[PHNOM PENH POST]
CAMBODIAN film technicians are paving the way for smooth shooting on
foreign movies in the Kingdom, says the Cambodian Film Commission.
Having
learned their trade and updated their skills with the help of experts,
local technicians have found work on at least eight movies and four TV
dramas shot here over the past two years, said CFC director Cheap
Sovichea. That’s not to mention the other 58 documentaries, five
commercials and two TV shows.
But many foreign film makers didn’t realise that they could get specialised technical help from commission staff.
Some
had scouted locations in neighbouring countries such as Vietnam and
Thailand because they didn’t know that technicians and special cameras
were available for hire in Cambodia, he added.
“They planned to
shoot some movies in Cambodia, but they chose locations in Thailand and
designed the same landscape as Cambodia, and they even brought Cambodian
actors to film over there, too. The problem is that they didn’t know
how to contact us.”
His commission staff could help pave the way
for filming licences and permits, scout locations and hire out
equipment and cameras, he said.
Not only that, but the commission
has also helped improve scripts for overseas productions and stopped
producers from making some serious cultural mistakes.
For
example, a 2004 movie called Holy Lola directed by Bertrand Tavernier
featured farmers in Kampot province. Cheap Sovichea was working as a
general manager on the movie and saw that the producer wanted to feature
farmers wearing the conical straw hats more common to Vietnam. “We
pointed out that Cambodian farmers wore a different kind of hat made
from palm leaves, so the script was changed before the movie was shot,”
he said.
The German movie Same, Same, But Different, shot in 2009
and showing a young German falling in love with a Cambodian bar girl,
had problems with its script too.
“In the script, one scene
required a monk to be seated on a motorcycle behind the woman driver. So
we told them that Buddhist monks could not be touched by a woman, even
their mother or sister. So they agreed to change their script,” he said.
Before
the commission was created, a film called Beyond Borders shot in 2003
used Thai actors to portray Khmer Rouge soldiers. When they speak in
Khmer they sound Vietnamese, but the Khmer Rouge shot anyone as a spy
who sounded Vietnamese, so it just doesn’t make sense, said Cheap
Sovichea.
Another problem Cambodia faces is producing an international star, he said.
The
producer of Same, Same, But Different chose a Thai actress to play the
lead role as a Cambodian bar girl because they couldn’t find a suitable
Cambodian actress even after a two-month search, he said.
“They
couldn’t find a Cambodian actress who could behave as a bar girl, smoke,
play pool and speak good English. The level of English among our actors
is still low, so they chose a Thai girl whose physical appearance looks
similar to Cambodian women.”
Better-trained technicians could
not only help attract more foreign production companies to Cambodia but
also help to revive the country’s film sector, said Sin Chansaya,
director of the Cinema and Culture Diffusion Department.
Since
the government film sector was dismantled in favour of the private
sector in the late 1980s, the standard has plummeted, he complained.
“After
the government allowed privatisation, many people began their own film
companies though they didn’t have a background in filming. By the late
1980s, we had more than 200 private film companies in such a small
country. But they made bad movies. People didn’t want to watch them,”
said Sin Chansaya.
As part of his department’s plan to help
revive the film sector, a film school was planned for development in the
long term and laws would be passed to protect film makers’ copyright,
he said.
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