Rithy Panh facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Rithy Panh
Rithy at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival, 2022
Born	Panh Rithy (1964-04-18) April 18, 1964 (age 61) Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Citizenship	Cambodia • France
Education	Institut des hautes études cinématographiques
Occupation	Film director
Years active	1989–present
Awards	Un Certain Regard Albert Londres Prize Joseph Kessel Prize

Rithy Panh (Khmer: ប៉ាន់ រិទ្ធី; born April 18, 1964) is a famous Cambodian documentary filmmaker. He is also an author and a screenwriter.

Rithy Panh's films often show what happened after the very difficult time of the Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia. This government caused a lot of suffering and death. Rithy Panh's own family was forced to leave their home in 1975 by the Khmer Rouge. Sadly, his father, mother, sisters, and nephews died from hunger or being overworked in a faraway labor camp. His films tell these important stories from a personal and powerful point of view.

About Rithy Panh's Life

His Early Years

Rithy Panh was born in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. His father worked for the Ministry of Education for a long time. He was also a teacher and a senator.

In 1975, the Khmer Rouge government took over Cambodia. They forced Rithy's family and many others to leave Phnom Penh. His family suffered greatly under this harsh government. Rithy saw his parents and other relatives die from overwork or not having enough food. This was part of a terrible time called the Cambodian genocide.

In 1979, Rithy managed to escape to Thailand. He lived for a while in a refugee camp there. Later, he traveled to Paris, France. He was learning carpentry at a school when someone gave him a video camera at a party. This made him interested in making films. He then went to a special film school in Paris. In 1990, he returned to Cambodia, but he still kept Paris as his home base.

His Career as a Director

Rithy Panh's first documentary film was called Site 2. It was about a family of Cambodian refugees living in a camp near the Thai-Cambodian border in the 1980s. This film won a big award called "Grand Prix du Documentaire."

In 1994, he made a film called Rice People. It was like a documentary and a drama mixed together. It showed a family in the countryside trying to live after the Khmer Rouge period. This film was shown at the famous 1994 Cannes Film Festival. It was also the first Cambodian film ever sent to the 67th Academy Awards to be considered for Best Foreign Language Film.

His 2000 documentary, The Land of the Wandering Souls, also told a family's story. It showed Cambodia starting to become more modern. The film followed workers who were digging a long trench across the country. They were installing Cambodia's first optical fiber cable.

In 2003, Rithy Panh directed S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine. This documentary was about the Tuol Sleng prison, a very sad place from the Khmer Rouge time. The film brought together people who had been prisoners there and some of their former guards. It was a powerful and difficult look at Cambodia's past.

He made another film about the time after the Khmer Rouge in 2005, called The Burnt Theatre. This drama focused on a group of actors. They lived in the burned-out remains of the Suramet Theatre in Phnom Penh. The theater had caught fire in 1994 and was never rebuilt.

His 2011 movie, "Gibier d'élevage" (which means "The Catch" in English), was based on a book by a Japanese writer. It was about how villagers acted when a pilot's plane crashed.

In 2012, he made the documentary Duch, Master of the Forges of Hell. This film featured interviews with Kang Kek Iew, also known as Duch. He was a former leader in the Khmer Rouge who was tried for his actions.

His 2013 documentary film The Missing Picture was shown at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. It won a top prize there. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards.

In May 2025, it was announced that Rithy Panh would be the head of the jury at the 78th Locarno Film Festival in August 2025.

Bophana Center: Preserving History

Rithy Panh helped create the Bophana Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He worked with another director named Ieu Pannakar. The center's main goal is to save Cambodia's history. This includes old films, photographs, and audio recordings. The center is named after a young woman, Bophana, who was tortured and killed at the S-21 prison. Rithy Panh made an early film about her called Bophana: A Cambodian Tragedy.

Rithy Panh's Films

• Site 2 [fr] (1989)
• Cinéma de notre temps: Souleymane Cissé [fr] (French television) (1990)
• Cambodia: Between War and Peace (1991)
• Rice People (Neak Sre) (1994)
• Bophana: A Cambodian Tragedy (1996)
• One Evening After the War (1998)
• The Land of the Wandering Souls (2000)
• Que la barque se brise, que la jonque s'entrouvre ("Let the boat break its back, Let the junk break open") (French television) (2001)
• S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine (2003)
• The People of Angkor (2003)
• The Burnt Theatre (2005)
• Paper Cannot Wrap Up Embers (2007)
• The Sea Wall (2008)
• Gibier d'élevage (2011)
• Duch, Master of the Forges of Hell [fr] (2012)
• The Missing Picture (2013)
• La France est notre patrie (2015)
• Exile (2016)
• First They Killed My Father (2017) - Only producer
• Graves Without a Name (2018)
• Irradiated (2020)
• Meeting with Pol Pot (2024)

See also

In Spanish: Rithy Panh para niños

• Cinema of Cambodia
• Am Rong