Oscar-nominated French filmmaker Jeanne Labrune (Vatel, Sans Un Cri, Tomorrow’s Another Day) is shooting her new feature film in Cambodia.
Le Chemin, or The Path (previous working title: Le Secret D’Hiroshi Amano), is set in contemporary Cambodia and tells the story of a young nun newly arrived to a rural village for service work.
The nun (Agathe Bonitzer) soon develops a passionate relationship with a local man (Randal Duoc, lead in Rithy Panh’s The Sea Wall) that she passes along a pathway each day to work.
But this is no run-of-the-mill romance flick, said Cedric Eloy, project manager for the Cambodia Film Commission.
“It’s about spirituality, relationships and humanity,” he said. “It’s a low-budget, art-house movie.”
The plot is an adaptation of the novel La Fiancée du Roi, written by Michel Huriet in 1982 and set in Japan.
The film began filming in Siem Reap on March 14, with shooting to move to Phnom Penh next month.
There is no release date set yet, but Eloy estimated it would be out toward the end of this year or early next.