Cambodia International Film Festival

Yes, this little film that was made in Cambodia, has now screened in Cambodia!

The Morning After was made an Official Selection at the 2018 Cambodia International Screen Festival, which took place in the nation’s capital, Phnom Penh – and screened, not once, but twice!

It screened in the Cambodia in Short section – seeing as how it was entirely filmed in Siem Reap! On March 7th it screened at Koh Pich, and on Sat 10th it screened at the Prime Cineplex, Sovanna, after which we had a Q&A. I also had a few young khmer filmmakers up afterwards to discuss.

The audience, mostly young khmers, laughed quite a bit, especially earlier, where my protagonist Dave is stuck out in the wilds of a rice paddy field, with nothing but his shorts, with empty pockets. There’d be a flash of memory, then back to him in the middle of nowhere, and they’d laugh their arses off. A great sense of the ridiculous, I think. Totally different to western audience response, though.

I saw a bunch of great short films and some docos (although I missed a lot too!). One feature I have to rave about is Marlina The Murderer in Four Acts, an Indonesian feminist western by Mouly Surya, who studied writing and film in Australia. If it comes to your town, go see it!