Competition to produce King Jayarvaman VII film

Friday, January 04, 2008
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

After the unsuccessful attempt by a Thai film producer in its request to produce a movie on King Jayavarman VII, two local groups are vying to produce the movie on this famous Angkor-era king. One of the groups belongs to Moeung Son, the advisory chairman of the Khmer Civilization Committee, who wants to produce this movie on the famous king, and the other group is the Cambodian Writers Association. Kong Kantara, the director of the department of culture and cinematography of the Ministry of Culture, said that he received the request made by Sim Vanna, the chairman of the Cambodian Writers Association last week, to start producing this film on King Jayavarman VII. However, Kong Kantara said that he cannot allow two companies to produce the same movie at the same time. Moeung Son said that he does not have any objection if the Cambodian Writers Association wants to produce this movie, then he will pull out his request.

Cambodia wants to film the life of King Jayavarman VII

Statue of King Jayavarman VII

Monday, December 31, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

After it was recently learnt that a Thai film producer wanted to film a documentary about the history of King Jayavarman VII, the Association of Cambodian Writers (ACW) presided by Oknha Sim Vanna, sent an application to the cinematography department of the Ministry of Culture, to request an authorization to produce this film by itself instead. The Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper quoted Kong Kantara, the director of the cinematography and art promotion department of the Ministry of Culture, saying recently that the ACW sent in an application to his department to request the authorization to produce a film about King Jayavarman VII. Kong Kantara said that, currently, his department is conducting a research on the history of King Jayavarman VII, however, he said that this research will take a long time to complete before a movie script can be produced. Regarding the cost of production, Kong Kantara said that, based on his own estimates, the video filming of such production would cost between $3 to 5 million, and if it would be filmed in 35-mm format, the cost would be between $5 to 10 million.