By:
• Teng Yalirozy

• November 2, 2024 , 3:30 PM

PHNOM PENH — The Cambodian-German Cultural Center, known as Meta House, has been hosting a mini-film festival showcasing films produced to raise awareness about gender-based violence in the country, which has emerged in Cambodian society and about which silence must be broken, filmmakers say.

Held from Oct. 31 through Nov. 3, the festival is part of the Speak Out Sister (SOS) campaign launched in November 2023 to help make the public aware of  gender-based violence by enabling those who lived or are living through this to speak out in order to lead to positive change.

Funded by the Institute for Foreign Relations through the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, the SOS project’s goal has been  to produce 12 videos featuring survivors of sexual and gender-base violence from Cambodia and Vietnam, including indigenous and Cham women, and inspire a theater play in 12 high schools to foster dialogue, said Nico Mesterharm, founder of Meta House.

On the festival opening night, four films and a music video by four women filmmakers were shown, featuring women’s and girls’ journeys in dealing with violence, poverty and stigma as they try to maintain or rebuild their identities.

One music video shown was “Invisible Knot” of the NGO Women Peace Makers. Directed by Ly Polen, it is meant to encourage Cambodian women to speak out against societal violence.

Kim Sophea, a member of the Cambodia Film Commission and the Cambodia International Film Festival, produced “Grey Feather,” which delves into the intricate subject matter of binational relationships in Cambodia.

Caylee So, who was a child refugee and went on to serve in the U.S. Army, was deployed to Iraq, gaining through this a passion for storytelling. She directed the short film “Paulina” about a Cambodian-American girl caught in a struggle with her father and the realities of gambling addiction.

Sothea Ines' “Lost Innocence” explores the digital landscape in which Botum, a girl dealing with grief and poverty, falls prey to cyber predator Socheat, and seeks survival allies in unlikely places.

The short film “Two Girls Against the Rain” of Cambodian director Sao Sopheak and which was premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany in 2011, addresses gender issues in documentaries.

On Nov. 1, “Breaking the Silence” and “Women DJ Party” were screened. “Breaking the Silence” explores the experiences of Khmer Rouge survivors in Cambodia. Challenging the stigma surrounding sexual violence, the film also addressed the hidden dimensions of their suffering, which continues to affect society nearly 40 years after the regime's collapse.

The program for Nov. 2 has included the films “Girl Rising” describing the experiences of 10 girls from 10 countries, including India, Sierra Leone as well as Cambodia; “The Hidden World,” and “Women Perspectives DMC Students Documentaries” done by students of the Department of Media and Communication (DMC) at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. 

Organizers scheduled for Nov. 3, the last day of the festival the documentaries “Women at Work” and “Cleaning House.” Done by film director Claudia Richarz, “Cleaning House” shows Helke Sander, a German feminist film director, going through her belongings and reminiscing.

Since the start of the SOS campaign in November 2023, gender-based violence and gender awareness have been widely raised among children and young people, through films and documentaries, in schools across five provinces in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, Mesterharm said.

While the campaign ends on Jan. 1, 2025, he intends to continue activities that address violence issues and empower women in Cambodia, he said. “I'm quite optimistic to continue that,” Mesterharm said. “The impact is to educate kids and youth.”

For more information on the film festival and other events: https://meta-house.com/event-calender/