Film

Enemies of the People

Enemies of the People is a 2009 documentary by Thet Sambath and Rob Lemkin in which former Khmer Rouge leaders and cadres speak about the killing fields.[1][2] It won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.[1]

Synopsis

Thet Sambath, a Cambodian investigative journalist, lost his mother, father and brother under the Khmer Rouge.[3][4] Over ten years he sought confessions and explanations from former officials and cadres, and he asked why his family died rather than how.[3] POV puts the number killed in the Khmer Rouge massacres of the late 1970s at nearly two million.[1]

The film centers on Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's deputy, known as Brother Number Two.[1][4] Sambath spent several years recording his thoughts and confessions.[4] The film also records former foot soldiers, including Khoun and Soun, who describe the killings they carried out.[1][4] Their testimony is set against the rice paddies, banyan trees and farm paths where the killings took place.[4]

Production and credits

Sambath and Lemkin wrote, directed and produced the film.[4] Both directors are credited with cinematography.[5][2] Stefan Ronowicz edited the film, and Daniel Pemberton composed the score.[3] Old Street Films produced it, in association with American Documentary and POV, and it was co-presented with the Center for Asian American Media.[6][1] It is a British and Cambodian production in English and Khmer.[6][7]

Release and reception

The film had its world premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in 2009 and premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.[2][8] It went on to festivals including True/False, Full Frame, Hong Kong and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York.[3] It was nominated for Best Cinema Documentary at the 2010 Grierson British Documentary Awards.[6][9]

It had a commercial premiere in London.[10] In the United States, International Film Circuit released it in theaters.[7][6] Its United States television premiere aired on PBS's POV series on July 12, 2011.[1][5] The directors organized a video conference with California community groups. In it, about 15 Long Beach survivors of the killing fields spoke for three hours with Sambath and three of the former Khmer Rouge perpetrators seen in the film.[8] Excerpts from it appear on the film's two-disc home video edition.[8][10] In April 2014, it was shown at Harvard's Carpenter Center.[4]

Watch

References 10
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 PBS POV, Enemies of the People
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 IDFA, Enemies of the People (undated)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 DAFilms, Enemies of the People
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Harvard Gazette, Deep into a bloody history (April 18, 2014)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 American Documentary POV, POV Communications, POV's Enemies of the People, Unprecedented Investigation Into Cambodia's Killing Fields, Premieres Tuesday, July 12, 2011, on PBS (2011)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 IMDb, Enemies of the People (2009)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Film-Forward, Nora Lee Mandel, Enemies of the People (July 30, 2010)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Sundance Institute, Rob Lemkin, Checking In With the Directors of Enemies of the People (February 28, 2012)
  9. ↑ Old Street Films, Enemies of the People: Awards (undated)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Old Street Films, Enemies of the People: DVD (undated)
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This page was last edited on 21 October 2026, at 08:34.