Day Eleven
40° Celsius! That’s 104 Fahrenheit - a fine temperature to make a movie! 6am and we wound our way to Peace City 2 in the comfort of Thyneon’s steel carriage once again, shooting the long road from Phnom Penh to the satellite town in the pink-hued chaos of early morning rush-hour.
The more time we spend in PC2, the more life, spirit, activity, and hope we see behind the dry, barren emptiness that clouded our first impressions.
Narrative backbone was the order of the day - a.k.a a series of static shots capturing a day in the life of PC2 (FYI: it’s abuzz in the early morning, then a short, hot lull followed by a burst of noon-time noise and activity as the factory girls are let out for lunch, followed by dozy afternoons ;-)
Post-siesta trip to the karaoke bar via the dentist, then back to our makeshift office in the market. We got talking to this elderly chappai player who studied with the über-don/ Ray Charles of Cambodia Kong Nay. Our old gent used to live in The Building but was evicted a couple of years ago and moved to PC2 with his family. He introduced us to his beautiful daughter who is a super-accomplished dancer (traditional Khmer) but started working in the garment factory on the compound just two days ago in urgent need of cash…
There was a festive spirit in the city today: the opera-to-go came to town, and with it a rickety but rather splendid mini fairground for the kiddies. Good times in PC2!
Wrapped the day with an inspired writing session - got a double narration grand masterplan which will blow your socks off. Strong filmic vs. hyper-image interactivity. See to believe (just give us a wee while to finish it for you). Zoom zoom!
