This award combines both research and teaching components. During her residency, she will continue her exploration of emerging art-house cinema of Cambodia. This work follows current work-in-progress: a video essay—a desktop documentary—and an article on the rise of this new cinema, featuring cinematographers such as Ines Sothea, Davy Chou, Kavich Neang, Polen Ly, and others from the French diaspora.
In this next phase, she will turn her attention to the narrative and aesthetic choices shaping this recent body of work. In her view, these films signal the emergence of a distinct and powerful artistic voice that, to date, remains largely under-recognized within global cinema, including within so-called Asian and Southeast Asian cinema.
Alongside her research, she will teach a course on the aesthetics and meaning of Slow Cinema at the Department of Media and Communication at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Drawing on a blend of American (e.g., Nebraska— Alexander Payne, 2013), French (e.g., Of Gods and Men — Xavier Beauvois, 2010), and Cambodian art-house films (e.g., White Building — Kavich Neang, 2019), the course will explore—through theory and film analysis—the development of compelling narratives and socially engaged cinema through reflexive and poetic cinematography.
