A RIVER CHANGES COURSE -- KBANG TIK TONLE

 

Twice a year in Cambodia, the Tonle Sap River changes course, while the river of life flows in a perpetual cycle of death and rebirth and of creation and destruction.

 

Working in an intimate, verité style, filmmaker Kalyanee Mam (Director of Photography for the Oscar-winning documentary INSIDE JOB), spent two years in her native homeland following three young Cambodians struggling to overcome the crushing effects of deforestation, overfishing, and overwhelming debt.

 

In the remote and mountainous jungles of Northeast Cambodia, Sav Samourn and her family live in a thatched hut perched on a hill surrounded by cashew orchards, golden rice fields, and thick, dense forest. They belong to one of 24 indigenous groups that remain in Cambodia and that depend on the land and forest for their food and livelihood. All around them, they witness the encroachment of large companies and the slashing and clearing of forests. Sav Samourn soon discovers she is no longer afraid of wild animals and ghosts that once roamed the forests she calls home. Now, she is afraid of people.

 

The great Tonle Sap River in Central Cambodia is home to a diversity of fish and wildlife. And the floating village on the river is home for Sari and his family, who depend on fishing for their livelihood. As the eldest boy in a family of six children, Sari was forced to quit school at the age of 14 to help support his family. But life on the river has changed rapidly. Due to large fishing concessions, large fish traps, and the rise of illegal fishing, the catch is diminishing and Sari and his family are struggling to catch even enough fish to survive. As Sari stands on his boat facing the horizon, Sari wonders what direction the future will take him.

 

In a small village outside the capital city of Phnom Penh, Khieu and her mother bring in their annual rice harvest. To help make ends meet, she and her family must borrow money to buy land and a water buffalo. And to pay back their mounting debt, Khieu prepares to join the truckloads of young people who have already left the village to find work in garment factories in Phnom Penh. But in the bustling city, Khieu soon realizes that her life and the lives of all factory girls are divided in half, between their obligations to send money home and their duty help their families at home in the countryside. As she awaits the ferry that will bring her back home again, Khieu reflects on how she and her family will survive away from the city.

 

A breathtaking and unprecedented journey from the remote, mountainous jungles and floating cities of the Cambodian countryside to the bustling garment factories of modern Phnom Penh, A RIVER CHANGES COURSE traces a remarkable and devastatingly beautiful story of a country torn between the rural present and an ominous industrial future.

 

Youk Chhang

 Leng Ratanak

Kalyanee Mam