Down Under parbusters

SOME of Australia’s best golfers will lob in Siem Reap again this year to take part in the Victoria Angkor Resort Ultimate Golf Challenge Open Pro-Am tournament.

This year the tournament is scheduled for October 16 to 23, and the divots will be flying at two local golf courses – Sofitel’s Phokeethra Country Club, home of the Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open, and the relatively new Siem Reap Lakes Golf Club.

The tournament is the brainchild of Tim Ireland, founding director of the Sydney-based Ultimate Golf Challenge. The challenge is a member of the International Association of Golf Tour Operators which organises high-end golf travel around the world.

Photo workshop success

IT’S always interesting to chart the progress of up and coming photographers who have “arrived” after attending workshops at Siem Reap’s famed annual Angkor Photo Festival.

India’s The Economic Times on March 12 wrote about former workshopper Jyotika Jain, describing her as one of “the new breed of documentary-style photographers that have made their way onto the sets of contemporary Hindi cinema”.

The Times said that in September 2008, when Jain “…got a call from Aamir Khan Productions for a movie called Dhobi Ghat, she was just back from a photojournalism workshop in Siem Reap where she had documented the lives of Buddhist nuns living in the wats”.

The Times also said that she “nailed the job” after a short meeting with director Kiran Rao.

But apparently what really excited Jain was that her assignment involved not just photography on the sets, but also creating a portfolio for actor Monica Dogra, who plays a photographer.

The photographs Jain took became the defining frames of Mumbai that were used in the film itself – Dadar market, Irani cafés, Masjid Bunder, photos of obsolete workers…

Heritage early warning

GLOBAL Heritage Fund on March 15 launched Global Heritage Network, the first early warning and threat monitoring system for saving endangered cultural heritage sites in developing countries.

John Sanday, director of the Banteay Chhmar project, said: “Our Khmer conservation team can now work closely with international experts around the world to monitor threats, propose innovative solutions and collaborate daily to save one of Southeast Asia’s most significant heritage sites.”

Jeff Morgan, executive director of Global Heritage Fund said: “With major threats such as the armed conflict endangering nearby Preah Vihear temple on the contested Thai-Cambodian border, an early warning system for heritage sites is clearly needed to focus national and world attention and generate rapid responses to loss and destruction of global heritage.”