Westec launches movie magazine in Cambodia

By Ou Mom

Friday, 27 January 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

Westec Media, the company behind Cambodia’s first international movie theatre Legend Cinema, is further endearing itself to local cinephiles by launching movie magazine Jai Kon.

The dual language magazine will be released every two months in English and Khmer, and features articles on the local movie industry, as well as reviews on the latest flicks coming to the Kingdom.

A 48-page issue ‘zero’ was released last month as something of a test balloon, but Westec promises that issue one, to be published this week, will have roughly 100 pages of content.

Simon Choo, distribution manager at Westec Media, said that the magazine will be a boon for local filmmakers.

“Jai Kon can feature different directors showing different ways of making movies and telling stories, so that local producers can learn from it,” he said.

Issue zero contains articles about Russian-American action flick The Darkest Hour, an interview with Khmer movie star Tep Rindaro, an interview with a teenage animator, and a wrap-up of the Cambodian Film Festival.

And on a page sure to grab the interest of local media mavens, the mag also provides detailed information on the local box-office hauls for foreign movies.

According to Jai Kon, as of November 30 last year, Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon had earned $78,189 over 11 weeks at Legend Cinema. Final Destination 5, the second biggest earner, garnered $59,630 over seven weeks. At the bottom of the list, which displays 25 movies, was the Glee 3D Concert, which earned $2,703 in two weeks.

Loy Te, editor of Jai Kon, said that the magazine will provide a variety of content about both international and local movie news.