A DOCUMENTARY film on the ancient Khmer martial art bokator, formally known as labokator, will be screened tonight at the French Cultural Centre (CCF) in Phnom Penh.
The 50-minute film, titled Une Breve Histoire du Boxkator (A Brief History of Bokator), was directed by Daniel Perrier, a French artist and instructor at the School of Fine Arts in Nantes.
Perrier shot footage for the documentary during a previous visit to Phnom Penh, and now he is back for an extended stay to take part in a series of art projects at CCF.
The artist said he became interested in bokator after he met San Kimsean, a coach of the martial art, in August 2008. The more Perrier learned about bokator from the coach, the more intrigued he became.
“When I came to Cambodia I met San Kimsean by chance, and as we talked he told me about labokator,” Perrier said. “I knew about martial arts like kung fu and judo, but now I have learned about labokator. I think it is not only a martial art, but also the art of self-defence with real tactics.”
According to oral tradition, bokator dates back to the ninth century and was used to fight enemies on the battlefield. Legends say the technique was created by Khmer farmers who lived near the forest and had to learn to fight wild animals with weapons and bare hands – thus the various bokator techniques that mimic the movements of animals such as tigers, horses and crocodiles.
As an artist, Perrier was not interested in making a traditional documentary. Though the film does deal briefly with the history of bokator, it mostly focuses on different aspects of the training process. Using long, unedited shots of students learning basic movements at the Bokator Academy of Phnom Penh, the director allows the viewer to meditate on both the beauty and the rigour of the sport.
“I wanted to document an old Khmer practice, but I also wanted to show how they can re-create information when there are so few teachers,” he said.
“Labokator originated in the ninth century … but under the Pol Pot regime most of the next generation of practitioners were killed. So now there are very few young people involved, and the expert trainers are too old,” he said.
As a result, Perrier said, the coaches have invented a “new process of teaching” in which even intermediate-level practitioners are drafted to teach novices.
“I was really interested by this way of teaching. If they wait for an instructor, an old one with experience, they will be waiting for a long, long time because labokator is a very complex art. The progress is step by step by step,” he said.
Perrier said he made the documentary with very little money, using only a small video camera.
He added that he plans to sell copies of the documentary on DVD for US$25, with $20 going to support bokator students in training and $5 to fund his next video project.
“Next summer I also plan to bring students from France to collaborate with students in Cambodia to learn more about labokator under the sponsorship of the MAC/VAL Museum in Paris,” he said.
Une Breve Histoire du Boxkator will be screened tonight at 7pm at the French Cultural Centre, 218 Street 184, in Khmer with French subtitles.
HUNDREDS of villagers affected by an economic land concession in Kampong Speu province’s Omlaing commune complained during a public forum Thursday that soldiers and company employees were preventing them from planting corn on their land, even though they had been issued new land titles.
During the forum, organised by the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR), villagers, rights groups, parliamentarians and local authorities discussed disputes stemming from the 9,000-hectare land concession granted to the Phnom Penh Sugar Company, which is owned by Cambodian People’s Party senator Ly Yong Phat.
“Even though some villagers have gotten new land titles from the provincial authorities, the soldiers are not allowing them to plant corn on their farmland,” said San Tho, a villager who attended the forum.
Hab Dam, Omlaing commune chief, said that more than 200 villagers had been issued new titles since last month. Despite this, she said, “The company did not allow some villagers to plant crops because their land had already been cleared, so those villagers will have to relocate.”
Chhean Kimsuon, a Phnom Penh Sugar Company representative, said by phone that the villagers “always made up lies” and that the company had a right to “protect its land”.
“The villagers are tricksters,” she said. “They haven’t planted anything on their own land but they want to plant corn on the company’s land.”
The soldiers are like a “referee”, she said, adding that the company had already cleared about 3,000 hectares. “When the rainy season starts, we will start planting sugarcane,” she said.
ALMOST 100 vendors who have been barred from selling goods north of Bayon temple protested in front of the offices of the Apsara Authority Thursday, complaining that the loss of income is driving them deep into debt.
The 97 vendors said they were ordered to remove their stalls in mid-March to make way for a string of national celebrations that included Visak Bochea Day and the Royal Ploughing Ceremony.
But when they tried to return, authorities prevented them from erecting their stalls – even though were previously told they could start selling again on May 11, the vendors claimed.
“We cannot wait any longer, because we have not been able to sell for two months,” said Chan Nary.
She said officials with the Apsara Authority, the government body tasked with overseeing the Angkor temple complex, stopped vendors from setting up new stalls on Wednesday.
With no stable income for the last two months, some vendors have been forced to borrow money from banks to cover basic living costs, she said.
But Chrun Sophal, director of the communications department of the Apsara Authority, said it was unlikely the vendors would be allowed to return to their old locations.
“We see the current site is needed to arrange festivals frequently, and we need vendors to move their stalls during festivals,” he said.
Instead, authorities are considering moving the vendors, along with others nearby, to a location on the west side of Bayon temple, in the hope of setting up an organised – and permanent – place for their stalls.
“The new site is not far from the old one. But it is stable,” said Chrun Sophal, who offered no timeline on when such a move would take place.
