Witness and Recuperation: Cambodia’s New Documentary Cinema

The documentary cinema of Rithy Panh has played a significant role in the effort to overcome the traumatic heritage of the Khmer Rouge era in Cambodia (1975-79). His cinema of witness advances claims for the restoration of memory as an ethical imperative, and his films have provided encouragement for the claims of justice for survivors. Witness and reenactment are central to his mode of address. A new movement has emerged in recent years from a younger generation whose work continues to explore the value of documentary in challenging the prevailing cultural amnesia and seeks to recuperate the connection between the present and the past. This paper discusses the work of some of the emerging documentary makers, highlighting their distinctive voices and visions, their debt to the style and framework of Rithy Panh’s cinema, as well as new perspectives which seek to build on the past through the exploration of the value of the artists and intellectuals who preceded them.