Rice People
(Neak Sre)

As soon as he began making films, Rithy Panh showed an interest in fiction and, in parallel to his documentaries, uses it to recount the life of present-day Cambodians who are trying to find again a place on their land in the post-genocide years. With these Rice People, a poor rural family played by non-professional actors, the filmmaker tells the sensitive story of a rural Cambodia, with the sole aim of revealing a life of demanding and precarious labour – the life led by most of the population, whose only wealth is Mother Earth. This first fiction feature earned Rithy Panh his first selection at Cannes Festival. JB