Firstly, thank you all for the great response to Kumnooh’s arrival last week. Last time the listings were heavy in visual arts, this time around it seems the events are in cinema and publishing.

This week is dominated by the Memory International Film Heritage Festival running through until Sunday 9th. Free screenings of world cinema on the theme of dance, including Powell/Pressburger’s The Red Shoes, West Side Story, a selection of Chaplin and Tati, and L’oiseau de Paradis, shot by Marcel Camus (Black Orpheus) in Cambodia in 1962. These big screen presentations are at Chaktomuk Theatre on the riverside, and there also a fantastic exhibition of repainted vintage cinema posters open all week.

Additional events include: a screening of Le Sommeil D’or, (Golden Slumbers), Davy Chou’s investigation into the lost and found Cambodian cinema of the 1960s at Bophana Centre tonight at 6 pm; a series of presentations, workshops and forums on film heritage; and two cases of Dengue Fever, live on Koh Pich tomorrow and on screen at Bophana in Sleepwalking through the Mekong on Thursday at 6 pm.
More info
Even more info

This evening (Tuesday 4th at 6.30 pm), Monument Books on Norodom Blvd
is hosting the launch of a new publication Unsung Heroes: Cambodia –
People and projects making a difference, a collection of stories about NGO projects and activities, awareness raising, and including
practical tips for those interested in donating time, money or
equipment. Included is an interview with Cambodian Living Arts founder
Arn Chorn-Pond, and some background on CLA. If you can’t make it
to the launch, sign up to the mailing list here: mailing list

More info

On Saturday night at 6 pm Meta House hosts an exhibition opening
entitled Exiled to Nowhere, in which photojournalist Greg Constantine exposes the plight of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority from Rakhine State in Burma, one of the most oppressed ethnic groups in the world. Greg will present a slideshow, and copies of the accompanying book Exiled to Nowhere will be available.
More info Even more info

Also in literary news: coming soon to an ebook seller near you is
Holiday in Cambodia, a collection of stories by Australian writer
Laura Jean McKay drawing on her experience of travels and life in
Cambodia in recent years.
More info

For francophones the weekend offers amateur theatre in the form of
Musee haut musee bas written by Jean-Michel Ribes, performed under the
guidance of actor Christophe Dellocque. A series of 15 sketches
dwell on why we visit museums, ranging from the whimsical to the
provocative. Note: no translation, but with a strong visual style.
Friday and Saturday night at 7 pm, at the Department of Performing
Arts, behind Parkway Centre, with access through St 173.

You might also like to see some Chaplin down at Le Jardin on St 360 on
Tuesday nights, with live musical accompaniment…. tonight it’s
Limelight.
More info

Make yours a creative week, support an artist near you!

Fabian Hipp
Kumnooh

fabianhipp@kumnooh.com

Ongoing….

20 Years of UNTAC: The Australian Embassy presents an exhibit of the
work of Australian photographers from the UNTAC period, 1992-1993.
Meta House (Art Cafe), Sothearos Blvd. Until 6 June.

More info

Quest for Land: photography of Phnom Penh based photographer John Vink. Meta House (Gallery),
Sothearos Blvd. Until 13 June.
More info
Even more info

A Thing of Smoke, a collaboration between French Khmer visual artist
Séra and American poet Julianne Sibiski, at Romeet Gallery on St 178.
Until 26 June.
More info

Blood and Sand: Phnom Penh based photographer Erika Piñeros
examines bullfighting in Colombia. Chinese House, Sisowath Quay.
Until end of June.
More info

Surviving, by emerging Khmer artist Chov Theanly, at Java Gallery &
Café on Sihanouk Blvd. Until July 7.
More info

Sampot: The Collection of Small Things, by Chan Dany, at Sa Sa Bassac
on Sotheros Blvd . Until 14 July.
More info

Plae Pakaa, a program of 3 rotating performances of Cambodian
traditional arts at the National Museum of Phnom Penh. A Cambodian
Living Arts production. Every Friday and Saturday, 7 pm (May to
September); Monday to Saturday, 7 pm (October to April).

More info

Phare, The Cambodian Circus: the famous artists from Phare Ponleu
Selpak perform a one hour show every night at 7.30 pm under the big
top in Siem Reap, behind the Angkor National Museum, in front of
Angkor Century Hotel.
More info

Welcome to Kumnooh (Khmer: art), a new weekly guide to the arts in Cambodia, a sister to the Leng Pleng music guide. Expect us in your inbox every Tuesday to alert you to openings, launches, readings, productions and screenings, across the range of visual, performance, literary and cinematic arts. We look forward to your support as we strive to bring together artists, venues and audiences.

The week kicks off tonight at Romeet Gallery on St 178, with the opening of A Thing of Smoke, a collaboration between French Khmer visual artist Séra and American poet Julianne Sibiski described as “a dance between the artist and the poet”; ink, acrylic and pencil on Chinese paper. To accompany the show, Romeet has created a limited edition artist book in Khmer, French and English. Starts at 6 pm, and will run to 26 June.
More info

Wednesday night sees a launch at Meta House featuring the work of Phnom Penh based photographer John Vink. This exhibition marks the first anniversary of the iApp Quest for Land (available from iTunes), a work focusing on land grabbing and associated issues in Cambodia, with text provided by Robert Carmichael. Thirty of these photographs have been selected to be exhibited for the first time in Cambodia. Starts at 6 pm.
More info Even more info

On Thursday night Java Gallery & Café presents Surviving, the first solo exhibition by emerging Khmer artist Chov Theanly, paintings that hover between photo-realism and abstraction, using live models in abstract, uncertain environments, and drawing from such influences as Cambodian landscape artists, Russian social-realism and local sign painters.
Starts at 6 pm, and the show will run through to July 7.
More info

Chov Theanly, noodle seller

Commencing Saturday night June 1st and running through to the Sunday 9th is the first film festival heritage to be held in Asia. The inaugural MEMORY! International Film Heritage Festival, organised by Bophana Center with the Technicolour Foundation for Cinema Heritage, takes the theme of dance, and will involve screenings at Chaktomuk Theatre, Bophana Center, workshops and lectures at the Institute français. The website is tantilising us with images of L’oiseau de Paradis, West Side Story and Singing in the Rain… but few details as yet.
More info Even more info

While we’re at it, congratulations to director and Bophana Center founder Rithy Panh for winning Un Certain Regard at Cannes Film Festival for his latest work The Missing Picture. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/05/25/world/europe/ap-eu-france-cannes-un-certain-regard-prize.html?_r=0

On a more interactive plane, the monthly Drink & Draw Cambodia session will be held this Sunday, 2nd June, from 5 pm to 7 pm at Baitong restaurant, #7, St 360. Featuring, as ever, a live model, air conditioning, drinks and nibbles.
More info

From 6 June to 2 July, Meta House is offering a free Short Fiction Writing Workshop, two x two hour sessions per week. Applications close Monday 3 June, get in quick with your 3-5 page writing sample and short bio. Classes will be in English, but preference will be given to writers of Khmer origin.
More info

Also this floated into our field of vision this week: theindochinaproject.com. They describe themselves as a crowd sourced collaborative on-line artwork, a project based in Vietnam seeking artistic/creative submissions from throughout the region in answer to the question What does Indochina mean to you? Entries close 10 June 2013.
More info

And finally, Phnom Penh based photographer Erika Piñeros talks to Proof: Media for Social Justice about her experiences of working in Cambodia.

Make yours a creative week, support an artist near you!

Fabian Hipp
Kumnooh
fabianhipp@kumnooh.com

Ongoing…

20 Years of UNTAC: The Australian Embassy presents an exhibit of the work of Australian photographers from the UNTAC period, 1992-1993. Meta House, Sotheros Blvd. Until 6 June.
More info

Blood and Sand: photography by Erika Piñeros. Chinese House, Sisowath Quay. Until end of June.
More info

Sampot: The Collection of Small Things, by Chan Dany. Sa Sa Bassac, Sothereos Blvd. Until 23 July.
More info

Plae Pakaa, a program of 3 rotating performances of Cambodian traditional arts at the National Museum of Phnom Penh. A Cambodian Living Arts production. Every Friday and Saturday, 7 pm (May to September); Monday to Saturday, 7 pm (October to April).
More info

Kumnooh (Khmer: art) is a new visual, literary, cinematic, performance and related contemporary arts guide for Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and elsewhere in Cambodia.

Kumnooh is conceived as a sister to the Leng Pleng mailing list and gig guide, which over the past four years has made a huge contribution to the growing strength of the music community in Cambodia, both expat and Khmer, bringing together artists, venues and audiences. If you are unfamiliar with Leng Pleng, check it here: www.lengpleng.com. The initial Kumnooh mailing list will be drawn from the resources of Leng Pleng and the Bong Thom classifieds website with appropriate opt-out provisions.

Kumnooh will commence as:

* a weekly email, every TUESDAY, giving information on:
* exhibition openings, launches, workshops, readings, screenings, performances etc
* listings for current exhibitions
* advance notice of upcoming events

* this accompanying web page: http://www.kumnooh.com
* mailing list sign-up
* maps/directions to venues
* links to venue/group websites
* groups and activities
* artist resources
*The web page is still a skeleton at this stage, but will be grown in the coming weeks. Your advice or input on areas not being covered will be appreciated.

We hope you will help us in this effort to build stronger communications and networks within the visual, literary, cinematic, performance and related arts in Cambodia.