AS the Cambodian film industry struggles with piracy and film closures, many local filmmakers have trouble finding their place in the industry.
This hasn’t stopped 28-year-old filmmaker Kao Seiha from starting production of a drama that tackles some of Cambodia’s more sensitive subjects.
Kao Seiha’s movie, High School Love’s Story, deals with the tale of a family whose mother abandons her HIV-positive husband.
“It mainly focuses on the situation of people living with HIV/AIDS, gay sex and the discrimination people living with HIV/AIDS endure,” said Kao Seiha at the ceremony marking the beginning of shooting.
People know Bruce Lee, a master of Kung Fu that brought Martial Arts into cinema. then Jacky Chan and Jet Li continues to bring new styles, new ways of fighting in these modern days.
They are famous and popular around the world, people recognized China and Hong Kong as a home of Kung Fu.
Lately Tony Jaa in his Ong Bak brought, what they called Muay Thai, into screen and people can’t deny the movement is deathly efficient and dangerous.
Cambodia also got our own martial art which is born since Angkor period that, as evident, we can see everywhere on the wall of Angkor Wat. We call our martial arts as “Bokator” or alias “Boxkator”.
Bokator is a deathly martial arts on the planet. Bokator is an art to kill not to fight. it’s created for human to fight with wild animals such as lion or tiger. you can imagine how this arts need to be fast and efficient.
Antonio Graceffo
Antonio Graceffo, a martial arts and adventure writer, has came to Cambodia and spent 18 months to look for master of Bokator. He was very lucky to find the last survivor of Bokator Grandmaster Sam Kim Sean.
I have chance to exchange some emails on facebook with Antonio and asked him some questions. You will see what is the different between Bokator and Muay Thai. You can find just below the full interview with Antonio Graceffo.
Meet with Antonio Graceffo
Khmerbird: Hi Antonio. You have learned many martial arts from China, Thailand and others countries, what can you say about Khmer Bokator?
Antonio Graceffo: For my show and my books I have learned a lot of arts in different countries. But the bulk of my fighting or the basis of my personal fighting and training is western boxing, Muay Thai, and Bokator. I like the stand up striking of Muay Thai and Bradal Serey which is included in Bokator. But what I like about Bokator is the grappling. There are no gloves, so you can grab an opponent and take him to the ground and choke or submit him. This is a huge advantage when a Bokator fighter is fighting a Bradal Serey fighter or Muay Thai fighter
Khmerbird: is it not to ask about which one is the best or which one is the original but what are the different points between Muay Thai and Bokator?
Antonio Graceffo: The biggest difference in the fighting is that Bokator doesn’t use gloves, so you can grapple, lock, throw, and submit and choke. But also Bokator has animals and weapons. Another point is that Bokator is a codified system. There are steps, an order ion which you should learn and practice the moves. In Muay Thai, it is very haphazard. Every teacher teaches differently and not everyone learns everything.
Khmerbird: I heard you have a lot difficulty in learning Khmer language, have you improved a lot now? i mean can you speak Khmer?
Antonio Graceffo: Yeah, I learned it fluently and I translate in all of the interviews I do in the videos and movies,. In fact I cold speak it fluently when I wrote that article about having difficulty learning it. I really just meant that article as a joke but people got angry and even threatened to kill me for it. Since then I have done a lot of research and writing about Mon Khmer languages and it was good that I learned Khmer first.
Khmerbird: How did you find Grandmaster Sam Kim Sean? What is the experience you got fro the grandmaster of Khmer martial art?
Antonio Graceffo: I spent about 18 months in Cambodia the first time looking for him and I found him toward the end of my stay. It was dumb luck. I was driving my moto and I saw a small advertising pamphlet taped to a light post. So I called, and went to see him. I started training with him and wrote about him for some magazines. Then, my times was up and I had to leave the country for a while. I came back about a year and a half later and we shot the Bokator movie. Then I left again. And I came back a few months later to do a series of threes shows for History channel, which kept me in the country for several months, I trained with him every day. I also went out to the village and did Khmer wrestling and I always train in Bradal Serey in Cambodia with Paddy Carson, my boxing trainer.
Khmerbird: If there’s screening in Cambodia as planed somewhere end of this year, will you come and join the opening day? Any film project recently with Cambodian production ? How do you feel about Cambodia cinema today?
Antonio Graceffo: I would love to attend the premiere in Phnom Penh if we can. I bet Tim Pek will be able to get a Phnom Penh screening because he managed to get one for his other movie, the red sense, in spite of government opposition. So, if Tim gets a screening date, I will go there. I am working in Vietnam right now, so its not so difficult.
I did a series of Bokator videos this year, in Cambodia, for my show, martial arts odyssey. We are planning more videos as soon as I go back again. even when I am away from Cambodia I work as a consultant for film crews. I have probably helped about ten or more film companies film Bokator. It was featured on the Kill Arman Show and now I am working on that show. We did an episode together in Taiwan and will do one in Thailand next month.
I still want to do a full-length feature film with Bokator but it costs a lot of money and I don’t have a financial sponsor.
Khmerbird: I think we all saw Jet Lee, Jacky chan … Tony Jaa maybe a good Khmer martial art Bokator will introduce Cambodia into cinema. What do feel about this?
Antonio Graceffo: Yeah I would like to make a full length feature using Bokator. It could be the new, new thing in the cinema.
Tim Pek via Andy Brouwer Blog
Meet with Tim Pek
Tim Pek, a filmmaker from Australia, have made a long film under the same title Bokator. I got chance to ask him some questions regarding his film:
Khmerbird: Ong Bak did a lot of success in international market by using what they call Muay Thai. Tony Jaa is a Khmer surin. when i watch the fight scene of Tony when he uses his knee to fight, it look similar to Bokator. I believe your film will be an essential movie to tell the world that Cambodia also got our own martial art which i would say more original than Muay Thai. What can you say about that?
Tim Pek: I seen Ong Bak part 1 & 2, yes i can see that he used a lot of Bokator styles. Its pretty obvious as he’s a Khmer person himself, of cos there were some exageration moves as well. Well we have strong proofs, as you can see heaps of base relief at Angkor wat temples.
Khmerbird: How did you find Grandmaster Sam Kim Sean and Antonio Graceffo? what are the experiences by working with the real Khmer martial arts people?
Tim Pek: I think they both are great, very talented men and very friendly to work with. It was a great previlege to learn some lessons and know them both.
Khmerbird: I heard you plan to release the movie somewhere end of this year, any screening schedule for Cambodia
Tim Pek: Well, we are trying to get it by end of the year, hopefully things went smoothly. There’s still a lot of researches need to be done.
A Hope for Cambodian Cinema
I heard Jacky Chan complained one time that he wanted to make a romantic and love story film but he can’t make any of them. there’s no market for love story film, even it has, it cannot compare to Martial Arts films. The Kung Fu films has a big market, a lot of people could like, enjoy and could understand quickly the film.
To open a new market to Cambodian cinema, Bokator would be the best option for Cambodian filmmaker to start doing good films and find a new market for Cambodia cinema.
I planed to write this post since a week, apology to those who wait and thank you to Antonio Graceffo and Tim Pek for their time to reply my questions.
or all have been converted to Casino or Night Club?
if you ask few people this question: how long haven’t you been to cinema? i believed you hardly get the answer.
it’s sad to live in a city where there’s no cinema. it’s hard to live in a city where there’s no art activity. it’s hard to live without dream.
Phnom Penh is one of await cities for the magic boxes to light up the dream and creativity. this city is waiting for art performance to identity itself from the great and long-time culture. we should organize more activities, to reunite people, to communicate and get more understanding about each other.
life is not only to be lived for making money.
anyway there are few activities organized by CCF and few other organizations, few small cinemas we could find if we really want to. i myself never go to cinema these days. i heard recently there’s a new cinema room The Flickr but i never been there yet.
i probably go to cinema at Sorya this weekend. there’s a new film made by Khmer Mekong Film, which i joined the screen test a year ago. i still want to see the final version of the film.
Vanished is 2nd film by KMF, in form of Thriller about some beautiful girls that started to disappear one by one and we don’t really who is the murder.
the movie plot is fresh, capture the new image of the Phnom penh city and for sure you will scream out of yourself. the production crew did a lot of good work on this one. the film was directed by Tom Som (Cambodian), written by Matthew Baylis (British) and produced by Matthew Robinson (KMF’s founder).
watch out the post production activities of the movie and here after that enjoy the fabulous trailer of Vanished.
this weekend, Saturday Aug 01, 16:00 Bophana Center will show a classic Khmer film in 70s, Crocodile Man or in Khmer we use the title as KraiThong KrorPeu Chharavann,
all Cambodian people know this story, i remember this film when i was young, watching somewhere with no shoe and at a richest house in town where they got Tv and Tape player,
the story and cinematography was amazing if you think about at that time, even Hollywood they got not much special effect either,
the movie was directed by Huoy Keng and Dy Saveth, join the screening this Saturday, you will meed to actress Dy Saveth as well at Bophana Center at the time of screening,
for the fans of CTN, recently they also performed a comedy Lakhon Bassac (Cambodian Folk Opera) based on this famous Khmer legend.
if you missed the program, you got youtube, i just found a link where you can watched and enjoy as well with Mr. Koy group, i will watched it as well tonight,
i can’t wait to see this film, it’s Johnny Depp, my favorite actor and Michael Mann, the director that i will never forget him for creating “HEAT”, a film that could save my life when i was in a very difficult time. i still remember what they say in the “HEAT”:
Do you remember what Jimmy used to say? “You wanna be making moves on the street? Have no attachments. Allow nothing to be in your life that you cannot walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you spot the heat around the corner.” Remember that?
something like that you don’t read it in the book, it’s the real life, what people observed and say it, it really means something.
this quote is really means something to me, in some way that i cannot explain but it’s beautiful.
i watch The Eagle Shooting Heroes since i was young, it was a funny movie in my memory. i just learned that the film was shooting at the same period back to back with Ashes of Time, shared almost the same cast.
it was co-produced by Wong Kar-wai under Jet Tone production, the film was released in 1993, a year before Ashes of Time. it’s a funny silly movie but you will enjoy it a lots.
there are a lot of famous Chinese film stars joined the cast such as: Tony Leung (In the mood for love, 2046 …), Leslie Cheung (Days Of Being Wild, Happy Together …), Jacky Cheung (my Hong Kong favorite Chinese singer) and many mores.
in this movie Jacky Cheung sing a very funny song, then even you don’t understand Chinese, i am sure you will laugh a lot. this is something i want to see in the movie, a simple happy moment that we can have while watching a movie or going to cinema,
have you been in any cinema lately? me it have been quite long time now that i never go to cinema. it’s quite sad but it’s true that in Phnom Penh, we should have more cinema.
ashes of time, a film by Wong Kar-wai, is not about martial arts, Wong Kar-wai wanted to make a film about martial arts, but the result of his works are not pointed essentially about fighting scene or special effect, he always ask the question: how wonderful if we could go back to the past?
ASHES OF TIME is inspired by characters from Louis Cha’s martial arts novel The Eagle-Shooting Heroes. It centers on a man named Ouyang Feng. Since the woman he loved rejected him, he has lived in the western desert, hiring skilled swordsmen to carry out contract killings.
His wounded heart has made him pitiless and cynical, but his encounters with friends, clients and future enemies make him conscious of his solitude…
my friend, you must be around 40. in 40 years, you must have come to hate someone, someone who would wronged you, somebody whom you would have liked to kill but you did not dare or you were too lazy.
well, murder is a very simple business, i have this friend who is skilled in martial arts. he’s been a little low on money lately, pay him a reasonable price and he will kill for you !
think about it.
that was how Ouyang Feng advertising about his killing business, i first saw the movie in 2001, at the same time when IN THE MOOD OF LOVE released in France. They show all films of Wong Kar-wai. i remember the quote from the movie, how people could advertising about their business in that such a cruel and easy way?
Ouyang Feng was always talking about his business of killing people, he never talk about love, what’s wrong with him? every year a friend visit him and on a particular year, his friend bring a bottle of wine. since that time that i know in China, there’s a kind of wine, when you drink it, you will forget the past!
what she gave me was a bottle of wine, this wine is called “a life without concern”. this friend says that this wine erases your memories. i did not believe in it, how could such a wine exist? she says that the major problem of man is that he remembers. how wonderful it would be to forget the past. each day like a new beginning, wouldn’t be great?
ashes of time is a story of hidden love, there’s no word to express how much we love a person, we always missed the opportunity to confess, we always face impossibility to explain, love is a content. we don’t know who is going to be win but we should know something for sure, we both are the loser since the beginning.
it took me 8 years to get the DVD of ashes of time, it’s a redux version made by my favorite director for all time Wong Kar-wai, it was an exciting moment for me to re watch the film, there are still many things coming to my reflection during the film projection, i re watch it so many time already, it also took me something to write a review here.
ashes of time will show the matter of fact that the 3 words “I LOVE YOU” doesn’t really matter to us, the important thing is to keep the one you love near you, to take care of time to forgive him to love him with all your heart,
the last chapter is an exiting moment, a remarkable scene you might never forget in your whole life. The woman who jilted Ouyang by marrying his brother. She is ill and alone with her young son and her decision to spurn Ouyang Feng now causes her grief. Huang reveals that his yearly meeting with Ouyang was a pretext for Huang to visit the woman every year, bringing her news of her true love.
do you know what the most important thing is in my life?
nothing is important to me now, i though the words i love you really mattered. i thought they meant for lifetime commitment. but looking back, nothing really matters. because everything changes. i thought i was the winner, until one day i looked into the mirror, and i saw the face of a loser. i failed to have the person i loved most … to be with me in my best years.
starting from the beginning, giving you doubts and the last scene explain you well about everything and the main plot of ashes of time, with a wonderful soundtrack, Bygone Love Composed by Frankie Chan. i really enjoy the music, it’s the best moment in my life to got chance to see such a wonderful movie,
i rarely heard the name of Jaco Van Dormael but i watched a French movie “Le Huitième Jour” or The 8th Day, i like the movie a lot and it was in fact directed by the same Belgian film director Jaco Van Dormael.
i learn a sweet song that i still remember from the movie “Le Huitième Jour”: Ma mère, Vous êtres la plus belle femme du monde. in english means: Mother, You are the most beautiful woman in the world.
Nemo Nobody leads an ordinary existence at his wife’s side, Elise, and their 3 children until the day when reality skids and he wakes up as an old man in the year 2092.
At 120, Mr. Nobody is both the oldest man in the world and the last mortal of a new mankind where nobody dies anymore. But that doesn’t seem to interest or bother him very much.
The only questions that preoccupy him in the present is whether he lived the right life for himself, loved the woman whom he was supposed to love, and had the children whom he was meant to have… now his purpose is to find the right answer.
sometime we think we can’t go back and spend a lot of time to make the right choice. but if we look above everything, the important is to live whatever the decision have been made.
Jaco Van Dormael stated about his movie:
My producers don’t like me saying it, but it’s really a big-budget experimental film about the many different lives one person can live, depending on the choices he makes. It’s about the infinite possibilities facing any person. There are good or bad choices in life. It’s simply that each choice will create another life for you. What’s interesting is to be alive.
you can watch the first trailer of Mr. Nobody here
i wanted one time write a serious story about corruption in police station, school and hospital.
i still keep it in my mind but it’s not a good time to write it yet, i need some more time which i don’t have it now.
corruption is a problem in Cambodia, it’s a subject very interesting to explore, to analyze what is the real cause of the corruption: system or individual ?
i still not yet have enough document to write about,
there’s another story that interesting me a lot of the floating village in Kampong Chhang, people live on water and move their house from place to place from season to season …
these two subjects have been in my mind since so far… i need to work and spend a lot of time to write. until today i still have no time for writing, no time to think and create the characters but maybe one day i got time for it.
Hong Kong has just released a new film “I Corrupt All Cops”, which is based on the true story of Hong Kong police station during the 60s and 70s and the amount of money involved in corruption amounted to 100 million.
the film have been released few day ago and i am sure you will got your copy soon somewhere in local market here.
don’t miss this one. find first the trailer of I corrupt All Corps
Jeon Ji-hyun recently did the press conference for her last film Blood: The Last Vampire in Singapore.
it’s her first Hollywood movie and more over it’s an action one that required a lot of high action with the wire and everything. i believe she did a lot of effort for the movie,
Source : Phnom Penh Post
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this weekend, Saturday Aug 01, 16:00 
i can’t wait to see this film, it’s Johnny Depp, my favorite actor and Michael Mann, the director that i will never forget him for creating “HEAT”, a film that could save my life when i was in a very difficult time. i still remember what they say in the “HEAT”:
i watch The Eagle Shooting Heroes since i was young, it was a funny movie in my memory. i just learned that the film was shooting at the same period back to back with 
ashes of time, a film by Wong Kar-wai, is not about martial arts, Wong Kar-wai wanted to make a film about martial arts, but the result of his works are not pointed essentially about fighting scene or special effect, he always ask the question: how wonderful if we could go back to the past?
i rarely heard the name of Jaco Van Dormael but i watched a French movie “
i wanted one time write a serious story about corruption in police station, school and hospital. 
