The Cinema of Rithy Panh: Everything Has a Soul
Leslie Barnes and Joseph Mai (Eds)
Rutgers University Press: 2021
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I was born in 1979 in Grenoble, France. That same year, Rithy Panh found himself in this city the French call ‘la ville aux trois roses’ in reference to three biblical martyrs, leaving behind a refugee camp on the Thai border and years of hardship under the Khmer Rouge regime to reunite with members of his family. I have often thought of him as some kind of big brother. A bong, as we would say in Khmer, which is slang for everyone and anyone of roughly the same age. I wondered if we crossed paths at the bottom of the Alps. Perhaps he knew people who knew my parents. Perhaps he even ate at their restaurant and waved at me as I sat in my high chair.

• Tags: Cambodia, Grace Ly, Issue 28, Joseph Mai, Leslie Barnes, Rithy Panh