Micro-budget filmmaking in Cambodia

I’m in the wonderfully chaotic Phnom Penh, Cambodia wrapping-up pre-production on a documentary for the UN World Food Programme.  Tomorrow I head out to Siem Reap for a week of shooting in remote Khmer villages, with many of the location are accessible only by river canoe! This region is also home to the famous temple city of Angkor Wat, one of the few places whose awe-inspiring grandeur can’t be overstated.

I’ve taken a huge pay cut to do this project, essentially volunteering, but the creative freedom that this affords is incredibly satisfying.  So yeah, I’m running around scrounging up translators and recruiting random Khmer who I can train to record audio, but that’s what makes this work so exciting. I also believe immensely in the work that the World Food Programme is doing here in Cambodia, so it makes it easy to collaborate with my client on an overall vision for the project.