RCB Film Club will reopen with a screening of In The Life Of Music, a moving and memorable tale from Cambodia, at the RCB Forum, 2nd floor of River City Bangkok, Charoen Krung 24, on Saturday Nov 6 at 4pm.
Directed by Caylee So and Sok Visal, the film connects the social, political and cultural history of the country, through its most famous song, Champa Battambang, written by Sinn Sisamouth, often called the "King Of Khmer Music".
The song connects three segments of the film, which portrays the lives of three generations of Cambodians and explores the country's tumultuous genocidal history.
The film opens with a young Cambodian-American girl, Hope, who re-connects with her homeland for the very first time since her birth. Her views and reactions as she moves around the city and countryside, are typical of an expat, and in many ways are reflective of the life and thoughts of Caylee So, a former refugee who escaped to the United States when she was a child after the Khmer Rouge regime.
The second part of the film traces the love story of Hope's parents -- how they met, fell in love, and had their first dance to the tune of Champa Battambang. The third story deals with the Khmer Rouge era, where Hope's parents were entrapped, like millions of other Cambodians, under the grip of a genocidal regime.
It is when Hope finally meets her mother's best friend, picks up the guitar, and sings the famous song, that she finally feels the full weight of this circular story, and her own place in it.
The film won awards and accolades in Asia, Europe and the US, and was the country's Oscar submission in 2019. It comes with English subtitles.
The fee is 100 baht and can be purchased from ticketmelon.com/rivercitybangkok/rcbfilmcambodia.
Email rcbfilmclub@gmail.com.
