Funan

“Funan” begins in April 1975 – on the day the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh, banishing millions from their homes and deliberately tearing apart all families. Jammed together in labour camps, the people are forced to feed the new insurgency through backbreaking agricultural toil. Among those deported are Chou and Khoun, who were driven from their home with their four-year-old son Sovanh. During their weeks-long odyssey to the labour camp with little food along a perilous route laced with mines, they lose sight of their little boy. The overseeing soldiers forbid them from turning back to search for him. People die due to the lack of medical care, starvation, murder, or suicide. Only the hope of finding their son Sovanh again one day helps Chou and Khoun withstand the inhumane and brutal treatment of the Khmer Rouge.
“Funan” is unadorned and animated with poignant aesthetics, masterfully contrasting the vast, picturesque Cambodian landscape with close-ups of characters subjected to an inescapable fate and their emotional distress. In his first feature film, director Denis Do uses the couple’s quest to find their son as a framing device to depict the cruelty of the Khmer Rouge against its own people. Inspired by the life of his mother, Do manages to make this very dark period in Cambodia’s still rather recent history feel both emotional and personal. “Funan” celebrated its world premiere in 2018 in Annecy, where Denis Do’s debut film was honoured with the Cristal award for Best Feature Film. (dm)