Angkor Wat Film Festival Puts Focus on Culture, Environment

The first Angkor Wat International Film Festival will feature 30 films from around the world

The first Angkor Wat Inter­national Film Festival kicks off this evening in Siem Reap city and will showcase 30 films, mostly documentaries, from all over the world.

The festival’s founder and main organizer, Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker Tom Ven­detti, says the documentaries and feature films shown during the three-day event will focus on environmental and globalization issues.

“One of the reasons we thought that Angkor Wat was so appropriate is because of the monuments and the whole idea of eco-tourism and trying to preserve [the Khmer] culture,” Mr. Vendetti said.

Documentaries screened will include “Fiji Firewalker,” directed by Mr. Vendetti, which focuses on the legendary firewalkers on Fiji’s Beqa Islands trying to preserve their traditions, and “Climate Re­fugees” by award-winning Irish-American filmmaker Mich­ael Nash that investigates mass mi­gra­­tion caused by climate change.

“There should be much more preserving [of culture and environment] all around the world, not just in Cambodia; con­sidering how consumerism and globalization is taking over and people are losing the value of culture and the wisdom it provides in dealing with life,” he said.

One of the biggest challenges for the organizers is drawing in locals; although admission is free, the Sofitel Angkor Phok­eethra Ho­tel venue and the lack of Khmer subtitles will be a hurdle in filling the ballrooms with up to 300 people, Mr. Vendetti said.

“We hired local people [in Siem Reap] to get the word out and en­courage people, make them feel welcome and comfortable. And there will be two films from the King Father in Khmer and another one, ‘Born Sweet.’ And then ‘Years of Darkness’ has some Khmer in it as well,” he said, referring to a movie that documents Cam­bodian Sam Khong’s search for his family, their reunification and his recovery from depression.

The film festival will also feature the Cambodian premiere of “When the Mountain Calls: Ne­pal, Tibet & Bhutan,” which ex­plores the changes in the three coun­tries at the foot of the Him­alayas over the past 30 years and features Edmund Hillary and his sherpa Tenzing Norgay,

At the opening gala event to­night, a short documentary about Bernard Krisher, the publisher of The Cambodia Daily, will be shown. “It’s a tribute to Bernie,” who came up with the idea of the film festival, Mr. Vendetti said.

Next year, he hopes to be able to bring the Angkor Wat In­ter­national Film festival back to Siem Reap. “We hope we can con­tinue next year. But first, I wanted to test the water,” Mr. Vendetti said.

The film festival runs from Fri­day until Sunday, with movies be­ing shown from 1 p.m. until 11 p.m. at the Sofitel hotel in Siem Reap.