'Before the Fall' seeks an Oscar nod for Cambodia

Paulin Cammal takes the stage in a scene from director Ian White's Before the Fall. Photo supplied

Thu, 13 October 2016

Audrey Wilson l the Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia has submitted Before the Fall as its entry for the Foreign Language Film category at the 89th Academy Awards.

Before the Fall, the debut feature for Australian director Ian White, is an action thriller centred around a female Cambodian singer and the two men in love with her, set in the days before the Khmer Rouge take over Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975. With financial backing from Royal Group’s Rock Productions, it is the first Cambodian-funded feature made for the overseas market.

Foreign influences on country focus of exhibit

Some of the artwork created by Leang Seckon, in his studio last week. Vandy Muong

A series of 11 mixed-media paintings by contemporary artist Leang Seckon will be unveiled tonight at Java Cafe and Gallery.

The exhibition, Influence: The New Ages, explores both the effects of foreign influence on Cambodian culture and – like much of the contemporary artist’s work – the influence of the nation’s modern history on its society.

Last week, Seckon explained that the pieces in the new exhibition reflect the realities of Cambodia across generations, and the ways in which individuals are influenced by their environment. “I think I get influence from people I know,” Seckon said. “Whenever I talk to a Cambodian or a foreigner, I at least learn from them.”