The Cinema of Rithy Panh

Nominated for 2022 South Atlantic Modern Language Association Book award Born in 1964, Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh grew up in the midst of the Khmer Rouges genocidal reign of terror, which claimed the lives of many of his relatives. After escaping to France, where he attended film school, he returned to his homeland in the late 1980s and began work on the documentaries and fiction films that have made him Cambodias most celebrated living director. The fourteen essays in The Cinema of Rithy Panh explore the filmmakers unique aesthetic sensibility, examining the dynamic and sensuous images through which he suggests that everything has a soul. They consider how Panh represents Cambodias traumatic past, combining forms of individual and collective remembrance, and the implications of this past for Cambodias transition into a global present. Covering documentary and feature films, including his literary adaptations of Marguerite Duras and Kenzabur e, they examine how Panhs attention to local context leads to a deep understanding of such major themes in global cinema as justice, imperialism, diaspora, gender, and labor. Offering fresh takes on masterworks like The Missing Picture and S-21 while also shining a light on the directors lesser-known films, The Cinema of Rithy Panh will give readers a new appreciation for the boundless creativity and ethical sensitivity of one of Southeast Asias cinematic visionaries.