New Khmer Cinema: Generative Nostalgia and Community Encounters in the Phnom Penh Film Scene

Abstract

The Cambodian film scene is undergoing a renaissance in the 21st century. This thesis examines the current trends of Cambodian independent cinema, with particular emphasis on community building and film discourse. As younger generations of artists take over, they offer new stories—drawn from their own experiences—which rethink the Cambodian present’s relationship with its past and imagine possibilities for the future. Drawing from ethnographic research, informal conversations, participation in film discussions, film festival programming, and film text analysis, I map an emerging ecosystem of Cambodian cinema that generates community at critical hubs for encounter between artists, audiences, and academics. This thesis is situated in time and place through several Phnom Penh film events and film spaces in the summer of 2022, including a book launch, film festival, cinema community center, and film club. These sites all constitute essential venues for film viewing and discussion, and reveal different practices of relating to cinema within a vibrant and growing film community. Drawing from my observations, I propose a framework of “generative nostalgia” through which to understand the current engagements with 1960s cinema and popular culture in the Cambodian arts today—a past that still lives in the present. Generative nostalgia represents a nostalgic practice grounded in the material conditions of the now, pragmatically pulling past cultural productions and aesthetics into present as a means to bridge the ruptured cultural continuity caused by the Cambodian genocide. It is a nostalgia that looks back only so it can look forward, trading sentimentality for determined practicality. Through close examination of Cambodian independent cinema and the concept of generative nostalgia, this thesis showcases the resiliency, expression, and innovation of Cambodia’s film community.