Exploring Phnom Penh's wild side

WEEKLY

The

Thursday - March 31, 2016

Dancing in the shadows of the past

Vol: 01 | Issue: 30

WEEKLY

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THISWEEK

THURSDAY MARCH 31, 2016

Phnom Penh

Publisher T. Mohan

EDITOR: James Reddick James.Reddick@khmertimeskh.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Claire Baker-Munton, Alan Parkhouse, Sotheavy Nou

ART DIRECTION:

Mary Shelistilyn Clavel mary@khmertimeskh.com 010 678 324

Urban Art

NEWSROOM:

A look at local talent PAGE 3

No. 7 Street 252 Khan Daun Penh Phnom Penh 12302 Kingdom of Cambodia 023 221 660

Urban Wildlife

PRINTER: TST Printing House

In search of the natural side of Phnom Penh PAGES 4 & 5

DISTRIBUTION: Kim Steven Yoro 016 869 302 kimsteven@khmertimeskh.com

AVAILABLE AT: Monument Books No. 53 Street 426 Phnom Penh info@monument-books.com 023 217 6177

The Weekly is published 48 times a year in Phnom Penh. No content may be reproduced in any form without prior consent of the publisher.

Cover Photo: Colin Grafton

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Friday Farewell Party @Simone, Street 93, Boeung Kak, 7 PM, Free After two years in Boeung Kak, Simone is making a sudden departure. Join them for their last party, featuring Cambo Disco Club, Sequence and Gorimma.

Dancers

Photographer Colin Grafton’s improbable exhibition PAGES 6 & 7

Banh Mi

The Vietnamese staple done with style PAGES 10 & 11

Saturday One World Music Festival @The Exchange, 28 Street 47, 4 PM-late, $6 This mini-festival showcases a range of local rock in the comfortable courtyard of The Exchange. The bands include Bokor Mountain Magic, The Kampot Playboys, Conrad Keely Band, Sin Sethakol and other Special guests.

8,000+ copies every week

Not to Miss:

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ADVERTISING SALES:

Fabien Mouret

Women shield themselves from the sun at the funeral for former CPP President Chea Sim last June.

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Khiev Chanthara, Aim Valinda 096 217 7770 | 012 244 982 chanthara@khmertimeskh.com valinda.aim@khmertimeskh.com

REGULARS Around Town FILMS, EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS The best listings in town PAGES 8 & 9

“The small photo on the front caught my eye and I recognized something very familiar about it. The poor quality black and white print was about the size of a postage stamp, and I realized it was a picture I had taken 33 years before.”

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THURSDAY MARCH 31, 2016

The Future

By Sotheavy Nou

O

r i g i n a l l y intended to change the local perspective of street art from a form of vandalism to one of beauty, the Cambodian Urban Art Festival is especially relevant this year since city hall’s controversial move to paint over a mural at the white building in December. The whitewashing of

a portrait of seamstress Moeun Thary by American artist Miles MacGregor, also known as “El Mac,” spurred a debate about the boundaries of public art.

Since then, much of Cambodia’s street art has been erased from the city’s walls.

French artist Théo Vallier, who is leading the program with Chifumi Tättowiermeister, explained that unlike last year the murals for the festival will have to be painted on private

A man walks by a mural by Theo Vallier, Chifumi, Mike and Strange Rabbit.

rather than public walls because of the government’s new stance on street art.

The two day event will include workshops and a

tuk tuk tour of all the murals painted by participating artists.

Among the international crew, four Cambodian artists will also be highlighted. The Weekly

Kimchean Koy Daniel ‘Strange Rabbit’ Ou At only 20 years old, this Cambodian artist already owns a premium art supply store while continuing to study calligraphy.

He was inspired last year by the international graffiti artist “Retna” to try to paint a wall for a friend’s birthday party.

Ou grew up learning photography and film, influenced by the fame of his father, comedian Ou Ponnarath. Using those creative skills, he did freelance commissions and worked as an extra hand with a wedding photography agency so he could save enough money to open a shop for artists, which he called Burners.

Since then, he has added depth to his work by studying the works of old Khmer artisans of calligraphy who were

wiped out during the Khmer Rouge. “They used to do sign paintings.

Those guys were really good at doing letters – neat and clean,” he said.

Although he moved to Cambodia from America at 11, he only writes in English. He never mastered writing Chinese or Khmer, but instead fell in love with the art of language – embracing the world of fountain pens, chisel tips and paint brushes.

Embedded into his art are proverbs – a personal reminder to himself about how desires for the material world can his worst enemy. He knows that his work may be painted over one day, but has learned to accept the life he chose.

“It’s a street artist life, you got to stay up,” he says.

Going by only Koy, this 18-year-old from Takeo participated in the last festival. Currently in his senior year of Logos High

School, he hopes to study abroad in America next year for university.

Clad in an old shirt and white tennis shoes caked

Striving to make a name for himself in the art world, Orpov “Mike” Sovivorth has been studying decor at the famous Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA) for the past three years.

Introduced to the world of street art through a friend in his first year at RUFA, he only started painting eight months ago. Known for creating different ways of writing Khmer and

David ‘Davido’ Myers

recently sat down with the four local artists to discuss how they became involved with street art. For a full schedule of events, see our listings on Page 9.

with splattered paint, Koy was busy finishing a mural at The Mansion with his Logos classmate and friend, Davido. Koy says his latest work – painted in bright blue and red, is meant to inspire the imagination of its viewers and showcase the free form of art. He says that many locals are confused about his abstract artwork, a change from the traditional realistic art that the older generation appreciates.

Koy remembers

English words in a calligraphic style, he collaborates on commissioned pieces with Strange Rabbit.

To his dismay, many locals who see his art often scold him and his partner for painting on people’s walls. “Even if we drew nicely and cleanly, people would say we were messing up the walls. It makes it difficult,” he says.

Photo: Fabien Mouret

of Urban Art

when an older man approached them while they were painting a collaborative piece with other artists. A construction painter himself, the older man understood what the boys were trying to paint and tried to advise them on how to make the art more realistic.

Koy knows it will take more time for people to learn more about street art, but for now he wants to have fun. “It doesn’t always have to be serious,” he says.

Orpov ‘Mike’ Sovivorth

Since debuting at last year’s festival, 18-year-old Davido is still trying to balance school with his painting life.

Inspired by Picasso and Cubism, he loves working with animals from a geometric perspective. “Everything here is organic,” he said, adjusting his black rim glasses. “So when I look at it, I try to create [a piece] with triangles or straight edge shapes.”

“I want to open the eyes of the people to different works of art,” he says, adding that the majority of Cambodians have never set foot in a gallery. “Street art can be free form and can be for anybody. Art doesn’t have to be in the gallery or private places: if it’s in the public then it’s everywhere.” the

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Exploring

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or many of us greeted daily by a cacophony of engines and bulldozers, it is easy to forget that Cambodia is still teeming with wildlife despite the concrete chaos around us.

With its dearth of parks and accessible green spaces, the capital’s nickname of ‘the Penh’ seems apt. This inaccessibility of nature could have its consequences, says author and journalist Richard Louv. In his 2005 book The Last Child in The Woods, he cites research that has found that lack of time spent in natural areas may contribute to a range of problems, from attention disorders to a dampening of creativity, a condition called Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD).

Fearing the onset of such a condition, I wanted to see what remained of the natural world in the country’s capital. While Phnom Penh doesn’t offer the escape to be found outside the city limits, there is indeed wildlife to be explored if you know where to look.

The days of ceremonial elephants lumbering the streets are long gone, but today developers aren’t the only ones seeking better opportunities in

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the capital; some species are more at home here than in rural areas.

But besides urbanized hens, Independence Park’s enterprising rats and the ubiquitous house geckos, what other wildlife can be seen in the capital? I called on Senglim Suy, the founder of Birds of Cambodia Education and Conservation (BCEC) to find out. He founded BCEC because he began to notice the prevalence of birdlife diminishing. “When I was young, the variety of wildlife near my home town, between the Mekong and the Tonle Sap river in Kampong Cham, was amazing.

When I visited in the 2000s a lot of this wildlife had disappeared,” he says.

Still, Suy says that the city’s residents can find nature in their midst. While Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center 40 kilometers southwest of Phnom Penh is perhaps the obvious choice to see rare animals, according to Suy you can see many birds, including several species of woodpecker and the formidable stork-like Lesser Adjutant in areas surrounding the Center without ever setting foot inside. Likewise, you can take in timeless scenes of buffalo bathing in the Mekong, as well

as rare sightings of Cambodian horses, from Silk Island’s sandy beach, dubbed ‘Phnom Penh’s Club Med.’ But you don’t need to cross the Tonle Sap river to glimpse the city’s wealth of wildlife.

Cambodia supports a staggering 553 bird species, of which two are endemic, or found only in the Kingdom. One of these, the Cambodian Tailorbird, was recently discovered on a construction site in Phnom Penh, much to the astonishment of Wildlife Conservation Society’s Senior Technical Advisor, Simon Mahood, one of the researchers who discovered and described the species in 2013.

“The modern discovery of an un-described bird species within the limits of a large populous city – not to mention 30 minutes from my home – is extraordinary,” Mahood said in 2013. “The discovery indicates that new species of birds may still be found in familiar and unexpected locations.”

The bird can be spotted at the Killing Fields, 8 kilometers south of the city centre and at other sites within the city limits.

Less extraordinary but equally captivating are the resident and visiting birds at Wat Phnom.

Lyle’s flying foxes hang from a tree.

A Tokay gecko catching a longhorn beetle.

Photo; Stephane De Greef

Claire Baker-Murton searches for a taste of nature amid the urban chaos of the capital.

Photo: Merlin Tuttle

Phnom Penh’s wild side

According to Mahood, the landmark, with its leafy trees, is a “good place to see birds in spring and autumn [when] anything can turn up.” Amongst these are the beautiful Yellow-rumped Flycatcher and, surprisingly, the Red-whiskered Bulbul, which usually lives in cool climates at high elevations. Suy suspects that someone previously kept the species in captivity, later releasing it in the city. Similarly, diminutive birds are displayed in cages and released upon payment by well-meaning visitors. But unprepared for life in the wild, they have little choice but to return to their cages.

Spectacular specimens, like the Blossom-headed parakeet, can also be spotted here; if

the magnificent green-yellow feathers and pink heads of the males don’t get your attention, their gregarious and raucous calls will. The ravishing Little Green Bee-eater may also make an appearance to devour its favourite insects.

While at Wat Phnom, take a peak at the trees across the way.

They’re home to a 1,800 strong colony of fruit bats, called Lyle flying foxes. With endearing doglike faces and wingspans of up to 1.5 meters, by day they hang out, routinely fanning themselves to cool the blood circulating within their huge wings. At night, the colony takes off, foraging “in rural areas rather than the city itself, due to the greater availability of fruit,” suspects Neil Furey, a

THURSDAY MARCH 31, 2016

Photo: Wildlife Alliance

A macaque munches on a piece of fruit.

Photo ;Ashish John

A Cambodian tailorbird, which has been seen in Phnom Penh in recent years.

bat researcher and editor of the Cambodian Journal of Natural History. So, if supper is elsewhere, why do they live in Phnom Penh?

“Ultimately because they know where they are safest,” Furey says. “[Roosting] on the grounds of an official site … confers some measure of protection.”

The larger fruit bats or megabat species, which are better known for their risk of transmitting disease than for their positive attributes, are in fact key pollinators, Furey says.

While foraging for food, fruit bats help propagate “many economically significant crops in Southeast Asia, including durian,” he says. Other tropical plant species are entirely dependent on bats for the distribution of their

seeds, and it’s little wonder that recently published research from the Royal University of Phnom Penh suggests that bat guano is more effective than chemical fertilizer for eggplant, jackfruit and longan plants.

Across town, another wildlife viewing opportunity presents itself on a nightly basis in one of the city’s least picturesque areas. Insect-eating bats in the hundreds can be seen emerging from roosts beneath bridges along the ‘stinky river’ at dusk.

The sky bristles with activity at this time, with swifts returning and bats setting forth. These expert hunters can be seen in action nightly around bodies of water in the city where they pursue the multitudes of insects

which come to life at night. Good spots to see them include the ponds at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) and above the Himawari Hotel swimming pool throughout the dry season, according to photographer Jim Heston.

They perform magnificent hunting feats, first using echolocation to hone in on prey at the water’s surface, then swooping down to clutch them with their hind legs, and finally jack-knifing to enjoy the fruits of their labours, all while swimmers do their laps.

So next time you take aim at a mosquito, spare a thought for often-maligned bats, the primary consumers of nocturnal insects, with some species eating 100 percent of their body weight in insects each day. According to 2011 research, this incredible organic pest control service has a global value somewhere between $54 billion and $1 trillion. *** eckos also deserve a mention for their voracious appetite.

The blue and orange giant gecko’s nocturnal ‘Tohkay’ calls are omnipresent throughout the city. According

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to local superstition, the number of the gecko’s calls is a predictor of good or bad luck, with odd numbers above five thought to be particularly auspicious.

Calling less than five times, it is believed, is a sign that the gecko has a swollen liver, which impedes its calling ability. Relief of the condition lies in the symbiotic cooperation of the “Liver Snake,” or Golden Tree snake, which an afflicted gecko will instinctively open its mouth to, permitting the snake to eat part of its liver and thus restoring calling ability and stamina. Scientifically, this theory does not appear to hold up. As Ministry of Environment herpetologist Neang Thy says, “the snake would eat the whole gecko if it could.”

Last on the journey through the city’s wildlife are its most notorious creatures, the longtailed macaques.

Regularly spied frolicking around the temples at Angkor, macaques also have a presence around Wat Phnom, although not in the same numbers as before 2011, when their aggressive behavior towards visitors prompted their forced relocation to local wildlife centers. One security guard reportedly implored authorities to remove only the larger

perpetrators and retain the small ones, as they were a favorite for tourists.

This clash between macaques and tourists is not the only struggle between the man-made and natural world. Not surprisingly, the rapid development taking place is “likely to lead to declines in some species,” Mahood says.

“This could be offset by creating more leafy urban parks and local wetland reserves on the edge of town, which would also become places for people to enjoy nature.”

Whether such suggestions will be taken to heart remains to be seen. In the meantime, enthusiasts like Suy are dedicating themselves to work which they hope will “change minds”.

“By documenting wildlife, especially birds… people living in cities and rural areas can begin to appreciate our wealth in natural heritage,” he says.

Suy intends to publish a book with images of more than 100 bird species to be freely distributed in schools around Cambodia. “I hope that [children] start to love the birds and wildlife,” he says “I show them in the hope that [one day] they are able to go to the forest, to see with their own eyes.” the

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In 1973, amateur photographer Colin Grafton took a series of portraits of Khmer classical dancers.

Unexpectedly, he reunited with them 40 years later.

Photo: Colin Grafton

Dancing in the Shadows of the Past

By Alan Parkhouse

W

hen Colin Grafton went to a rare performance of Khmer classical dance in Phnom Penh in 1973 and took some photographs, he never thought that more than 40 years later he’d not only be staging an exhibition of those photos but reconnecting with the dancers.

The story behind Grafton’s exhibition, which runs at the Bophana Center from April 1 to 28, is just as incredible as the stories the dancers tell with their movements.

From March 1973 until early April in 1975, Grafton worked as a teacher at the English Teachers’ Association Phnom Penh, and between teaching was an amateur photographer with a love of music and dance. Because of the war raging in the country at the time, there had been no performances of any kind for some time, but a few months after Grafton arrived there was a rare Khmer classical dance performance at the National Theater of Phnom Penh.

“It was the first and only performance I saw in my two years in Cambodia,” he says. “It was wartime and even the dance practice at the Royal Palace had been cancelled after rockets landed nearby.”

Grafton, who is British, was one of only two foreigners present. He shot one film, or 20 exposures, without a flash or a tripod and wandered into the dressing room backstage and took a few photos of some dancers preparing for the performance.

“Nobody seemed to notice me – they were too busy getting ready,” he says.

“After that I shot the rest of the film in the auditorium, resting the camera on

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anything at hand, or backed up against the wall to the right side of the stage.

About half the pictures came out okay.”

The following year, in 1974, Grafton was asked to take photos of a young Khmer woman who worked as a secretary at his school but was also a dancer. She bought the roll of film for his camera before posing for shots in a silk dancer’s outfit, making classical dance movements.

He had two sets of prints made, kept one and gave the other set to her, along with the negatives. Grafton left Cambodia on April 7, 1975, 10 days before the Khmer Rouge entered the city, and he didn’t see her again for 40 years. During that time the prints haunted him.

But the story doesn’t end there, and unlike so many stories from Cambodia’s past this one has a happy ending. “I met her again on January 27, 2015,” he said.

The Englishman has tracked down many of the dancers he photographed on that memorable night at the National Theater of Phnom Penh in 1973.

The last of the dancers Grafton finally met, on March 2015, was Menh Kossony, who is now a Secretary of State at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. Her rise didn’t surprise the young English photographer, who first saw her at the theater in 1973.

“I had photographed her in the dressing room at the National Theater in 1973, and later on stage she was the lead dancer in the Buong Suong dance. She was dazzling, resplendent in her white silk costume adorned with silver decorations,” he recalled.

Like many artists and city dwellers, Kossony was targeted when the Khmer Rouge seized control two years later, and

Photo Colin Grafton

Young girls learned to dance and staged performances in the Kao-I-Dang refugee camp in T

Om Yavanna gets ready for a performance in Phnom Penh in 1973.

was considered to be one of the “new people” inferior to those who had been living in the countryside. For the first three

months she survived on one cob of corn per day while ploughing fields. Kossony cooked for the group she was assigned

Photo ;Colin Grafton

THURSDAY MARCH 31, 2016

Dancers on stage at the National Theater of Phnom Penh in 1973.

Photo Colin Grafton

Thailand in the 1980s.

In the Kao-I-Dang refugee camp in Thailand in the 1980s, Cambodians kept the traditions and culture alive.

to, despite a lack of rations, looked after cattle, became a seamstress and did what she had to do to survive.

At the end of Khmer Rouge rule, she returned to Phnom Penh and started dancing again, eventually becoming a teacher, a professor at the School of Fine Arts and in 2013 a Secretary of State.

In April 1975, Grafton boarded one of the last flights out of Phnom Penh, and eventually settled in Japan where he found work once again as a teacher, but he’d managed to take all his photos and negatives with him, stored away in the house he shared with his Japanese wife.

Many years later the story of the photos took a strange twist. * * *

I

n 2008 Grafton went for lunch at a Cambodian restaurant in Machida, a suburb in Tokyo. In the restaurant, among a pile of magazines, he saw a leaflet advertising a Khmer classical dance performance, and a photo caught his attention.

“The small photo on the front caught my eye and I recognized something very familiar about it. The poor quality black and white print was about the size of a postage stamp, and I realized it was a picture I had taken 33 years before.”

Enraged that someone had stolen his photo, Grafton grabbed the leaflet and rushed home, where he asked his Japanese wife Keiko to translate the leaflet and to call the organizers of the performance to

ask where they got the photo.

The organizer of the show was Hitomi Yamanaka, a Japanese woman with a passion for Khmer classical dance, who told Grafton’s wife her Cambodian dance teacher had given her the photo. The Cambodian dancer had flown to Japan that week to do a performance at a temple near Grafton’s house. Yamanaka almost went bankrupt getting her to Japan, but was so dedicated to Khmer classical dance she took the risk.

A meeting was arranged at the performance and the Cambodian dance teacher turned out to be Om Yavanna, one of the dancers Grafton had photographer at the 1973 performance. After the show, Yavanna told Grafton and his wife her story.

After the fall of Phnom Penh she was forced to leave the city like everyone else.

She spent the next few years working in the fields and building dykes and dams near Battambang. She injured her leg, but there was no proper treatment for it.

After the arrival of the Vietnamese army and the liberation from the Khmer Rouge, she went with her sister to Siem Reap where they worked at the Grand Hotel. There, she and her sister presented their first impromptu post-Pol Pot dance performance before an audience of Vietnamese soldiers billeted in the hotel.

Miraculously, she was still able to dance through the pain in her leg. The mystery of how the photograph survived took time to solve, and is one of many remarkable stories told in the Bophana Center’s exhibition. Despite the Khmer Rouge’s brutal treatment of artists, somehow many of the dancers Grafton photographed survive. Each has an incredible story to tell.

One of them was the secretary of his old school, Prum Sisaphantha, who asked him to photograph her in 1974. When the population was marched out of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge in 1975, she hid the negatives in her house but kept the prints with her.

Phantha and her family were sent to Battambang by train, and later to Pursat to work on a dam. She left the pictures with her sister, wrapped in plastic and hidden in a mosquito net. It was a women’s group so there were no men, but one day Khmer Rouge soldiers came to check the houses while the women were at work.

When her sister returned from the fields, she found the photos in the mud, torn to pieces and destroyed. When Phantha returned from Pursat and heard what had happened, she cried. Her sister stopped her, fearing the Khmer Rouge might kill her. She had kept the photos hidden for three years, along with her ID card from the school, a risky keepsake.

When the Vietnamese chased the Khmer Rouge out, Phantha and her sister rushed back to Phnom Penh, only to find their house in ruins, the books and negatives reduced to ashes by an artillery shell.

When she met Grafton again in Phnom Penh last year, he had some copies of his original prints and handed them to her.

Following the Vietnamese invasion, Grafton took photos in the Khao-IDang refugee camp in Thailand, where Khmer dancers and children would stage makeshift performances. Conditions in the border camp were tough, but the older dancers gave lessons to children and teenagers.

He describes his exhibition at the Bophana Center, simply titled “Dancers”, as a story of hardship, perseverance and survival, and the renaissance of the dance that is the spirit of Cambodia.

“Dancers” opens this Friday at 6 PM at Bophana Center, 64 Street 200. the

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Around Town EVENTS Thu, March 31 Thu, March 31 Rocky Horror Picture Show @Department of Performing Arts Theatre, Street 173 off Mao Tse Toung, 7:30 PM, $10

The Phnom Penh Players present the gender-bending classic Live Music @Riverhouse Bistro, 157 Sisowath Quay, 8:30 PM

Miss Sarawan Acoustic Trio Epic Pub Quiz @Show Box, 11 Street 330, 8:00 PM:

Play for cash prizes, beer and other giveaways. $1 entry.

Green Night @Meta House, 37 Samdach Sothearos Boulevard, 6 PM:

Eco-fair, films and talks featuring a presentation on antibiotic resistance in Cambodia by Alexandre Rabelin Tenorio da Costa of the World Health Organisation Trippy Thursdays @Meta House, 37 Samdach Sothearos Boulevard, 9 PM:

Live set by Electric Universe No Problem Disco @Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172

DJ Jack Malipan playing Sexy Funky Disco House Urban Art Festival Launch Party @French Institute, 216 Street 184, 6:30 PM

Light painting by Alias 2 (w/ Skateistan), live music with Klapyahandz and 12Me, dance and martial arts by Selapak Swing Dance Night @Cloud, 32 E0 Street 9, 7:00 PM

Social dancing, with drink specials

Fri, April 1 Rocky Horror Picture Show @Department of Performing Arts Theatre, Street 173 off Mao Tse Toung, 7:30 PM, $10

The Phnom Penh Players present the gender-bending classic

Acoustic Fridays @Farm to Table, 16 Street 360, 6 PM-8 PM

Clay George (Americana) Pulse the House @Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172

Guest DJs Zig Zach (Singapore) & Mikail (Hong kong) and DJ Shaman Show Box Awards @Show Box, 11 Street 330, 8:00 PM:

Third annual awards ceremony honoring (or insulting) bar patrons. Ceremony starts at 9pm. Dress to impress & BYO sense of humor.

Comedy Night @Meta House, 37 Samdach Sothearos Boulevard, 8:30 PM:

Monthly comedy showcase, $3 entry Live Music @Duplex, 3 Street 278, 8 PM

W/ Don Camilo (International reggae singer) Live Music @FCC, 363 Sisowath Quay, 7-10 PM

W/ Joshua and Pervaz (Rock and Pop) Simone Closing Party @Simone Bistrot & Art, Street 93, 7 PM

The venue’s last event, with Cambo Disco Club, Sequence and Gorimma Oyster Buffet @The Oyster Restaurant, Himawari Hotel, 6-10 PM

Both Friday and Saturday.

A buffet spread featuring fresh seafood, barbequed meats, local Khmer delights and international favorites. $21++ per adult, $10.50++ per child between 6 – 12 years old. Call to 023 214 555 ext 63 to reserve.

Sat, April 2 One World Music Festival

@The Exchange, 40 Street 118, 4 PM-Midnight, $6 Bokor Mountain Magic Band, featuring Lue Thy and members of Cambodian Space Project, The Kampot Playboys, Conrad Keely Band, Sin Sethakol and other Special guests Live Music @Cloud, 32 E0 Street 9, 9 PM

Sangvar Day (Alt Rock) Mega House

@Meta House, 37 Samdach Sothearos Boulevard,

DJ Jaegan Summers (ambient house & techno) Rocky Horror Picture Show @Department of Performing Arts Theatre, Street 173 off Mao Tse Toung, 6 PM and 10 PM, $10

The Phnom Penh Players present the gender-bending classic Saturday Tech Lounge @Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172 Dj Flo & Rob Bianche Workshop: Rubber Stamp for Beginners @N o w h e r e, 3Eo Street 312, 9:30-11:30 AM, $30

Lolli Park will introduce materials for the rubber stamping and carving techniques

Sun, April 3 House Sensation @Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172

DJ Shaman playing Deep Funky House music Drink and Draw @Show Box, 11 Street 330, 7:00 PM

$3 entry provides two hours with a live model Presentation: Thai Contemporary Arts @Meta House, 37 Samdach Sothearos Boulevard, 4 PM

Thai media artist Sutthirat Supaparinya talks about the beginning of the modern art movement in Thailand, its influence for young artists and of the present struggle for artistic freedom under military rule.

Mon, April 4 Nerd Night @TBD (Check Facebook for Updates)

An exhibition of local talent and ideas Presentation: Black Holes @French Institute, 216 Street 184, 6:30 PM, FR, KH and EN

Jean-Pierre Luminet, astrophysicist, writer and poet and Director of Research at CNRS, discusses black holes.

Pulsation @Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172

Rob Bianche Playing Tech Funk Breaks

Tue, April 5

The Assassin plays at Meta House on Sunday night.

Soul Sonic Groove @Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172

Alan Ritchie dropping oldschool Hip Hop, Soul Funk and B-Boy breaks.

Wed, April 6 Open Mic @Show Box, 11 Street 330, 8 PM

Exhibitions

a selection of woodblock prints by Cambodian students made during a special workshop conducted recently at the Royal University of Fine Arts, Phnom Penh.

Phnom Penh Streets @The Mansion, Samdach Sothearos Boulevard, 5 PM

As part of the Urban Art Festival, Theo Vallier presents his work

Fri, April 1

Ongoing

Dancers @ Bophana Center, 64 Street 200, 6 PM

Drawing the Golden Thread @Intercontinental, 296 Mao Tse Toung Blvd

Photographer Colin Grafton presents his portraits of Khmer classical dancers from before the Khmer Rouge. By chance, Grafton was recently reunited with the dancers.

Sat, April 2 In Sacred Shapes @Meta House 37 Sothearos Blvd, 6 PM

Ralph Kiggell presents a series of works that reinterpret common decorative elements and forms from Britain, Cambodia and Thailand. As part of the exhibition, Kiggell will also present

Featuring the work of artists Frederikke Tu & Dina Chhan Body of Work @Java Café, 56 Sihanouk Boulevard, opening at 6:30

Fashion Portraiture by Alan James Flux Café Elephant @French Institute, 218 Street 184

Artwork by cartoonist Jiri Sliva Sorrows and Struggles: Women‘s experience of Forced Marriage during the Khmer Rouge Regime

DO WE HAVE YOUR

Please email all details to James.reddick 8

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WEEKLY Phnom Penh

THURSDAY MARCH 31, 2016

Around Town

Cambodia Urban Arts Festival

All events held at French Institute unless otherwise noted

Thursday Opening Party

Light painting by Alias 2 (w/ Skateistan), live music with Klapyahandz and 12Me, dance and martial arts by Selapak

Friday

Beginner’s workshop on Street Art, French, 8 AMNoon, $10

Brooklyn (2014, 83 mins), FR w/ EN subtitles, 5 PM:

Urban Art Tuk Tuk Tour, after 2 PM

The exhibition is based on survivor oral histories recounting personal experiences of forced marriages during the Khmer Rouge regime.

Portraits: an exploration into the oldest form of self-reflection @Show Box, 11 Street 330, opening from 7:30 PM-9 PM, exhibit open until April 10:

This month’s group exhibit celebrates the beauty of portraits, in all their forms.

Thu, March 31 @Meta House, 37 Samdach Sothearos Boulevard The Berlin Wall (2003, 60 mins), 4 PM:

This documentary reviews the daunting devices within the so-called “Death Strip” – one of the deadliest obstacle courses ever – and the ingenious ways people ran it

Fri, April 1 @Meta House, 37 Samdach Sothearos Boulevard Red Army (2015, 85 mins), 4

The story of the Soviet Union’s famed Red Army hockey team through the eyes of its players.

1940s and 1950s United States government issued propaganda films designed to reassure Americans that the atomic bomb was not a threat to their safety.

Land Grabbing (2015, 94 mins), 6:30 PM:

The Life of Buddha (2007, 50 mins), 8 PM:

Partly shot in Cambodia, this documentary portrays both investors and their victims.

This docu-narrative film describes the life of Siddharta Gautama.

PM:

Sat, April 2 @Bophana Center, 200 Oknha Men Treatment for Female Drug Addicts & Young Victims of LandMines and Unexploded Ordnance (2010, 45 mins), 5 PM, KH w/ EN subtitles

Two reports from Equity Weekly program which was produced by the UNDP. The first report deals with drug problems among Cambodian women and their treatment, the second one with landmines and unexploded ammunition in Cambodia. @Meta House, 37 Samdach Sothearos Boulevard The Atomic Café (1981, 88 mins), 4 PM:

Disturbing collection of

Films

Saturday

Taught by artist Erick Gonzalez

@Tuol Sleng Museum (Building A)

Tuk tuks will leave the French Institute to look at the murals, eventually ending up at The Mansion for refreshments. Followed by a concert by 12Mé. Tickets available after 12:30 at the door.

@Canadian International School of Phnom Penh, Koh Pich Campus Family Movie Night, 6:00-8:00 PM

Sun, April 3 @Meta House, 37 Samdach Sothearos Boulevard Documentary night on Land Rights in Cambodia, 7 PM:

Boomtown Babylon Phnom Penh (2014, 10 mins) tells the story of a displaced family of slumdwellers who find themselves abandoned in a half-built relocation site on the outskirts of Cambodia’s capital. Tep Vanny – Vital Voices (2015, 3 mins) introduces the Cambodian

A young girl runs away from Switzerland. She arrives in Paris to take her chance into Hip Hop music.

human rights defender, is also featured in Even a Bird Needs a Nest (2012, 70 mins) about forced evictions in Cambodia.

The Assassin (2015, 120 mins), 8:30 PM:

An assassin accepts a dangerous mission to kill a political leader in seventhcentury China.

Mon, April 4 @Meta House, 37 Samdach Sothearos Boulevard The Tillman Story (2010, 95 mins), 4 PM:

An exploration of the death of former American football player Pat Tillman and the military’s manipulation of his legacy.

Bonsai People (2012, 78 mins), 7 PM:

Celebrating the Vision of Muhammad Yunus from micro-credit to social business What Our Fathers Did: a Nazi Legacy (2015, 96 mins), 8:30 PM:

A human-rights lawyer conducts conversations with two men whose fa-

The Roots Remain (2015, 73 mins), FR w/ EN subtitles, 7 PM:

Montreal graffiti artist Fonki returns to Cambodia to paint a giant mural of his relatives killed in the genocide.

Saturday Vandal (2012, 84 mins), FR w/ KH subtitles, 10 AM:

A rebellious teen discovers the world of street artists, who work every night on the walls of Strasbourg.

Women are Heroes (2011, 85 mins), FR, 5 PM:

A film by street artist JR

thers were indicted as war criminals for their roles in WWII - Nazi Governors and consultants to Adolf Hitler himself.

Wed, April 6 @Meta House, 37 Samdach Sothearos Boulevard The Hunting Ground (2015, 90 mins), 4 PM:

An exposé of rape crimes on U.S. college campuses, their institutional cover-ups, and the devastating toll they take on students and their families.

Drone (2014, 60 mins), 7 PM:

A documentary about the covert CIA drone war.

Through voices on both sides of this new technology, DRONE reveals crucial information about the drone war in Pakistan and offers unique insights into the nature of drone warfare.

Ruin (2013, 90 min), with a Q&A with lead actor Rous Mony, 8 PM:

Two young lovers inexplicably drawn together escape a brutal and exploitative world of crime and violence in modern day Cambodia

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WEEKLY Phnom Penh

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THURSDAY MARCH 31, 2016

KT/Fabien Mouret

Daff Yor (front right) with Adrien Deshayes (front center), Mai Chen (left), Benoit Chen (center) and Sebastien Rodriguez.

Banh J Mi With a new Twist A new Vietnamese restaurant finally brings good Banh Mi to the Capital.

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the

WEEKLY Phnom Penh

By James Reddick

ust a six-hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh’s lack of good Banh Mi options has long been a mystifying disappointment as the city’s culinary scene explodes. Banh Mi & Bros is here to fill the void.

Opened last week, the restaurant is offering up a tasty spin on the Vietnamese street food. With sandwiches starting at $2.80 (the most expensive is $4.50) chef Benoit Chen has preserved the snack’s affordability while giving it a gourmet spin. For the uninitiated, Banh Mi are served in a baguette, traditionally

with shaved daikon and carrot, cilantro, chili, cucumber and either paté or sausage. The Cambodian version, Num Pang, is about the same, but somehow lacks the right consistency and spice.

According to Daff Yor, one of four partners in the business, the business idea is riffing off a trend in Vietnam of tweaking Banh Mi recipes. “There are a lot of new ideas in Vietnam about banh mi,” he says.

“Places are now using paninis and have other twists.” The House Special is probably the most traditional, featuring paté and cha, a sausage imported from Vietnam, along with pickles, red chili, house mayo and cucumber. Beyond that,

chef Chen has used a variety influences to spice up the menu.

There is a delicious shrimp curry sandwich, a chicken satay and a caramelized pork belly sandwich with a Chinese flair.

On the side is a tasty house salad with vinaigrette. They also offer several soups, including a chicken curry and a Frenchstyle beef stew.

The idea for Banh Mi & Bros originated with Chen, the chef, who was working at the time in a French restaurant in Shanghai.

One day, he was playing around with sandwich recipes with a friend when the pair decided to open up a shop. He eventually decided on Banh Mi and drew up the logo – a “B” with a French chef’s hat facing another with

THURSDAY MARCH 31, 2016

Flavors sandwich. The first orders from Bayon were not right, as the sandwiches crumbled. Eventually, they found the shop Le Vôtre, who provides them with a special order of baguettes.

Open until midnight, with the kitchen closing around 11:30, Banh Mi Bros is a merciful cheap late night option. It also has a fully stocked bar, with house cocktails at $4.25.

Though the restaurant is only in its second week, the team still plan to make it to Vietnam and beyond. Chen hopes they will open several places in Phnom Penh before expanding to neighboring countries and eventually to China.

“Normally the concept for Banh Mi is no alcohol, something fast and quick,” Chen says. “Here it’s different.

People want to sit and have a drink.

For lunch in Shanghai you could easily have 100 customers. But for now, it’s just here.”

Banh Mi & Bros is located at St. 63, just south of Sihanouk Blvd. Hours: 8:00 AM-Midnight.

KT/Fabien Mouret

Normally the concept for Banh Mi is no alcohol, something fast and quick.

the conical Vietnamese version.

Chen got in touch with three other friends – Daff Yor, Adrien Deshayes and Sebastien Rodriguez – who he had grown up with in Paris and who were living in Cambodia, asking if they wanted to be involved. He originally wanted to set up the business in Vietnam but made a fortuitous oneday visa run to Phnom Penh, where the group stumbled on an empty storefront on Street 63, just south of Sihanouk. They signed a lease that day.

“I didn’t have clothes for one week,” Chen jokes. “We signed a contract and started the renovation before the menu was even finished.”

One of the biggest challenges was finding the right bread, one of the most important variables in a Banh Mi

The Shrimp Curry Banh Mi

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WEEKLY Phnom Penh

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