A Change of Guard

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Friday 12 April 2013

Cambodia Town Film Festival Open Submissions, Launch Fundraising Tour

Thursday, 11 April 2013
The Long Beach Post

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Caylee So (center) and cast members from her thesis film, which will have its Long Beach premiere at the Cambodia Town Film Festival. Photo by Sarah Bennett. 

A small group of supporters gathered Monday night in the newly constructed Khmer Room at La Lune Palace for the first night of a week-long West Coast fundraising tour to support the first ever Cambodia Town Film Festival, which will be held over two days at the Art Theatre in September.
Co-founded by recent Chapman film school graduate Caylee So and Long-Beach-gone-international rapper Prach Ly, the festival is the first of its kind in the world, aiming to showcase not only Cambodian filmmakers, but also the rich culture and history of the country itself.
"We thought that maybe we could bring films together and bring stories together and help other people get to know our culture," Ly says.
To raise awareness of the festival within the greater Cambodian-American community, So and Ly are over the next five days driving to the northwest and back for events in Portland, Seattle, Sacramento and Stockton where they will screen So's thesis short film--which was filmed in Long Beach using many locals as actors--and asking for donations to help with everything from transportation for filmmakers to decorations for the inside of the Art Theatre.
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From left, Prach Ly, Caylee So and Jonathan Nhean, lead actor in So's film, Paulina.
In the last few months, the CTFF committee has also launched a global campaign to generate buzz for the upcoming festival, asking friends from around the world to take photos of themselves holding handwritten signs in support of the festival. So far, dozens of filmmakers, artists, educators and advocates have submitted pictures, taken everywhere from in front of Angkor Wat in Cambodia to a farm in France.

So--who was born a refugee camp in Thailand but grew up in Northern Virginia--exemplifies the importance of having a cultural festival that focuses on contemporary Cambodian identity, and why Long Beach is the perfect place for it. She told the gathering on Monday that until she was in middle school, she hadn't really thought about what it meant to be from Cambodia.
"It never occurred to me to research where I was from or to be involved in the culture," she says. "But there are so many Cambodians in Long Beach and the cultural depth here makes it a place to learn about Cambodian history and culture. I keep wondering, 'Why didn't I know about all this when I was growing up?'"
Submissions for the festival are now open through July 31. Films must have relevance to Cambodian themes, issues, history, heritage and culture or films must be directed, produced or principally acted by Cambodians or people of Cambodian descent. Features, documentaries, shorts and animated films are all welcome.
For more information, visit cambodiatownfilmfestival.com

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