Much more than a documentary film about Sinn Sisamouth, Chris G. Parkhurst's "Elvis of Cambodia: The Legacy of Sinn Sisamouth" highlights Cambodia's identity, its unique musical history and the Kingdom's resilience in perpetuating the artist's precious legacy.
Thanks to this documentary, which opened the Cambodia International Film Festival last Tuesday at the Chaktomuk Theatre, the voice, songs and legacy of Sinn Sisamouth echoed beautifully in this iconic venue.
Elvis of Cambodia: The Legacy of Sinn Sisamouth, the heritage of the Cambodian music legend
Chris G. Parkhurst's film highlights the exceptional musical achievements made during the singer's lifetime. By detailing the legacy of his music, the film reveals both the efforts of his family to protect him and the influence his music exerted on many Cambodians. From Phnom Penh to Kampong Tom province and Oregon, in restaurants, tuk tuks and on the streets, his voice unites not only the Khmer people, but all music lovers.
The work of Chris G. Parkhurst, his team and the Cambodian community
More than ten years ago, when the idea of making a film about Sinn Sisamouth first arose, Chris G. Parkhurst never thought he would make a feature film. "At first, I thought I'd make a short film to talk about Sinn Sisamouth's legacy. Then, when we started filming, I said to myself that I couldn't stop there. I had to do something much more ambitious, because I had to pay tribute to the Cambodian people", explains Chris G. Parkhurst, director of the documentary "Elvis of Cambodia: The Legacy of Sinn Sisamouth".
With a great deal of research into information and testimonies, this project led Chris and his team to travel around Cambodia and beyond, meeting the Khmer people in order to understand why and how his music still resonates and survives several decades after his disappearance.
Many precious resources have been entrusted to us by a community that was generous and ready to exchange for this emblematic project. Meeting Sinn Sisamouth's family: his wife, Keo Thorng Gnut, his son, Sinn Chanchhaya, and his granddaughter, Sin Setsochhata, gave the story and the legacy left by the artist its full meaning.
The influence of Khmer culture through music
When Chris G. Parkhurst started working in Cambodia in 2004, he came across a tuk tuk driver who kept listening to Sinn Sisamouth songs on his journeys.
The driver told Chris that Sinn Sisamouth was Cambodia's best-known singer, saying: "He's the Elvis of Cambodia". Far from being an assimilation or a comparison, the tuk tuk driver simply wanted him to understand the singer's fame and importance in the Kingdom. When his film was released, Chris G. Parkhurst wanted to dedicate it to the Cambodian people as a way of saying thank you to this community who contributed so much to the making of his film.
"I think the Khmer people are naturally connected to the past. It doesn't matter where you come from or what you do in Cambodia, everyone is connected to Sinn Sisamouth", says the director. He adds:
"The beauty is that Sinn Sisamouth is known to all Cambodians in the Kingdom, but also in the diaspora. Everyone sings Sinn Sisamouth.”
The film is proof of this, whether in Phnom Penh, Battambang, Kampong Ton or Oregon, everyday scenes come naturally to life with the music of Sinn Sisamouth in the background.
The premiere at the Chaktomuk theatre, a unique moment
For its premiere in Cambodia, 'Elvis of Cambodia: The Legacy of Sinn Sisamouth' was shown in one of Phnom Penh's most significant cultural venues: the Chaktomuk Theatre.
"Ten years ago, when we started filming, we dreamt of showing the film at the Chaktomuk Theatre, and today that dream has come true," says Chris G. Parkhurst.
This film is also, in a sense, Chris G. Parkhurst's love story with the Kingdom and the Cambodian community. Seeing the buzz around Sinn Sisamouth's songs in Cambodia's cities and provinces, the director wants to make this exceptional voice shine out again throughout the Kingdom, particularly in its various towns and provinces.
"I need Cambodians to watch it. I didn't make this film for myself, it's for Cambodians, for Cambodia", he confides with gratitude and humility.
An exceptional premiere for Cambodia at the Chaktomuk theatre, where Sinn Sisamouth and other artists left their mark by performing there in the past. Thanks to this nostalgic reminder, Sisamouth's voice will probably never cease to cross the walls of theatres, the windows of houses, the doors of restaurants or even resound in the fields of rural Cambodia.
To find out more about the film "Elvis of Cambodia: The Legacy of Sinn Sisamouth": elvisofcambodia.vhx.tv/
For more information on CIFF and its programme: cambodiaiff.com/