Film
Gems on the Run
Gems on the Run (Kroab Pich) is a Cambodian heist comedy about two childhood friends, now a police officer and a gangster, on the road with stolen diamonds.[1][2] It was Sok Visal's first feature as director, made with co-director Quentin Clausin in 2013.[3]
Synopsis
At the end of the 1990s, three boys, Rith, Dara and Sovan, promise to stay friends and one day run a restaurant on the beach together.[1][4] Fifteen years later they have drifted apart. Rith, played by Cheky Athiporn, has followed his father's wishes and become a police officer, though he dreams of being a pop singer.[3] He is trying to escape a marriage to the bossy Pretty that his social-climbing parents arranged.[3][5] Sovan, played by Vandy Piseth, has joined one of Cambodia's largest crime syndicates.[3]
Dara's death brings the two back together.[4] The story turns on a botched robbery and three diamonds worth $3 million.[3][6] The two travel together across southern Cambodia, and Rith does not know about the diamonds.[4] The film mixes action and slapstick with themes of social class and friendship.[6]
Production
The feature was produced and shot in Cambodia.[2] Sok Visal, a Cambodian music-video director, made it to help build a Cambodian cinema for Cambodian audiences.[6][1] Clausin, a French director, was making his second Cambodian feature.[6] The budget was about US$80,000, against an average of about US$30,000 for a Cambodian theatrical feature, and production took about six months.[6] The first draft of the script was in English. The Cambodian Department of Cinema and Art reviewed the script and the finished film before approving it.[6] For the bank-robbery scene, shot on a street beside a busy market, authorities helped block the road with police guards.[6]
Release and reception
The film premiered at the Cambodia International Film Festival and went on to festivals across Southeast Asia.[3] On September 6, 2014, it had a single screening as an official selection of the Cambodia Town Film Festival.[2] It was shown at the sixth Luang Prabang Film Festival.[5] Its actors called it Cambodia's first action comedy built around a road trip and said it did very well in Cambodian cinemas.[6] A director's cut was released in 2016, and Hong Kong sales company Asian Shadows handles its international sales.[7][8]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Cambodia Town Film Festival, Matt Dillon, Crocodile Man, and Cambodian Cinema at Cambodia Town Film Fest This Saturday (archived)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Cambodia Town Film Festival, KROAB PICH aka GEMS ON THE RUN – CTFF Officially Selected 2014 (archived)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 IMDb, Sok Visal - News - IMDb (2021-08-20)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Cambodia Film Commission, Gems On The Run
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Cambodia unclassified (December 27, 2015)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Dan At The Movies, 7th OKINAWA INTERNATIONAL MOVIE FESTIVAL : MOVIE REVIEWS AND EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS (PART 2) (2015-04-03)
- ↑ Chinese Shadows, Sok Visal
- ↑ Screen International, Filmart: Asian Shadows picks up Cambodian duo (March 13, 2017)