Cambodia is a land of broken dreams. There are no longer any theaters, or performing arts spaces. Faced with the competition of television, traditional and popular arts are in turn disappearing. But some artists still exist. Guardians of a tradition that they can’t transmit, because of the lack of arts organizations, financial backing, and theaters, they’re condemned to live in misery, or to stage exotic shows for tourists.
Cambodia has a tradition of artist families, where craft is handed down from generation to generation. If you are born into a family of dancers, actors, or singers, then you are born an Artist and remain one for the rest of your life. Neither wars, massacres, nor the brutality of the ultra-liberal economy can alter their faith – which means they’re vulnerable and lucid. Nowadays, their voices can no longer be heard.
The main idea behind the film was to bring together a group of actors around a project symbolic of the reality we live: something is decomposing within us, everything is falling to pieces – dignity, identity – because we’re losing our memory.