Cambodia’s Films Production is considering filing a lawsuit after Thai police seized thousands of pirated copies of “Child of the Giant Snake.”
Fay Sam Ang, director of “Child of the Giant Snake” and general director of Cambodia’s Films Production, said Thailand has strict intellectual property laws and he will push for the rules to be enforced.
“We are considering the amount of compensation we deserve,” he said.
Cambodia’s Films Production has a contract with a Thai movie company to distribute and show “Child of the Giant Snake,” at cinemas in Thailand, where the film has been widely seen. Fay Sam Ang said the Thai company is responsible for protecting the movie’s copyright in Thailand.
“Child of the Giant Snake” was the first Cambodian-made movie since the end of the civil wars that plagued Cambodia for more than two decades.
The movie will be shown in Hong Kong, Singapore, the US and Canada before it moves to a film festival Shanghai in June. In Cambodia, it has been shown in Kompong Cham, Svay Rieng and Takeo provinces, in addition to Phnom Penh.
The movie is now being shown in Sihanoukville and Fay Sam Ang said he hopes the film will eventually be shown in all the Cambodian provinces.
“Families from faraway villages drove their ox carts to see the film because it’s been a long time since they’ve seen a movie,” he said.
Last week in Bangkok, movie-goers got a surprise when a snake, about 2 meters long, slithered across the billboard at a theater when people stood in line to buy tickets for “Child of the Giant Snake.”
“I got a call from the cinema after the incident,” Fay Sam Ang said. “It was a strange event. People joked that the snake came to say ‘hello’ to his friend.”
Cambodia’s once vibrant film industry was destroyed by the Khmer Rouge and is only beginning to recover.
