Fantastic effort all round

The early monsoon rains that flooded the streets of Phnom Penh this afternoon and continued into the evening put paid to a full house at the Meta House screening of The Red Sense tonight but the crowd was still a good one, and an appreciative one with enthusiastic applause at the end of the film's screening reflecting their enjoyment of the movie. One of the lead actors and screenwriter Rithy Dourng was on hand to introduce the film and to answer questions afterwards and inbetween, we watched a stylish movie, excellent camera work, nice locations, great soundtrack and a story to cater to both a Khmer and western audience. When you consider that the cast had never acted before and it was Tim Pek's debut as a feature film director, this was a fantastic effort by all concerned to handle a subject close to the heart of the Khmer community in Australia, where much of the film was shot, many of whom had fled to the country from Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge regime collapsed. A member of the audience felt the film should be shown on local television in Cambodia and I couldn't agree more, both to show what a capable filmmaker Tim Pek is and especially as the subject matter is a hot topic right now.

Rithy Dourng and the MC for the evening (it's me if you didn't know)

Rithy answers questions about the film following the screening