout his career.”

He added: “An Academy Award nomination or award for The Missing Picture would mean very special visibility, but [even without this] Cambodian cinema has been on the way up in the last few years.”

MOST VIEWED

  • Wing Bank opens new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004

    Wing Bank celebrates first anniversary as commercial bank with launch of brand-new branch. One year since officially launching with a commercial banking licence, Wing Bank on March 14 launched a new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004. The launch was presided over by

  • Siem Reap airport to close after new one opens

    After the new Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI) opens in October, the existing complex serving the northwestern province will be “completely closed”, according to State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) spokesman Sin Chansereyvutha. SAI developer Angkor International Airport Investment (Cambodia) Co Ltd (AIAI) last month

  • Girl from Stung Meanchey dump now college grad living in Australia

    After finishing her foundational studies at Trinity College and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2022, Ron Sophy, a girl who once lived at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and scavenged for things to sell, is now working at a private

  • Rare plant fetches high prices from Thai, Chinese

    Many types of plants found in Cambodia are used as traditional herbs to treat various diseases, such as giloy or guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia) or aromatic/sand ginger (Kaempferia galangal) or rough cocklebur (Xanthium Strumartium). There is also a plant called coral, which is rarely grown

  • Ministry using ChatGPT AI to ‘ease workload’; Khmer version planned

    The Digital Government Committee is planning to make a Khmer language version of popular artificial intelligence (AI) technology ChatGPT available to the public in the near future, following extensive testing. On March 9, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications revealed that it has been using the

  • Cambodia returns 15M Covid jabs to China

    Prime Minister Hun Sen said Cambodia will return 15 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to China for donation to other countries. The vaccines in question were ordered but had not yet arrived in Cambodia. While presiding over the Ministry of Health’s annual meeting held on