For the first time, Rithy Panh returns to his own story of life under the Khmer Rouge, in which part of his family died of hunger and exhaustion. With the help of painted clay figures, he reenacts scenes from his memory for which he has no images – life in Phnom Penh before the Khmer Rouge came to power, the blossoming Cambodian pop and film culture, later the black uniform clothing and the tiniest forms of resistance. Contrasted with documentary film material and a dense, shimming soundtrack, he recounts both death and survival, as well as what cinema is capable of.
(arsenal kino)