For the umpteenth time, King-Father declares that he will no longer produce movies

Photo: NorodomSihanouk.info

Translated from French by Luc Sâr

Communiqué from Norodom Sihanouk

Beijing, P.R. of China, 28 November 2008

Being very old, sick and finding myself more and more tired, I have decided, starting from 17 November 2008, to completely and definitively “stop” the production of films, videos, DVDs, short, medium, long films.

Thus, the short DVD “Don’t mock my love,” and the film “Andromak” will remain unfinished.

In this regard, I very affectionately solicit the understanding and the indulgence from my Khmer and foreign “Fans.”

(Signed) N. Sihanouk

King-Father to stop producing movies

Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Former monarch, King Norodom Sihanouk, declared that he decided to stop producing movies because of the recent criticisms made on the shooting of a scene in his movie on 02 January 2008. The scene depicted the evacuation of the population from Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975, and it was criticized as being not too faithful to the event. In an annotation to a royal message dated 06 January, stating: “There are some journalists and kids who criticized me, Norodom Sihanouk, very strongly. Because I always feel worried with cinematography, I am informing our compatriots inside and outside the country, that from now on, I will stop producing movies.” The first act of King Father’s movie, titled Monatio, which depicted the evacuation of the population from Phnom Penh city, near the Independence Monument, some people have criticized the filming, saying that some of the actors wore black clothes like the KR (soldiers), however, their behaviors have nothing to do with the KR.