Film
Diamond Island
Diamond Island is a 2016 coming-of-age drama by Davy Chou about a young construction worker on a luxury development in Phnom Penh.[1][2] It was Chou's first fiction feature, and it won the SACD Prize in the Critics' Week section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.[2][1]
Synopsis
Bora is 18 when he leaves his village to work on the construction of Diamond Island, an ultra-modern development for the wealthy on the river in Phnom Penh and a symbol of Cambodia's future.[1][3] His job is to carry scrap between building sites. He makes friends with other young workers and courts a local girl.[2][3] Then his older brother Solei, who disappeared five years earlier, reappears. Solei introduces Bora to the nightlife, girls and illusions of Cambodia's privileged urban youth.[1]
Production and credits
Chou filmed some images on Diamond Island in 2010 and used them in his documentary Golden Slumbers. He conceived the new film as a portrait of Cambodia and its youth today, and of what he called the passionate and cruel relationship between young Cambodians and the country's advancing modernity.[4]
Chou wrote the screenplay with Claire Maugendre.[1] Casting took place over five months on the streets of Phnom Penh and through Facebook, and the cast is made up of first-time actors.[5] Sobon Nuon plays Bora and Cheanick Nov plays Solei, with Madeza Chhem, Mean Korn, Samnang Nut, Samnang Khim, Sophyna Meng, Jany Min, Sreyroth Dom, Batham Oun, Sreyleap Hang and Phara Phon.[1][6]
Charlotte Vincent produced the film for the French company Aurora Films. Co-producers included Chou, Hanneke van der Tas, Michael Merkt, Consuelo Frauenfelder and Soros Sokhum, and co-production companies included Arte France Cinéma and Anti-Archive.[1] Thomas Favel was director of photography, Vincent Villa recorded the sound, Laurent Leveneur edited the film, and Jérémie Arcache and Christophe Musset composed the music.[1] Support came from funders including the CNC, the Doha Film Institute, the Hubert Bals Fund and the Asian Cinema Fund, and from the Cinema and Cultural Diffusion Department of Cambodia's Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts.[1]
The film is a co-production of Cambodia, France, Germany, Qatar and Thailand. It is in Khmer and runs 101 minutes.[1] Les Films du Losange handled international sales.[1]
Release and reception
The film had its world premiere in competition at the 2016 Critics' Week in Cannes, where it won the SACD Prize.[3][5] It went on to win the Golden Gateway Award for Best Film at the Mumbai International Film Festival, the Grand Prix at the Festival du Film Romantique de Cabourg and the Bayard for Best Fiction Film at the Namur International French Film Festival in 2016, and the Tiger Jury Award at CinemAsia Amsterdam and the Golden Taiga Award at the Spirit of Fire Film Festival in 2017.[1] Other festival selections included Munich, Busan, Tokyo, Singapore, Melbourne, the Cambodia International Film Festival and New Directors/New Films.[1]
It opened in Cambodian cinemas on October 26, 2016, in France on December 28, 2016, in Germany in January 2017 and in Thailand in April 2017.[6][4][1] The film was an official selection of the 2017 Cambodia Town Film Festival in Long Beach, California, shown in Khmer with English subtitles.[7] The Museum of Modern Art in New York screened it in 2017.[8]
The New York Times called it a gentle look at teenagers in a changing land, and Le Monde called it a pop jewel of concrete, neon and adolescence.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 Anti-Archive, Diamond Island
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA Presents: Davy Chou's Diamond Island (2017)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Semaine de la Critique, Diamond Island (2016)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 AlloCiné, Diamond Island (2016)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Wikipedia, Diamond Island (film)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 IMDb, Diamond Island (2016)
- ↑ Cambodia Town Film Festival, CTFF 2017 Official Selection: Diamond Island (archived)
- ↑ The Museum of Modern Art, Diamond Island. 2016. Directed by Davy Chou (2017)