Last year, the rock and roll documentary “Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten” debuted in Phnom Penh. The film chronicles the golden age of Cambodian rock, before the country fell to the Khmer Rouge, which killed many musicians.
Now, the producers of the film have launched a Kickstarter campaign to bring surviving musicians to New York, where the film will make its US debut in April.
Cambodia developed a unique style of rock and roll, influenced by US armed forces radio in neighboring Vietnam and infused with the country’s spirit of post-colonial independence. The Khmer Rouge eradicated it, executing musicians along with other intellectuals.
Some survived, however, and film producer John Pirozzi wants to bring them to New York, to play in an encore performance to a show they performed in Phnom Penh in 2014. The aim is to bring musicians to play for the film’s debut in Manhattan, April 24.
“Having the surviving musicians perform and be available for press and Q&A session to tell their own story in the US would mean so much to them and to Cambodian music and history in general,” Pirozzi said in a statement. “Despite the Khmer Rouge’s brutal attempt to extinguish all individual artistic expression, the music survived and continues to inspire!”
