Golden Slumbers

The Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror and genocide also decimated a homegrown film industry that had flourished since 1960: movie theaters were bombed, film prints were destroyed, and artists were executed. Filmmaker Davy Chou mourns this loss of lives and culture, but balances the somber material with a playfulness that honors the lush melodramas and mythic adventures of the Cambodian film industry’s glory years. Chou’s documentary is a séance of sorts, summoning the spirits of films past and finding remnants in the present through the reminiscences of surviving filmmakers and actors and, poignantly, through song.