“My Village at Sunset,” the first film produced by former king Norodom Sihanouk following his return from exile in 1991, was screened Tuesday at a Washington, DC, university.
The film, which stars the current king, Nordom Sihamoni, Sihanouk’s son, was screened at George Washington University and introduced by former ambassador to the UN Sichan Siv.
“‘My Village at Sunset’ is a love story about a well-educated young Khmer doctor who gives up a privileged life in France and returns to Cambodia,” the former ambassador told VOA Khmer.
The young surgeon spends his time working in a hospital, helping landmine victims, and slowly becomes entangled in a love triangle with a distant cousin and a nurse. He is eventually driven to join a mine-disposal team and dies in the countryside.
“The movie is terrific, and the scenery is beautiful,” said Joselynn Barber, a resident of nearby Arlington, Va. “I was fascinated to see the Cambodian sky [and] Angkor Wat, and the story itself was startling.”
Some Cambodian-Americans, unable to return to their home country, expressed admiration and adoration for the simple lives of the Cambodians and the beauty of the distant country.
“The movie revealed an inside perspective of Khmer culture, native music and traditional wedding,” said Narin Jameson, who lives in the state of Maryland.
The Cambodian Buddhist Association of Maryland plans to sponsor a showing of the film in Silver Spring, Md., for public viewing.