‘One Dollar Project’ Spotlights Cambodia’s Voiceless

‘One Dollar Project’ Spotlights Cambodia’s Voiceless

Khmer Times/Nou Sotheavy Sunday, 13 March 2016 

Choices in Life,’ a film from the One Dollar Project by Phally Ngoeum. Provider

Phally Ngoeum did not expect to find herself attending Switzerland’s International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights when she started at Bophana Center as a filmmaker.

There she heads the One Dollar Project – a collaborative web documentary project founded by Bophana Center, which unites filmmakers and journalists around the world to record and share the stories of individuals living with limited resources in short five to seven minute videos.

Produced at a grassroots level, these videos are collected and published to the world in an effort to open a dialogue about the issues that affect poor communities through the personal lives of the people who value every dollar they earn.

Through the power of social media and online discussions, the problems can be pinpointed and addressed to inspire change for a better society.

Ms. Ngoeum, started her filmmaking and writing career at Bophana Center as co-writer and assistant director of “The Storm Makers” in 2011.

New to the media scene after graduating from the Department of Media and Communications in Phnom Penh, she studied under Bophana’s one year training program for future filmmakers in 2014 and found her calling in documentaries.

 

“I got to learn about documentaries but in a journalistic style,” Ms. Ngoeum said. “After my graduation, I came to Bophana where I learned filmmaking in cinematic style. I started to question the functions of being a filmmaker and that made me more passionate to go further into the [One Dollar] project.”

Ms. Ngoeum explained that the project originally started as a platform for graduates from a filmmaking workshop in September 2014, which was designed to improve their skills and use their training to produce short films focusing on local society and the lives of everyday people in Cambodia.

Since December, the project has released nine short films about several social issues and has received a positive response for their films’ personal stories and insight on the systematic poverty in society.

Taking turns as crew members on each film, the trainees support each other and rotate their roles as leaders of each episode.

Although the support for the project has been positive, Ms. Ngoeum admits that documentary filmmaking is a tough career.

From the 12 original trainees, only a few have stayed in the film business. Some left the project for bigger productions or returned to their prior jobs. One was even awarded a scholarship to study in Germany.

The members who are still working for the One Dollar project have received recognition over their advocacy for human rights.  Last November, 12 students from Switzerland came to Cambodia for one month and both teams collaborated on films together.

In exchange a team from the One Dollar project received the opportunity to visit Switzerland for the biggest human rights festival in the world this month.

The aim behind the project is to question the value of each dollar that people earn. By revealing through film, a voice is provided for the people who struggle financially in society controlled by a system–humanizing the real issues of everyday life, Ms. Ngoeun feels.

“Documentaries are different from fiction,” she explained. “Although I am not rich, I was born in the city. I feel like I have my dreams and fulfil what I need, but when I got the countryside I see young people like me—those who have sacrificed everything for their families. I have seen teens who have been abused abroad and they lose their future or who never had their own dreams.

They only know the feeling of earning money and supporting families from starvation. When I see people manipulated over money, I question myself, I should do something at least for my country.”  

Ngoeum’s latest short film, “Choices in Life,” focuses on genocide survivor, Yem Thol. At 56-year-old, she makes a living by embroidering traditional Khmer costumes with her daughter, Chandin, while living in the White Building.

Barely earning money to feed their family, they see how the once revered craft of embroidery is slowly losing value in Cambodia’s increasingly modern world. The 10 minute film showcases the reality of how power and money takes hold of a family in the choices they make to earn a living.

By focusing on the real stories happening in society, the short films were able to inspire many viewers to get involved in this project, even foreigners say they feel like they know more about Cambodia, Ms. Ngoeum claims.

She hopes that the project will continue to expand and engage the youth and connect filmmakers around the world.