CTFF 2018 OFFICIAL SELECTION: SHORT FILM CORNER
Indradevi – ‘Idols’
Director: Gregory Cahill
Music Video: 5mins
Country: USA
Language: English, Khmer
Synopsis: A mysterious late-night phone call triggers a rescue mission into a demonic underworld.
Director’s Bio: Greg Cahill is an Emmy winning line producer on The Talk (CBS) starring Sharon Osbourne. His debut feature film Two Shadows took home the Audience Award at the 2012 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, and his short film The Golden Voice (detailing the life of Cambodian singer Ros Sereysothea) garnered accolades from over a dozen international film festivals. Gregory has worked on a variety of TV shows and films including Mad Men, 24, Medium, and animated comedy Hell & Back starring Mila Kunis and Danny McBride.
PLAYING: Saturday, September 15th.
TIME: 11:00AM
GET TICKETS: http://ctff2018.whindo.com
LOCATION: Art Theatre, 2025 E. 4th St. Long Beach, CA 90814
Wash it! (Leang Sam Art!)
Director: Darren Teale, Suzanne James
Music Video: 4mins
Country: Cambodia
Language: Khmer with English subtitles
* First Place at Civil Society Innovation Award
Synopsis: Leang Sam Art (Wash It!) is an original music track and video by WaterAid Cambodia, Epic Arts and Junction 15 Productions to transform the hygiene and hand washing behaviors of Cambodians and revolutionize health in Cambodia.
Director‘s Bio: Darren and Suzanne are a multi-award winning Director/Producer duo and have been working together for over 10 years. Darren has 15 years experience in the film industry, he specialises in concepts/scripts, shooting, directing and editing. He brought the BAFTA shortlisted Sky One doc ‘Ben: Diary of a Heroin Addict’ to TV screens and believes in filmmaking as a tool for social action. Suzanne’s passion lies in making films that inspire action towards the betterment of people’s lives and include subjects such as sexual health, domestic violence, mental health and conflict. Together they have travelled to South East Asia, the Middle East and Europe producing short films, documentaries and music videos. Their work has been broadcast on television around the world including Asia, Europe, Australia and the USA.
PLAYING: Saturday, September 15th.
TIME: 11:00AM
GET TICKETS: http://ctff2018.whindo.com
LOCATION: Art Theatre, 2025 E. 4th St. Long Beach, CA 90814
KHEMA
Director: Sokharo Hang
Narrative Short: 8mins
Country: Cambodia
Language: Khmer with English subtitles
* The Best Screenplay Award at Chaktumuk Short Film Festival
Synopsis: An authentic story about the memories of a Cambodian dancer confronting her past as a child who obsesses with classical dance.
Director’s Bio: Having background in Media and Journalism, Sokharo Hang firstly involved in filmmaking as a director of photography in film entitled Last Second. The film was selected as one of the last three finalist films in 2013 Chaktomouk Short Film Festival, the largest film festival in Cambodia. As a director of photography, he won The Best Cinematography Award. He then direct his very first film, Bubble, a story about the relation between dream, society and underdog’s life. Bubble was selected as one of the finalists at 2015 Tropfest SEA. “Khema,” his second short film, won The Best Screenplay award at 2017 Chaktumuk Short Film Festival and screened at The 2018 Cambodia International Film Festival. Currently, he is an independent filmmaker and work as Assistant Director and production coordinator for various local and international film projects in Cambodia.
PLAYING: Saturday, September 15th.
TIME: 11:00AM
GET TICKETS: http://ctff2018.whindo.com
LOCATION: Art Theatre, 2025 E. 4th St. Long Beach, CA 90814
Year Zero
Director: David Siev
Narrative Short: 16mins
Country: USA
Language: Khmer with English subtitles
* Best Narrative Short by the 18th DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival
Synopsis: When the Khmer Rouge regime seized Cambodia in 1975, the country plunged into civil war and was ravaged by mass killings, torture, and famine. The Khmer soldiers were cold and ruthless, fully embodying Pol Pot’s philosophy towards the common people: “to kill you is no loss, to keep you is no benefit.” Faced with hunger and starvation, two brothers risk everything to ensure their survival, even with the odds stacked against them.
Director’s Bio: As the child of a Cambodian refugee, David grew up listening to his father’s countless stories of surviving the Cambodian genocide that claimed the lives of at least 2 million people. After graduating from the University of Michigan’s film school in 2015, David moved from his rural hometown in Michigan to Los Angeles to pursue his passion for the film industry. In his heart and mind, he always knew that one day when the time was right, he would have the experience he needed to share his families stories with the rest of the world. Making his directorial debut, David Siev brings to life the brutality of the Khmer Rouge regime and the resilience of Cambodian people in this film “Year Zero.”
PLAYING: Saturday, September 15th.
TIME: 11:00AM
GET TICKETS: http://ctff2018.whindo.com
LOCATION: Art Theatre, 2025 E. 4th St. Long Beach, CA 90814
Palm Tree
* World Premiere
Director: Pov Piseth, Rotha Soung
Narrative Short: 20mins
Country: Cambodia
Language: Khmer with English subtitles
Synopsis: Daro is a young man of 20 years old. He comes from a poor family in Kampong Speu province. His father collects fruits on palm trees. After he graduated from high school in Kampong Speu, he gets a scholarship to study in Phnom Penh. There, he decides to hide his poor family situation.
Director’s Bio: Co-Directors of “Palm Tree,” Piseth Pov and Rotha Soung, are promising new talent from Cambodia collaborating for the first time. Both studied at the PSE Institute School of Media in Phnom Penh.
PLAYING: Saturday, September 15th.
TIME: 11:00AM
GET TICKETS: http://ctff2018.whindo.com
LOCATION: Art Theatre, 2025 E. 4th St. Long Beach, CA 90814
Sothea
Director: Kate-Marie Engberg
Narrative Short: 15mins
Country: Cambodia
Language: Khmer with English subtitles
Synopsis: When Sothea witnesses corruption at work, she has to decide morally and financially how to proceed. Will she be complicit or risk her job and security? This story leads us into one thread in the tapestry of modern-day Phnom Penh.
Director’s Bio: After moving to New York to attend NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts to study Film & Television production, Kate-Marie pursued her passion for comedy as well as human rights in the realm of film. Comedy led her to a few collaborations with members of an Upright Citizens Brigade group, Summer and Eve, out of which she directed comedic narrative shorts, one written by writer and actor Max Baker. Her most recent short she shot in Cambodia was screened at the Phnom Penh International Film Festival. At the core, Kate-Marie strives to tell human stories that cross borders. Whether it’s comedy or drama, she seeks a raw truth, honesty, and relatability in her characters. With the belief that we connect through our vulnerabilities, Kate-Marie finds strength in that notion through her writing and directing.
PLAYING: Saturday, September 15th.
TIME: 11:00AM
GET TICKETS: http://ctff2018.whindo.com
LOCATION: Art Theatre, 2025 E. 4th St. Long Beach, CA 90814
The Morning After
Director: Leanne Mangan
Narrative Short: 7mins
Country: Cambodia
Language: English
Synopsis: An Aussie backpacker wakes in a Cambodian rice field, with no memory of the night before. Who does he believe? What has he forgotten?
Director’s Bio: Leanne graduated in 2016 with an Advanced Diploma in Screenwriting for Series TV from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, and studied Script Editing for Production in 2017. Her short film script for The Morning After was shortlisted in the Australian Writers Guild Monte Miller Award, which saw her inducted into the Pathways program in March. It was a semi-finalist earlier this year in the WeScreenplay Diverse Voices Contest, and is currently a quarter-finalist in the PAGE Screenwriting contest. She directed and shot the film in Cambodia in 2016, under the mentorship of Sean Cousins from Filmmaker Abroad. Leanne has co-written and co-produced a second short film, Remote Access, which is now in post- production. Read more at www.leannemangan.com
PLAYING: Saturday, September 15th.
TIME: 11:00AM
GET TICKETS: http://ctff2018.whindo.com
LOCATION: Art Theatre, 2025 E. 4th St. Long Beach, CA 90814
Lost World
Director: Kalyanee Mam
Documentary Short: 16mins
Country: Cambodia
Language: Khmer with English subtitles
Synopsis: As Singapore dredges sand out from beneath Cambodia’s mangrove forests, an ecosystem, a communal way of life, and one woman’s relationship to her beloved home are faced with the threat of erasure.
Director’s Bio: Award-winning filmmaker, lawyer, and born storyteller, Kalyanee Mam is committed to telling stories that help change the way we view ourselves and our place in this world. Born in Battambang, Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge Regime, she and her family fled the refugee camps at the Thai-Cambodian border and eventually immigrated to the United States in 1981. Even to this day her mother recounts stories of their flight through jungles laden with land mines. Her film A River Changes Course, which she directed and produced, has won several awards, including the Grand Jury Award for World Cinema Documentary at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and the Golden Gate Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2013 San Francisco International Film Festival. For the last three years Kalyanee has been living with an indigenous family in Areng Valley, located in Southwest Cambodia, and following intimately their way of life, spiritual ceremonies, traditional plants and medicine, and folktales and stories, so deeply connected and intertwined with nature and that inspire the people of this valley to love and protect their home. The short, ‘Fight for Areng Valley’ was featured on the New York Times Op-Docs series under the title ‘A Threat to Cambodia’s Sacred Forest.’.
PLAYING: Saturday, September 15th.
TIME: 11:00AM
GET TICKETS: http://ctff2018.whindo.com
LOCATION: Art Theatre, 2025 E. 4th St. Long Beach, CA 90814