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DEACON OF DEATH - LOOKING FOR JUSTICE IN TODAY'S CAMBODIA
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Jan van den Berg
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| The film follows a woman, Sok Chea, in her quest
for justice. The atrocities she witnessed as a child during
the rule of Pol Pot continue to haunt her nearly thirty years
later. One day she comes across Mr. Karoby, the man who was
in charge of her prison and whom she considers responsible for
murdering most of her family. He still holds a prominent position:
he is now Deacon of Death, leader of cremation ceremonies. When
she finds out that he will not stand trial, she feels the need
to overcome her fear and come to terms with the past. How does
Mr. Karoby cope with the horrible memories of what he did? Is
he really responsible? Who is a victim and who is a perpetrator?
Is conciliation possible without justice? Is it sufficient that
Cambodians believe in karma and forgiveness? Sok Chea ultimately
gets to a confrontation with Mr. Karoby, in the same pagoda
where the atrocities occurred. . |
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Screenplay Marina Alings, Jan van den Berg, Willem van de Put
Photography (colour) Brigitte Hillenius
Editing Srdjan Fink, Babbe deThouars, Pim Verdonk, Luce van de Weg
Music Lou Harrison, Charles Koechlin, Valentin Silvestrov,
Production Chan Theary, Loran Kujpers, Nathalie Nijkamp
Year of production 2004
Running time 64'
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Jan van den Berg
Jan van den Berg started in the early seventies making documentaries from his original field of study, cultural anthropology (Utrecht and Leiden). Looking for new forms of drama became an ever larger part of his work. His films are mostly about people at the cutting edge between cultures. He produced and directed the following films: El Abrazo (1990), Bye Jan (1992), Prisoner of Java (1996), Taming the Floods (2000), Seven Dreams of Tibet (2001), Tales of Crocodiles (2003), Deacon of Death, Looking for Justice in Today's Cambodia (2004) first prize for feature length documentary at the Dutch Film Festival in 2004.
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