Boomtown Babylon

Boomtown Babylon is an infinite global web project of interconnected one-shot stories from slums and squatter communities in cities around the world.

We spent half March-half April in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, making the pilot. This is the diary that shares our spills and thrills. And when I say "we", I mean myself, producer Lotje Sodderland and the director, French filmmaker and all-round superbot Vincent Moon.

Made possible courtesy of charming executive producer Arnaud Dressen / Honkytonk Films (Paris).

See we fly!

Day Four

Today we went straight to the top x 2: first the chief monk who is the (suitably intimidating) don of Boeung Kak, to ask if we could hang out in his pagoda during our production. He said “well yes, but only on the other side where I can’t see you”! It’s an incredible spot, kind of a raised platform in a temple surrounded by cremation turrets (I was too excited to take a pic). Then we rushed off to “THE COMPANY” a.k.a the people behind the forced evictions - in search of that crucial letter of permission. They wouldn’t even let us in the carpark and sent us post-haste to the municipality. Nobody home. Yawn! So we sneaked into this ridiculously tall building which towers rather obnoxiously, way above all the others - and got a mind-blowing view of the metropolis in all it’s sky-scraper-heavy glory, including a first proper view of our beloved Boeung Kak. Tomorrow 8am you can catch us at the municipality in our Friday best!

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