Angkor Awakens: A Portrait of Cambodia is a fascinating portrait of a growing nation struggling to come to terms with its past. The follows the people of Cambodia as they fight to recover their culture and history in the wake of the Khmer Rouge genocide (1975-1979).
The documentary film includes an unprecedented appearance by Cambodia’s Strongman/Prime Minister Hun Sen, who seems to align himself here with President Trump.
Directed by Robert H Lieberman, Angkor Awakens: A Portrait of Cambodia will open on May 5th, 2017 in New York at Landmarks Sunshine Cinema and in DC at the E Street Theater, in LA on May 12th at Laemmle’s Monica Theater and at Playhouse 7 in Pasadena and Claremont 5. Additional cities to follow
“Angkor Awakens” is a sweeping and eye-opening portrait of a nation now poised at the tipping point. The film documents the process and collective efforts of the Khmer people as they work to recover their culture and history in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge regime. It views the present through the lens of the country’s tangled history. Though the legacy of past violence and present-day repression lives on, it is counterbalanced by the hope and aspirations of the new generation of Cambodians.
Built around intimate interviews and stunning footage of the country, this is the film for anyone desiring to learn more about one of Asia’s youngest populations as it seeks to leave behind its brutal past.
“”Angkor Awakens: A Portrait of Cambodia” is directed by Robert H. Lieberman, a best-selling novelist, award winning filmmaker and long-time member of Cornell University Physics faculty. It is Lieberman’s background as a child of the holocaust that has led him to explore the effects of the genocide on the mentality of today’s young Cambodian.
The film opens with a rush of motion, the camera speeding up a flight of stairs with increasing momentum, panning out to reveal lush hills, stone steps and a vibrant earth that stretches on and on. Ambient music fills the theatre; the screen slips to a red backdrop, with the shadows of traditional dancers gliding about; a voiceover extracted from one of the many interviews speaks, introducing us to an eighty-minute documentary probe into Cambodia.
Following independence from France, the Cambodia of the ’60s and ’70s was sucked into the Cold War when its neighbor Vietnam fell into civil chaos, despite efforts to stay neutral. What eventually emerged from the din and struggle for national survival was the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge, an extremist Communist group led by Pol Pot, which proceeded to commit one of the worst mass killings of the 20th century, claiming up to an estimated two million lives. Angkor Awakens is a poignant, revealing documentary in how it chooses to look at this highly volatile and violent time.” – Cornell Daily Sun