- The Burnt Theatre
Infobox Film
name = The Burnt Theatre
caption = The theatrical poster.
director =Rithy Panh
producer =
writer =Rithy Panh
Agnès Sénémaud
narrator =
starring = Bopha Chheng
Than Nan DoeunPeng Phan
music = Marc Marder
cinematography = Prum Mesa
editing = Marie-Christine Rougerie
distributor = Catherine Dussart ProductionsInstitut national de l'audiovisuel
Les AcaciasArte
released = flagicon|FranceMay 15 ,2005
flagicon|United StatesMarch 21 ,2006 flagicon|CanadaMay 13 ,2006
runtime = 85 min.
country = Cambodia/France
language = Khmer
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:330711
imdb_id = 0461743"The Burnt Theatre", or "Les Artistes du Théâtre Brûlé", is a 2005 French-Cambodian
docudrama directed and co-written byRithy Panh . A blend of fact and fiction, based on the actual lives of the actors, the film depicts a troupe of actors and dancers struggling to practice their art in the burned-out shell ofCambodia 's former national theatre, thePreah Suramarit National Theatre inPhnom Penh ."The Burnt Theatre" premiered at the
2005 Cannes Film Festival as an official selection in the out-of-competition main programme,cite web | title = Les Artistes du Théâtre Brûlé | publisher = Cannes Film Festival | date = 2005-05 | url = http://www.festival-cannes.fr/index.php/en/archives/film/4277801 | accessdate = 2007-07-15 ] and has been screened at several other film festivals.ynopsis
While much of Cambodia's cultural heritage was eradicated through the deaths of many artists during the
Khmer Rouge era, the country's main theatrical structure,Preah Suramarit National Theatre remained standing throughout theCambodian Civil War , even occasionally being used by the communist regime for official visits andpropaganda pageants. Ironically, it was while the theatre was undergoing repairs in 1994 that it caught fire, was heavily damaged and has never been restored.cite web | last = Weissberg | first = Jay
title = The Burnt Theatre | publisher = Variety (magazine) | date = 2005-05-15 | url = http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117927107.html?categoryid=1929&cs=1&p=0 | accessdate = 2007-07-15 ] cite web
title = Tokyo Filmex 2005 Awards | publisher = Tokyo Filmex | date = 2005-11-27 | url = http://www.filmex.net/2005/compe-e.htm | accessdate = 2007-07-15 ]It is in this roofless performance hall that a
Khmer classical dance troupe continues to practice daily, and a troupe of actors attempts to produce a Khmer-language adaptation of "Cyrano de Bergerac" on a stage overgrown with weeds.Around the theatre,
Phnom Penh , the nation's capital and largest city, is being rebuilt and redeveloped. Next door, a casino and resort hotel is being built, the slamming sound of thepile driver s provides a counterpoint to the action in the theatre.Into the situation comes a journalist, Bopha Chheang, who interviews actor Than Nan Doeun, who portrays Cyrano. He and other actors reflect on the great productions of the past but lament the difficulties they are faced in a society that seems to have forgotten they exist.
Some of the actors receive a small stipend, around $10 to $15 a month, from the government, and supplement their incomes by appearing in
karaoke videos and performing at nightclubs."Soon people won't know what theatre is," one actor says. "Everyone will be watching ghost films or singing the same lyrics like parrots."cite web | last = Turnbull | first = Robert
title = Staring down the horrors of the Khmer Rouge | publisher = International Herald Tribune | date = 2007-04-05 | url = http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/05/arts/fmlede6.php | accessdate = 2007-07-15 ]Also interviewed is actress
Peng Phan (she appeared in Rithy Panh's "One Evening After the War " and "Rice People "), who is racked withSurvivor guilt and is overcome bypsychosomatic illness .The reporter's questioning and the activities of the performers are intercut with scenes of men and women sifting through refuse at a garbage dump. At another point, the members of the theatre troupe forage for food in the theatre itself, harvesting
bat s from the ceiling of the theatre halls and frying the winged mammals in awok .Cast
* Bopha Chheng
* Than Nan Doeun
*Peng Phan
* Hoeun Ieng
* Rotha Kèv
* Sok Ly
* Pok Dy RamaProduction
Rithy Panh had co-written the script for "The Burnt Theatre", which he then adapted during the shooting of the film to incorporate actual experiences of the performers, blending fact and fiction in a docudrama style.
"The idea at the heart of this film is to gather a group of actors around a project that exemplifies the reality Cambodian people live in: something inside us – dignity, identity – is rotting to shreds. To recover our memory after the tragedy of genocide," the director wrote in a synopsis for the
2005 Cannes Film Festival . "We are in the process of losing our memory. Cambodia is a land of broken dreams. There is no no more theatre, no more playhouses."The film is an urging by the director to restore Cambodia's lost cultural heritage. In comments prepared for the
Tokyo Filmex in 2005, Panh wrote:"When it comes to reconstruction, we must restore our identity first and have some space of cultural expression to do so. In Cambodia, we say: 'When culture vanishes, the nation collapses.' How can we build our country if culture remains confined to survival when transmission of memory's so much at stake? Culture should be a priority because it is so instrumental in healing our wounds, overcoming traumas and building democracy. The situation of the burnt theatre serves as a symbol of Cambodia's situation, just as of many other developing countries'. Are we to reduce culture to its folklore dimension? And yet… To break away with 'culture of survival', and overcome stupor of trauma, we need a link, we need continuity. Artists embody such a link. Through creations, they can avoid breaking up with our past, they can restore dignity of memory."
Release
"The Burnt Theatre" premiered at the
2005 Cannes Film Festival as an official selection in the out-of-competition main programme. The film was also screened at theRio de Janeiro International Film Festival ,São Paulo International Film Festival ,Tokyo Filmex (in competition), the2006 Bangkok International Film Festival , theSan Francisco International Asian American Film Festival ,cite web | title = The Burnt Theatre | publisher = San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival | date = 2005-03 | url = http://www.2006.asianamericanfilmfestival.org/films/film_detail.php?i=21 | accessdate = 2007-07-15 ] and theSingapore International Film Festival . It has also been broadcast on theArte television network in Europe.Reception
Commenting on the film's premiere at Cannes, "Variety" film critic Jay Weissberg, said the film's hybrid blend of documentary and drama made for a less-than-cohesive film. "Fictional and documentary elements occasionally jostle uncomfortably with each other, especially in scene transitions which can feel overly artificial," he wrote. "Far more powerful are shots of the cavernous theatre itself, where the air is consistently punctuated with the sounds of jackhammers working on an enormous casino nearby. This juxtaposition, between the crumbled theatre and the rising monument to a new-found capitalism, makes a much stronger statement."
References
External links
*imdb title|id=0461743|title=The Burnt Theater
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