Film
Turn Left Turn Right
Turn Left Turn Right is a 2016 Khmer-language drama by Douglas Seok about a free-spirited young woman in Phnom Penh.[1] Its Khmer title is បត់ឆ្វេងបត់ស្តាំ.[2] The 68-minute feature was Seok's first, and it was made as a Cambodia, South Korea and United States production.[1]
Synopsis
The film opens with a young woman posing among the ruins of Angkor Wat while a 1960s Cambodian pop song plays, a scene the title card calls "Track 1".[2] Kanitha is in her twenties and lives in modern-day Phnom Penh. She works one job after another and lives as she pleases.[3] She dreams of music and dance, while her mother wants her to settle down and marry.[2] Kanitha seems ambivalent about her father's failing health.[3] Her devotion to him comes through when she takes him on a road trip to relive a childhood memory.[2]
Production
Douglas Seok wrote and edited the film as well as directing it.[3] Steve Chen and Douglas Seok produced the film, with Davy Chou and Kavich Neang as associate producers.[4] Park Sungho is also credited as an associate producer.[3] Steve Chen was the director of photography and Sreylin Meas the assistant director.[3] Min Eun Seo and Jean-Baptiste Haehl handled the sound, and Sok Ny was the sound mixer.[2] The cast includes Kanitha Tith as Kanitha, Pov Thavy as her mother, Bo Vanthoeun as her father, and Dy Saveth.[5][3]
The production companies are Anti-Archive and Sea Oak Studios.[5][3] Anti-Archive is a collective of young Asian American and Asian European filmmakers who make Cambodian art films.[2] The Cinema and Cultural Diffusion Department of Cambodia's Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts supported the film.[3] The film is in Khmer with English subtitles.[4]
Its form is structured like an album, using tracks and sounds to shape the film.[3] It weaves Cambodian rock songs together with motifs of family, nature and imagination.[3] Seok calls it a "concept album" that blends music, dance and neo-realism.[2]
Release and reception
The film had its world premiere in the official competition of the Torino Film Festival in Italy in 2016.[3] In 2017 it received the Special Jury Prize at the Festival International de Cinéma Asiatique de Tours in France.[3] Its United States premiere came at the 2017 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, where it played in the International Competition. It screened at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA on May 1, 2017, with Seok in attendance. The festival named it one of its Best of the Fest in OC selections, and it had an encore screening at CGV Buena Park on May 9. The Cambodia Town Film Festival and Traktivist were community partners for the screening.[2]
The film was an official selection of the 2017 Cambodia Town Film Festival in Long Beach, California. It screened with the film Float on September 16, 2017, at the Art Theatre Long Beach.[1] Other screenings included the Cambodia International Film Festival in Phnom Penh, the Bangkok ASEAN Film Festival, the Taipei International Film Festival, Lima Independiente Festival Internacional de Cinema in Peru, the Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival in Malaysia, the Asian Film Festival in Bologna, the Salamindanaw Film Festival in the Philippines and the Hong Kong Independent Film Festival.[3] In 2022, Sa Sa Art Projects presented the film as part of its Village Cinema at documenta fifteen.[6]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Cambodia Town Film Festival, CTFF 2017 Official Selection: TURN LEFT TURN RIGHT (archived)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival 2017, Turn Left Turn Right
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 ANTI-ARCHIVE, TURN LEFT TURN RIGHT
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 web.archive.org, Cambodia Town Film Festival (2017-08-07)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 IMDb, Turn Left Turn Right (2016)
- ↑ documenta fifteen, Village Cinema: Turn Left Turn Right (2022)