The Boston Globe Staff
April 02, 2013
A River Changes Course
Sari Math, a young fisherman living with his family in Cambodia,
on the Tonle Sap River, in the documentary “A River Changes Course.”
Filmmaker Kalyanee Mam was born in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge
regime. She was only 4 years old in 1979 when she and her family fled
through the jungle to refugee camps at the Thai-Cambodian border.
Eventually they were granted refugee status in the United States and
made their way to California.
A lawyer before she became a filmmaker, Mam, 36, is best known as the
cinematographer for the Oscar-winning documentary “Inside Job” about
the global financial crisis of 2008. Now she returns to her homeland in
the acclaimed documentary “A River Changes Course,” which she directed,
produced, and shot. It won the 2013 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury
Prize for world cinema documentary.
Kalyanee Mam. Photo by Lisa Keating
“My purpose is to understand what is happening in Cambodia. You can
only do something like this if you are truly interested in . . . finding
an answer,” says Kalyanee Mam.
The Cambodia she examines in her spare, stunning film is a very
different one than the Cambodia of her early life. She found a land that
is being decimated — environmentally and on a human level — by the
impact of rapid development and industrialization. It was not an easy
film to make. To capture the stories of three young Cambodians, she
needed to trek through forests and jungles, on foot and by elephant;
climb nine mountains; and film on a small unstable boat on a river.
Mam will be in
Lowell on April 9, to screen the film at Showcase Cinemas Lowell. She’ll
also show it at Lowell High School, where 30 percent of the students
are of southeast Asian background.
Q. Did you expect to win a prize at Sundance?
A. Not at all. I don’t really dream about things like
that. I don’t think it’s healthy, and it’s not my purpose. My purpose is
to understand what is happening in Cambodia. You can only do something
like this if you are truly interested in and curious about finding an
answer.
Q. You were a lawyer before becoming a filmmaker. How did you make the transition to cinematographer?
A. On-the-job training
Q. Do you remember much about your childhood in Cambodia?
A. I only remember living in the refugee camps. I
remember playing in the rain. But my parents told us many stories about
the Khmer Rouge regime and instilled in us a sense of pride about our
country. I had the good fortune of being forced by my parents to speak
Khmer. So I had a strong understanding of Cambodian culture and
traditions. But it always interested me to return to my home country. I
wanted to explore that side of myself which I didn’t know so well, and
that I felt made me so different. I felt I didn’t really belong in the
US.
Q. And what did you find?
A. I realized that I am neither just Cambodian nor just
American. I am both. I am also more than that, and have had many other
experiences. Being Cambodian is something that is a big part of my life,
but not the overwhelming part.
Q. Why did you decide to make this film?
A. I went back to Cambodia was 1998. It was so
beautiful; I fell in love with the luscious landscape, the forest and
jungles. I went back in 2008 and realized how much the country had
changed. It was a complete turnaround. There were large buildings in the
city, roads were being built in the jungle. Not that roads are bad, but
it also meant that a lot of trees were being cut down. They built the
road to transport lumber, not for the people. This meant people were
being displaced. It meant industrialization was taking over the country.
I began wondering how this change was impacting people’s lives and
realized I needed to document what was happening. Everyone knows about
the Khmer Rouge regime and about genocide, but I think a lot of people
are not as familiar with the current situation.
Q. Is that because the movie-going public last left off Cambodia with the killing fields?
A. It’s because it’s become so exotic to view the
history of Cambodia through the lens of genocide. It’s a lot less exotic
to see it now, to see all the atrocities that are happening with regard
to the environment, to all the overfishing, to the loss of natural
resources, to people thrown off the land because their land is being
taken from them.
Q. Your film focuses on three young people. One
struggles with the impact of deforestation, another with overfishing,
and another with debt. What do they have in common?
A. The common denominator is that [their] lives are
changing. Their lives are being shaped by themselves, of course, but
also by external forces that are forcing change. Large land concessions
are being given to companies to remove people off the land. Large
fishing concessions are depleting the fishing population. Construction
of dams is affecting the fish flow. This is a huge issue in Cambodia.
Dams are being built to generate electricity and the government says
it’s for the local population, but in reality, most of the electricity
would be diverted to neighboring countries like Thailand and Vietnam.
Q. Did the situation strike you as hopeless?
A. I saw a lot of people fighting for their right to
remain on their land, and a lot of them are women. They’re fighting to
stay in their homes. I saw women who are working in factories fighting
for better wages for themselves. They are very vocal and active. We plan
to travel all over the country and screen the film in villages and show
it to villagers who are in the same situation. I hope it will raise
enough awareness that people will feel that they need to do something
more.
Q. What’s your ultimate goal for the film?
A. I think the story will help people to see how
beautiful their country is. You can travel across the United States and
get a sense of the lay of the land. But in Cambodia, few people have the
opportunity to travel anywhere outside of their village. It’s hard to
feel pride if you don’t have a full grasp of your own identity and of
how your country looks.
Q. Why is it important for you to show it at Lowell High School?
A. I have more faith in young people than anyone else. I
have strong memories of my time in high school and college and I was so
hopeful and idealistic. I thought I could change the world. Anything I
can do to offer guidance . . . about what they can to do help their home
country, or here in the US would be amazing. Also a lot of Cambodian
students are very artistic and maybe the film will help them to do
something like this.
Linda Matchan can be reached at l_matchan@globe.com.
1 comment:
"Also a lot of Cambodian students are very artistic"
because most of us have that kind of DNA in our mind, brian and body from our Ancestors.
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