Day by day

Le Sommeil d'Or

France, Cambodia // 2011 // Couleur // 96'
Khmer/French with French subtitles

Over the course of 15 years, from 1960 to 1975, Cambodian cinema produced more than 400 films. The Khmer Rouge’s rise to power called a brutal halt to this golden age. Film-makers and actors were persecuted. The 7th art was forbidden from that moment on, cinemas closed and reels abandoned. All that remains today are sound archives; almost all the images have been destroyed.
With tenderness and humor, young director Davy Chou weaves the portraits of forbidden film-makers, of the movie-lovers and actors of those days. Each evokes his or her memories – memories still so vivid that, thanks to a brilliant soundtrack, the films seem to magically come to life before our eyes. Davy Chou has managed not only to resuscitate a banished art but also to rebuild the links between the pre- and post-genocide eras – no small achievement! This discreet and moving work pays tribute to a cinema that, tragically, no longer exists.

Davy Chou