INTERVIEW: Echoes From Tomorrow4 min read
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With Cambodia’s arts infrastructure still developing, there are many challenges that aspiring directors face as a result of their lack of portfolio. Echoes from Tomorrow is a project started by Cambodian production company Anti-Archive which aims to let three first-time directors express their voices and gives them an opportunity to change their odds for the better.
The company was established in January 2014 by Davy CHOU, Steve CHEN, and Kavich NEANG, Anti-Archive welcomed its fourth partner, PARK Sungho in 2016.
Seeing the gap in the industry, Anti-Archive started the Echoes from Tomorrow project to support film production in Cambodia, especially amongst independent youth filmmakers. It’s first crowdfunding campaign easily surpassed the target funds to be raised, clearly signifying the urgent need for Cambodia’s film industry to improve.
Park Sungho, an Anti-Archive partner and one of the producers of Echoes from Tomorrow, talks about the rationale behind this project. When asked what inspired him to start this project, Park replied, “[the] Cambodian youth scene is very youthful and optimistic as more and more young people are eager to revive what they once had [before the] Khmer Rouge.”
Aspiring directors and others who wish to enter the industry would find the underdeveloped film industry a concern. It would also mean a loss of an avenue for people to express themselves. Park shares that it is actually extremely difficult to discover and groom talents without film schools and funding.
Danech San, Sreylin Meas and Kanitha Tith are the three directors chosen for the Echoes from Tomorrow project. Seeing the potential of the visions in their mind, the Anti-Archive team chose them to direct their debut short film. Additionally, the three of them have all been exposed to the film industry through working various roles (both on camera and behind it).
This familiarity that they have with the industry would come in handy as their first time directing. Echoes from Tomorrow hopes to tap on this potential and catalyse it into something the Cambodian film industry can look forward to.
Currently, only San’s short film has premiered (at the 29th Singapore International Film Festival), although Meas’s film is almost ready, and Tith’s film is wrapping up shooting. San’s film, A Million Years, won Best Southeast Asian Short Film at SGIFF, marking a great start to Echoes from Tomorrow.
San comments that the win was surprisingly unexpected. “Coming to SGIFF for Best Short was something I’d never thought of; I didn’t even know the film was [to be] screened at the end of the awards ceremony,” she adds.
For those of you who managed to catch the screening of A Million Years at SGIFF, you would know that the film was a visually rewarding short that tackled a few philosophical topics. San explains that A Million Years focuses on “a young woman’s feelings, the uncertainty of time, development, love and identity.”
It was an important process of self-discovery for San, and this perhaps ended up lending the film a personal touch. She admits, “I was stuck on how [I could] imagine something that I never experienced so I started digging my own memories.” This motivated her to express such feelings through moving images and sound.
Having the story be a personal one to her was part of what made the filming process challenging. She had to open herself up to the team in order to accurately portray her ideas to the team, which was not an easy task particularly at the beginning. “[There has been] endless support from the team and many others for making this film,” San shares. “[They gave] me space and freedom to create,” which helped positively impact her work.
A Million Years is currently making its rounds through film festivals, while Meas’s film will be premiering in the near future. Park hopes that Echoes from Tomorrow can continue its traction as this would greatly help the Cambodian film industry.
“We want this project to be regular as we see more potential talents but we are not and we don’t have to be the only ones,” Park stresses. “The future of [the] Cambodian film industry is bright as the market is growing and the culture of cinema in both commercial and arthouse sectors is expanding.”
With the name Anti-Archive, the company hopes that people would be motivated to rethink the relationship between film and the past. As Park says, “if our small success inspires others to help themselves and to contribute to the world in cinema, we would be excited.
Image credit: Anti-Archive
