Khmer Rouge

‘Red Wedding’ Film Wins Award in Qatar

This photograph shows the wedding of Nun Huy aka Huy Sre (left) and Prok Khoeun aka Prak Samuth (right). Huy was born in 1951 and served as head of the Khmer Rouge re-education center at Prey Sar, also known as Office S-24. Prey Sar was part of the central internal security complex in Democratic Kampuchea, which also included Toul Sleng Prison (S-21) and the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek. One prison document, dated 23 July 1977, reports the killing of 18 prisoners at S-24 and bears a note saying "also killed 160 children today for a total of 178 enemies killed." Duch, who oversaw both S-24 and S-21, testified this week that Huy was killed after the escape of his radio operator from Prey Sar. Huy's wife, Prok Khoeun (b. 1953), was an official at S-24 until June 1977, when she became the deputy of an interrogation team known as the "hot group" at Toul Sleng. Source: Documentation Center of Cambodia, Document No. D1175 and K08273. by Dr. John D. Ciorciari.

WASHINGTON DC - A film that explores the realities of forced marriage under the Khmer Rouge has won another award, this time in Qatar. “Red Wedding” won the Golden Award at a film festival organized in the Gulf State by the news organization Al Jazeera.

The film, produced by Cambodian Chan Lida, competed against more than 200 other entries.

And even though the film already won an award at an international film festival in Amsterdam, Chan Lida told VOA Khmer in an interview she had not expected to win this time.

“I think it’s a source of pride for Cambodia, for the revival of our films in Cambodia, which were lost for a while during the Khmer Rouge,” she said.

“Red Wedding” highlights the struggles of Cambodian women forced to marry strangers under the strict policies of the Khmer Rouge.

Chan Lida said she was inspired to make the film because, as the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal was under way in Phnom Penh, she saw forced marriage as a new kind of crime against humanity. This was especially evident as women began submitting complaints about forced marriage to the court, she said.

She was further inspired to create the film because so few young Cambodians understand what their parents went through under the regime, she said.

“In the future, I want to do more films regarding youth, land, human rights, laborers, forests and the wellbeing of people,” she said. “These are all topics interesting to people.”