Day by day

Shiiku (Gibier d’élévage)

France/Cambodia // 2011 // Couleur // 91'
Khmer/English with French subtitles

Swiss première

Cambodia, 1972. A US plane crashes near a remote village under Khmer Rouge control. The captured pilot is placed under surveillance by the children of the Revolution, who enjoy mistreating him. A subtle play of power and seduction emerges between the children and the African-American soldier, who end up taming each other. Soon, the prisoner is participating in the life and work of the village, provoking laughter and distractions that the young and heavily indoctrinated Pang refuses to participate in. Totally devoted to the Khmer Rouge hierarchy, the teenager behaves like a despotic little boss and a merciless informer on his fellow citizens.
With Gibier d’élevage, Rithy Panh produces a double variation on the mutation of victims into executioners. Mixing impressive archival footage and esthetically refined shots, he examines a country dear to him and whose history he is helping to write.

Rithy Panh