A Song Close to Khmer Hearts Inspires New Film

Khmer Times/Nou Sotheavy

Monday, 18 January 2016

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Production begins Friday on a new film that its makers say will span three generations of Cambodians and reveal how the song “Champa Battambang,” sung by the legendary Khmer crooner Sinn Sisamouth, influenced each generation.
 

The film, entitled “In the Life of Music,” plays in three chapters, capturing transitions across Cambodia over the last 40 years, with each segment covering a generation and how war impacted Khmer lives.
 

This is the first collaboration of Sok Visal, a Phnom Penh filmmaker and producer from 802AD Productions and KlapYaHandz Music Label, and Caylee So, the Cambodian-American filmmaker who co-founded the Cambodia Town Film Festival and Innovision Pictures. 
 

The song, “Champa Battambang,” and the singer, Sinn Sisamouth, so deeply embedded in Cambodian culture, are like a single ghost haunting the Cambodian people, reminding them through this romantic ballad of true love, family life and nature, that the Khmer Rouge left a gaping hole in its place with the murder of so many artists and musicians, including Mr. Sisamouth.
 

“The idea of a three chapter story originated from this other concept that I had called ‘Bei’ [‘three’ in Khmer], which is a supernatural ghost story that I wanted to do in Cambodia,” Ms. So recalled in an interview with Khmer Times. “It was structured as chapters one, two and three, and it would tell three different stories revolving around a supernatural element, a story which spanned almost 90 years in Cambodia.”

This project, under development for three years, was ultimately put on hold when the budget would not cover special effects and makeup. With the project frozen, Ms. So travelled to Cambodia in December 2014 and became intrigued by young Phnom Penh filmmaker Somchanrith Chap and his idea for a short film about Sinn Sisamouth’s life and death.
 

“The idea of making a Sinn Sisamouth story was kind of inspiring,” Ms. So said. “So I thought about this story for a long time, including on the airplane ride home.” By the time her plane had landed, an idea was born.
 

Her film concept called for combining three short films by different directors into one feature film, a structure which could be applied to the story as well. The film follows the song “Champa Battambang” through three generations, weaving the stories of each and linking them forever.
 

The filmmaker said the song has always been a part of her life. For her, it is rooted in the cycle of life and she uses it to tell the stories of love, death and birth – in that order.
 

“I always wanted the first chapter [in the film] to be about falling in love with a song. That’s always where it starts. It [the song] takes you back, and I want it to be a celebration of life and love –things that are new and exciting,” Ms. So said. “[It was] a time before the killing fields.”
 

The next chapter was easy to plan, Ms. So noted. “The biggest historical thing to happen to Cambodia is the killing fields,” she said, shaking her head sadly. “Music is essentially murdered.”
 

The death of Mr. Sisamouth is a central event in this generation’s story from a time when music was not allowed. Ms. So wanted her audience to experience the romance of “Champa Battambang” and then the death of it with a rebirth in the next generation.
 

“I knew that I wanted to tell an intergenerational story about the diaspora,” Ms. So added. “So much of the foundation of what I am as a Cambodian-American is about what it’s like to be the child of parents who went through the killing fields, moved out of the country and came back to the country they were born into but not necessary born in.” 
 

“I want to build the connection about what was and what is, so I call this one the chapter of birth, because that’s when our protagonist reconnects with her place of birth essentially.”