WEEKLY

The

Thursday - March 10, 2016

Vol: 01 | Issue: 27

Behind
The

Curtain

WEEKLY

the

THISWEEK

THURSDAY MARCH 10, 2016

Phnom Penh

A girl in her home, a floating

house on Tonle Sap in Kampong
Chhnang Province.

Publisher
T. Mohan

EDITOR:
James Reddick
James.Reddick@khmertimeskh.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:
Maddy Crowell, Jonathan Cox,
Michael Light

Khiev Chanthara, Aim Valinda

096 217 7770 | 012 244 982
chanthara@khmertimeskh.com
valinda.aim@khmertimeskh.com

ADVERTISING SALES:
Mary Shelistilyn Clavel
mary@khmertimeskh.com
010 678 324

Fabien Mouret

ART DIRECTION:
xxxxxxxx

Kool As U

Not to Miss:

Step it Up Final Night

@Meta House, 37
Sothearos Boulevard,
6:30 PM

Designer Kosal Ou looks

to the future
PAGE 3

NEWSROOM:

Boeung Kak

Rejuvenation through art

PAGE 4
Supplied

No. 7 Street 252

Khan Daun Penh
Phnom Penh 12302
Kingdom of Cambodia
023 221 660

PRINTER: TST Printing House

DISTRIBUTION:
Kim Steven Yoro
016 869 302
kimsteven@khmertimeskh.com

Thursday

The final night of the

Step it Up film festival,
which showcases
the lives of girls and
women, brings another
round of films from
women directors in
Cambodia. Director
Sokyou Chea (left)
will be present for a
Q&A session after a
screening of her film,
The Ride.

Gaza Zoo

A zoo feels the brunt of

war and isolation
PAGE 5

AVAILABLE AT:

The Weekly is published 48 times a year

in Phnom Penh. No content may be
reproduced in any form without prior
consent of the publisher.
Cover Photo: Fabien Mouret

Cabaret

Backstage at the countrys

only ladyboy revue
PAGE 6, 7 & 10

600+

locations in Cambodia
2

the

WEEKLY
Phnom Penh

Saturday & SuNday

Boeung Kak Art Festival

Coffee

A Feel Good Story

PAGE 11

8,000+
copies every week

Supplied

Monument Books
No. 53 Street 426
Phnom Penh
info@monument-books.com
023 217 6177

REGULARS
Around Town
FILMS, EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS
The best listings in town PAGES 8 & 9

@Boeung Kak, $5 adults, $3 students

For several years, the folks behind Simone Art caf
and bistrot and local artists have been teaming
up to try to rejuvenate the resilient Boeung Kak
neighborhood. This weekend marks the second
annual art festival to celebrate, and raise money,
for the hood. Featuring 45 artists, including music,
dancing, painting, and even Bokator, over two days,
this is the place to be this weekend.

I train them not only for dance, I

train them for life, how to live as a
ladyboy. I teach everything how to
take care of their skin, how to take
hormones, everything.
PAGE 6, 7 & 10

THURSDAY MARCH 10, 2016

Made

The Kool As U creator

looks to the future

Ou Kosal in his new

boutique store.

By James Reddick

ointing
to
the
showroom of his
new
boutique
clothing store, Ou
Kosal admits that
this a beautiful, open store with
full clothing racks stocked with
his own designs is just a small
part of what he has in mind for
the future.
Its still on the way up, he
says of his clothing company,
Kool As U, which is an anagram
of Kosals name. After opening
nearly two and a half years ago
on Street 19, Kosal abruptly
closed his store in November,
citing the costs of rent and the
desire for a new location. When
a friend told him he was closing
his bar on Street 208 (between
Street 51 and Street 63), he
jumped at the chance for a fresh
start.
Now Kosals designs, which
are primarily casual wear using
locally sourced materials suited
for the Cambodian heat, will be
available on the second floor of

a Khmer-style apartment. He
hopes to open on either March
25 or April 5 (Five is my lucky
number, he explains). Although
the store will not be visible from
the street, Kosal has already
made a name for himself as one
of the citys up-and-coming
designers, so he expects his
clients to be able to find him.
Kosal says that his customer
base is split virtually in half
between the local middle class
and the ex-pat community.
Many of my customers
are middle class who prefer to
have something thats better
quality [than in the markets]
and [originally] designed, he
explains. Some people who
have money dont want to
go abroad to get something.
Although the clothes made in his
showroom are more expensive
than at a normal tailor, or in
places like Central Market, the
prices are not exorbitant. A pair
of trousers is just $23, while
shorts are $15, depending on the
material and design.
Kosals business which
includes a small workshop

with five employees who make

specially ordered clothes for
other companies is remarkable
considering his background.
A native of Kratie Province, he
graduated high school in 1999.
At the time, universities were
only offering a few degrees
in business and finance. An
education in design was unheard
of.
Instead, he got hands-on
instruction through the countrys
behemoth garment industry,
working as a merchandiser for
a factory supplying to highend international companies
like Prada and Burberry. For a
decade, he saw first-hand the
process of ordering, design and
production. Nearly 15 years
later, he finally felt that he was
ready to start a clothing line of
his own.
I felt like Cambodia was
starting to grow, and I thought
Its time for me to start
something else, he says. I
wanted to do something of my
own.
After seeing clothes made
in the countrys factories and

then exported to the developed

world, Kosal had a mission to
start a local brand. We mainly
supply garments to the world.
Why dont we produce and sell
them here? he asked.
Slowly, he built up a network
of loyal customers attracted
to his sleek designs, many of
which he says are inspired by
British brands like Paul smith.
At the same time, business in
his workshop, which is staffed
by former garment employees
experienced
in
clothing
production,
has
expanded
because of orders from small,
mostly international brands.

As he prepares to open his

second shop this month, Kosal
says that soon he will need to
split up the two businesses,
with his clothing line separate
from the workshop. One day, he
hopes to open a small factory to
cater to brands who arent able
to order on a big enough scale
to do business with the large
garment factories.
I dont want to link the [two
businesses] together and I dont
want the other designers to feel
like theyre promoting me, he
explains. I made a company to
support small designers and
small companies.

Kheng Sen in
the workshop.

Fabien Mouret

Fabien Mouret

In Cambodia

To advertise in Cambodia's most exciting WEEKLY magazine, contact our Sales Gurus:

MARY CLAVEL
010 678 324
mary@khmertimeskh.com

the

WEEKLY
Phnom Penh

THURSDAY MARCH 10, 2016

Fabien Mouret

A New
Canvas For

Boeung Kak

Another chapter in the neighborhoods cultural renaissance

By Maddy Crowell

ost who have

spent time in
Cambodia know
the
story
of
Boeung Kak Lake. More than
4,000 families were forced to
leave their homes to make way
for a massive development
project. While a few returned,
most relocated to the provinces.
The neighborhood became a
cheap hotbed for junkies.
It was a fucking mess, Marj
Arnaud, a French expat who has
been living in the Boeung Kak
neighborhood for three years,
explained. So many junkies. It
was a dark neighborhood.

I met Arnaud at Simone Art,

a caf and restaurant she cofounded with Ludi Labille that
quietly doubles as a political
message: art can rebuild a lost
community.
Arnaud discovered Boeung
Kak three years ago, while
backpacking
solo
through
Southeast Asia. When she
landed in Phnom Penh, she told
her tuk tuk driver to take her to
the cheapest guesthouse, and he
brought her to #10 Guesthouse,
a barren sand-colored building
that once bordered the lake.
Most guests were turned off
by the neighborhood, but for
Arnaud it became a source of
inspiration. The eviction ruined
a lot. I wanted the neighborhood

Ludi Labille shows off a poster for the upcoming Boeung Kak Art
Festival

the

WEEKLY
Phnom Penh

to be reborn, to recreate it,

she says. Now fluent in Khmer,
Arnaud has rarely returned to
her home country, in the south
of France. Last year, she spent
two months in France. So, Im
good for awhile, she laughs.
The idea for Simone Art came
to Arnaud during her stay in the
neighborhood, and she called
her friend Ludi Labille to recruit
her as a co-owner.
I called Ludi, and I said,
Cambodia is nice, come see. She
came and she said, Wow, it is
nice. Labille soon moved to corun Simone Art.
At the time, two years ago,
there were only two running
guesthouses. The neighborhood
was considered dangerous by
many and still had a rampant
drug problem.
Together, Labille and Arnaud
started with a campaign to clean
the streets. They recruited a
team of neighbors and expats
and wandering backpackers and
began by picking up trash and
leftover rubble.
We started cleaning. We
added concrete pavement for
roads. We added lights. Then
two French people opened
businesses. We wanted to
develop with art and music. We
had many walls, so we thought
we need color. Around that

time, a new generation of

Cambodian street artists was
starting to rise. Artists quietly
began to paint the concrete
walls that enclose the area.
People were still scared [of
the neighborhood], so we started
creating more events.
Roughly 40 graffiti artists
began to paint from around the
world Colombia, England,
the States, New Zealand,
France. Slowly, walls that were
overbearingly tall and white
began to fill with color. Massive,
detailed murals of smiling faces
now coat the walls.
One sign reads: Play with
new rules. A vintage store sells
cheap western clothes. The
neighborhood is not unlike
Londons Soho or New Yorks
Brooklyn young, broke artists
who cover dilapidated corners of
expensive cities with art, which
consequently jacks up real estate
prices.
The
Boeung
Kak
neighborhood hasnt quite
reached a level of high-end
investment, though. Thats still
the largest challenge for Simone
Art, which has yet to make a
profit.
We start everything with our
own money, Arnaud said.
But for the community, the
investment seems to have been

worthwhile. The two existing

businesses have been joined
by seven others including
an incoming lesbian bar
and French guesthouse. For
Lucky Somnang, one of the
few residents to have stayed
behind after the community was
evicted, the new changes have
been immense.
People had no jobs when
the lake was gone. People were
crying. They had to go work at
factories, some working with
garbage, some selling fruits.
I stay because I had a job
here, Lucky told me from #10
Guesthouse where he works.
Its in a good way now. Now
its clean. Its in a good way for
us. And for Simone Art, its just
the beginning.
For the second annual year,
they will host a street festival this
weekend to bring attention to
Boeung Kaks growing art scene.
Called Boeung Kak Art, the
festival will feature live hip-hop,
urban art, workshops, street art,
body painting, and fire shows.
All proceeds will go to rebuilding
the community.
Its a political message, but
its also a positive message. For
some, its the first time theyve
seen art on the walls. It starts a
discussion in the community
about whats next.

THURSDAY MARCH 10, 2016

Palestinian Mohammad Oweida, a

zoo owner, shows stuffed animals
that died during the 2014 war

In Gaza zoo,

han Yunis, Palestinian

Territories (AFP) In
the Gaza Strip, where
residents face a daily
struggle to survive, animals at
the Khan Yunis zoo are dying
every week and the tiger hasnt
eaten for days.
Of hundreds of animals
bought for the zoos 2007
opening, the only survivors are
the last deer of its herd, a pelican,
an ostrich, two porcupines
and the tiger -- hungry yet still
majestic.

School bus
driver Tamer alNirab says dozens of children
used to visit the zoo every
day but now nobody can
afford it.
All the other cages are empty
and overgrown, while a thick
stench lingers in the air. Dusty
cats weave in and out of the
chipped, green bars of the cages
as a puppy howls in its pen.
Now, after years of effort,
zoo owner Mohammed Aweda
is admitting defeat. He plans to
sell the tiger and the rest of the
animals and close the zoo after
seeing his dreams fail.
The tiger has not eaten meat

for four days, Aweda tells AFP

during a visit to the deserted
zoo.
The food costs 250 Israeli
shekels ($63) per day, Aweda
says. I have not managed to
earn that amount from zoo visits
in one year.
When it first opened,
families thronged to the
2,000-square-metre
Khan
Yunis zoo in the south of the
Palestinian enclave to see
eagles, lions, the tiger, deer,
pelicans and even crocodiles
for just three shekels.
But between 2008 and 2014,
the Gaza Strip, ruled by the
Palestinian Islamist movement
Hamas, has experienced three
wars with Israel.
The last conflict, in the
summer of 2014, killed 2,251
Gazans, the majority of them
civilians, and 73 Israelis,
including 67 soldiers, according
to the United Nations.
The animals, too, were
caught up in Israeli bombing,
with 80 killed according to
Aweda.
After the conflict I waited
for days before entering and
the smell of death was strong. I
found carcasses everywhere.

Gazas residents simply dont

have any money left to spend on
going to the zoo.
Inside, a stench emerges
from a cage where a barely
legible sign tells visitors to
respect the cleanliness of the
premises.
Dessicated
bodies
of
crocodiles and a lion lie in the
sun, surrounded by the bones of
other animals.
The weather is fine, but the
zoo seems more like an openair cemetery than a place for joy.
Two other zoos in Gaza are in
similar states.

School bus driver Tamer alNirab says dozens of children

used to visit the zoo every day
but now nobody can afford it.
Eighty percent of Gazas
population are reliant on
international aid, according to
the UN.
At its peak, the zoo had 60
stocked cages, with Aweda and
his 13 family members living off
the profits.
But now they have taken up
other jobs just to try to obtain
enough food for the animals.
Some of my brothers
became drivers, others have

found employment in small

businesses,
says
Aweda,
standing in front of the cage
where the 180-kilogramme
(400-pound),
eight-year-old
tiger paces.
To obtain the tiger was
a
mammoth
effort,
he
says, explaining that it was
transported from Senegal to
Egypt, then from Sinai to Gaza
through a tunnel.
He is now hoping to sell the
beast for $30,000. After that,
Aweda says, he will sell the land,
and the small zoo of Khan Yunis
will be no more.

An open-air cemetery

srael maintains a crippling

blockade of the Palestinian
enclave and with little in
the way of a local economy

Reuters

By Sarah Benhaida

Reuters

empty cages and

lonely animals as
closure looms

A tiger is seen inside an enclosure at a zoo in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
the

WEEKLY
Phnom Penh

THURSDAY MARCH 10, 2016

A dancer walks on
stage for the opening
number of the Friday
night performance

Cabaret

Fabien Mouret

Backstage at
Cambodia's first and
only ladyboy show

the

WEEKLY
Phnom Penh

Namwan, 28, in the dressing room.

By Jonathan Cox

he curtains rise on
a glittering set and
the first chord of
Frank Valli's Can't
Take My Eyes Off You blasts
through the theater. The stage
is all tight sequined dresses
and white suits, as one of the
female dancers statuesque and
decked with feathers lip synchs
with the music:
You're just too good to be
true.
This line is a perfect opener,
because many of the women
performing on-stage at Siem
Reap's
Rosana
Broadway
cabaret show are indeed too
good to be true. Most of the
starlets at Rosana are ladyboys,
to use the term popularized in
Thailand, where cabaret shows
like this draw huge audiences.
Every night these 76 Rosana
dancers perform in the neonlit theater off National Road 6,
which can seat an audience of
842 at $30 a ticket.
Ladyboy
revues
may
be popular in neighboring
Thailand, but since opening
three years ago Rosana Broadway
has been the only show of its
kind in Cambodia. Popular with
Korean and Chinese tourists,
it is still trying to draw more
locals and Western tourists
to its own surreal, genderbending brand of cabaret. The
manager, Oak Sambo, said that
Cambodian audiences were at
first unfamiliar with the idea
of ladyboy cabaret stars. Five

years ago the Cambodian people

didn't have their hearts open to
ladyboys, and didn't know about
them, she said.
It's not surprising that
audiences might find the show
strange. For a viewer used to
the sedate pace of a traditional
Apsara
dance,
a
Rosana
Broadway performance feels like
a fever dream.
Sets and dance styles change
with dizzying speed, from a
traditional Hanuman dance set
in a deep jungle, to an intricate
routine set in a Chinese imperial
throne room complete with
giant dragons, to a hip hop
number on a glitzy set that looks
straight out of a music video by
K-Pop star Psy.
The dancers' genders change
just as quickly as the musical
styles. One performer will sport
a Clark Gable mustache in one
dance, and a pastel dress and
peacock feathers in the next.
Sometimes the gender swapping
even happens in a single
performance, with one dancer
wearing a double-sided costume
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
for the price of one.
Though
some
of
the
performances
are
slightly
raunchy, Rosana never veers
into burlesque. Most ladyboy
cabaret shows in Thailand play
up the sex, but Rosana focuses
on dance and spectacle. It's
not a sexy show, said Sambo.
It's a show of different kinds of
traditional dance.
Sambo is right that the show
is not particularly sexy, but it is
only traditional in the loosest

sense of the word. Apsara dance

blends into a fan dance, which
blends into slapstick comedy,
which blends into K-Pop. Before
each routine, a disembodied
voice announces the country of
origin: Ladies and gentlemen,
presenting a traditional dance
from Vietnam.
If the action onstage is
surreal, backstage is even more
so. Male dancers in Angkorera armor rush past ladyboys
wearing
flamboyant
blue
gowns. Dragon sculptures loom
overhead next to silver cloth
backdrops, ready to be rolled
into place for the next song. In
the dark wings of the theater,
dancers practice their moves,
somehow balancing under the
weight of their towering feather
headdresses.
Just a few months ago, some
of these dancers were waiters
or fruit vendors in Siem Reap.
Many were recruited for the
cabaret thanks to the keen eye
of Thai choreographer Kanoklak
Panngoen.
Panngoen is the heart of the
show managing everything
from dancer recruitment to
choreography to set design and
lighting. Slim and graceful at 43,
she walks around the set in a
yellow tank top, demonstrating
moves for her dancers and
occasionally shouting directions
in a voice that is an octave lower
than one would expect but never
harsh or severe.
Panngoen pauses to talk
to one performer, Belle, in a
flouncy pink dress that looks
like it was pulled directly from

an Elizabethan period drama.

It's her first time doing this
dance, so she's a little nervous,
Panngoen explains.
Nervous or not, Belle goes
through her dance routine with
the coquettish grace of a pro
while lip synching to a Japanese
love song. As the curtains
close, she blows the imaginary
audience a kiss, to the applause
of her fellow dancers in the front
row.
Panngoen
learned
by
dancing in cabaret shows in
her hometown of Bangkok,
where she had performed since
the age of 18. Bangkok, an
international destination for
gender reassignment surgery.
has dozens of ladyboy cabarets
with names like Calypso and
Playhouse. In Cambodia these
cabarets are about as common
as hockey rinks.

When I
think about
my life, I'm
very happy that I
ended up here. All
of my experience
I want to share it
with all of them.

In 2012 owner Wichit

Thianthongdee
decided
to
bring Bangkok-style cabaret to
Cambodia, building the theater
and recruiting a starting group
of dancers from Thailand. When
Panngoen first saw these job ads,
she said she wasn't interested. I
thought, 'Why would I want to
go to Cambodia?' she said.
Without her knowledge,
Panngoen's best friend grabbed
a copy of her headshot and sent
it to Rosana Broadway. She was
surprised to receive the job offer
from the Cambodian cabaret,
but grudgingly accepted. At first
I didn't want to go to Cambodia,
she said. But now I really love,
love, love it here.
She said planning the show
and teaching the ladyboy
lifestyle to her young protges
has become her life's goal.
Every day I'm waiting for 4
o'clock [when rehearsals begin]
because I miss everybody, she
said. When I think about my
life, I'm very happy that I ended
up here. All of my experience I
want to share it with all of them.
Panngoen
certainly
has
plenty of experience to share.
She has learned not only how to
organize the Rosana's intricate
dance numbers, but also how to
spot a good potential dancer in
Continue page 10

Fabien Mouret

Fabien Mouret

THURSDAY MARCH 10, 2016

Ny, 18, gets ready to go on stage.

the

WEEKLY
Phnom Penh

Around Town
EVENTS
Thu, March 10
No Problem Disco
@Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172

DJ Jack Malipan playing

Sexy Funky Disco House
Urban Thursdays
@Sharky Bar, 126 Street
130

DJ Niko Yu
Trippy Thursdays
Wonder Women Special
@Meta House, #37 Sothearos
Boulevard:

DJanes AJA KURATA

BANZAI (Japan) & SAO
SOPHEAK (Cambodia).
Bingo
@Show Box, 11 Street 330, 8
PM:

$1 entry per game, with cash

and beer prizes.
Swing Dancing Class
@Cloud, 32 Street 9, 6:30-7:30
PM:

Monthly swing dancing class,

$4 for the class, including 1
drink. Social dancing is free.
Karaoke Night
@Eluvium Lounge, 205A Street
19, 7-10 PM:

Fri, March 11
@The Oyster Restaurant, Himawari Hotel, 6-10 PM Friday
and Saturday

A buffet spread featuring

fresh seafood, barbequed
meats, local Khmer delights

and international favorites.

$21++ per adult, $10.50++
per child between 6 12
years old. Call to 023 214
555 ext 63 to reserve.
Live Music
@Sharky Bar, 126 Street 130, 9
PM

Soundtrek Project, an
11-piece French brass band,
puts on its final weekend of
shows in Cambodia
Oskar Club #3,
@Oskar Bistro, 159 Sisowath
Quay

DJs Nora Haidee, DJ Donabelle, DJ Devi Vanhon

Pulse the House
@Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172

DJ Shaman & Special guests

Dr Wah Wah & Bojan from
Kimchi Collective.
Acoustic Fridays
@Farm to Table, 16 Street 360,
6-8 PM:

Mathias Nunberg performs,

2 for 1 beer & wine from 4-7
PM
DJ Party Fluid
@Meta House, #37 Sothearos
Boulevard, 9 PM:

DJs MOUDY, DSN, BLAZIAN

+ MORE

Sat, March 12
Live Music
@125 Street 130, 9 PM

Batbangers (Khmer Rock)

Boeung Kak Art Festival
@Boeung Kak

Two-day street festival with

more than 45 artists and
bands. All proceeds go to

benefit
Saturday Tech Lounge
@Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172

With DJ Flo, Rob Bianche &

Special guest DJ Wedenski.
Back to the 50s, 60s, 70s,
80s
@Eluvium Lounge, 205A street
19, 8:00 PM-10:00 PM

CAMBODIAN FUSION DJ PARTY

@Meta House, #37 Sothearos
Boulevard, 9 PM:

W/ MUTE SPEAKER & Djane

SAO SOPHEAK

Sun, March 13
House Sensation
@Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172

DJ Shaman playing Deep

Funky House music.

Mon, March 14
Pulsation
@Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172

Rob Bianche Playing Tech

Funk Breaks

Tue, March 15
@Pontoon Pulse, 80 Street 172

Alan Ritchie dropping oldschool Hip Hop, Soul Funk

and B-Boy breaks.

Wed, March 16
Open Mic
@Show Box, 11 Street 330, 8 PM:

recently opened bar is a prime spot to

but its a perfect place for neighbors

chat with strangers. With tasty Europe-

to come together over a beer. While

an snacks and reasonably priced drinks,

downstairs is cozy, the upstairs is like a

this bar is filling the gap that Russian

pimped out college hangout. Theres a

Gypsies Spanish vibe is a leg of

Market residents have complained

nice pool table and bucket chairs in an

smoked pig. A cozy neighborhood

about for years: the lack of good water-

alcove overlooking the otherwise quiet

pub, whose low ceiling and friendly

ing holes. Closing before midnight, it

residential street.

The only thing missing from The

One of the 10 sliced

high-end sliced meats
on offer at the Brazilian
Rodizio buffet.

The final Cambodian show

for the 11-member brass
band from France

isnt intended to be a late night hub,

Toul Tom Poung

Brazilian Rodizio at Interc

Soundtrek Project
@Cloud, 32 Street 9, 8:30 PM:

owner only add to the intimate vibe, the

10 AM-11:30 PM, 59 Street 450,

Advertorial

Favorite songs and romantic

ballads from the 50s, 60s,
70s and 80s

Hot Spot
The Gypsies

THURSDAY MARCH 10, 2016

For this months Friday night buffet

at Intercontinentals Regency Caf,
chef Erick Cruz has shifted to South
America, providing an authentic
Brazilian
Rodizio
experience.

Conference: Archaeology in
France
@French Institute, 216 Street 184

A presentation by Dominique
Garcia, President of the
French National Institute for
Preventive Archaeological
Research.

Exhibitions
Portraits
@Show Box, 11 Street 330

Show Box invites all regional

artists to contribute their
talents to the next group art
exhibit: Portraits: an exploration into the oldest form of
self-reflection. Artists can
submit their pieces (preferably two or more) to Show
Box by March 27. Contact
showboxpp@gmail.com for
more information.
Ongoing

36 Views of Phnom Penh

@The Plantation, 28 Street 184

Amateur of Barang architecture and admirer of Vann

Molyvann as well as Khmer
modernism, Laurent draws
heritage buildings that are
being demolished or will be.
Caf Elephant
@French Institute, 218 Street 184

Artwork by cartoonist Jiri

Sliva
German-Cambodian Art
@Meta House, #37 Sothearos
Boulevard:

Though Rodizios are known mostly

for meats, this version features a
wealth of options for diners looking
for fresh and light ingredients.
Highlights from the first course

The German artist Alfred

Banze presents 2.5 Street,
Together with students and
local artists he created large
drawings and video clips with
the theme: Rise and fall of a
Community Art Space.
Sorrows and Struggles:
Womens experience of
Forced Marriage during
the Khmer Rouge Regime
@Tuol Sleng Museum (Building
A)

The exhibition is based on

survivor oral histories recounting personal experiences of forced marriages during
the Khmer Rouge regime.
The Altered Mirror: Reflections from Guatemala
and Cambodia
@Bophana Center 64 Street 200,
Okhna Men

Erick Gonzalez, renowned

Franco-Guatemalan artist
resident in Phnom Penh since
2015, exhibits his latest creations consisting in objects,
installations and paintings.

Films
Thu, March 10
@Bophana Center, 200 Oknha
Men
Rites of Passage (2013, 80
mins), 6:30 PM:

A feature length drama made

collaboratively with young
people who dip below the
surface of their often tough
exteriors to reveal what is go-

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Phnom Penh

THURSDAY MARCH 10, 2016

ontinentals Regency Caf

leg, chicken breast wrapped with
bacon and top sirloin, among many
other options. Having already
eyed the dessert display, I stopped
myself from indulging in more than
one helping of the assado and the
cuvee.
Alongside a mint caipirinha,
I tried the lemon meringue, a
passion fruit mousse and mango
sorbet. These were all divine and
all made in houseas is everything,
including a fresh baked assortment
of breads. Try the rodizio every
Friday evening in March and check
back for upcoming buffet specials
in the caf. Prices are $28++ per
person, plus $10++ for bottomless
caipirinha.
Available every Friday night in
March from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM at
296 Mao Tse Toung Boulevard. For
more information call 023 424 888.

ing on inside.
@Meta House, #37 Sothearos
Boulevard:
A River Changes Course
(2013, 83 mins), 4 PM:

The story of three families living in contemporary Cambodia as they face hard choices
forced by rapid development.
Step It Up Cambodia Film Festival Day 3, 6:30 PM:

Chea Sokyous short The

Ride explores the bonds of
sisterhood, with Q&A. Bin
Molykas It Burned Me,
about a survivor of acid
violence, follows. Matthew
Watsons investigation of the
sex industry, Virginity Trade,
finishes the evening.

Fri, March 11
@French Institute, 216 Street
184
I Kissed a Girl (2015, 98 mins),
5 PM:

Jeremie wakes up alongside

a pretty woman. But its
the first time for Jeremie,
normally he prefers his future
husband Antoine.
Pickpocket (1959, 75 mins, FR
w/ EN subtitles), 7 PM:

Michel is released from jail

after serving a sentence for
thievery. His mother dies and
he resorts to pickpocketing
as a means of survival.
@Meta House, #37 Sothearos
Boulevard:
I am Haiti (2014, 66 mins), 4 PM:

A portrait of Haiti, and a vindication of the African roots

of the country
Anomalisa (2015, 90 mins), 7
PM:

side a pretty woman. But

its the first time for Jeremie, normally he prefers his
future husband Antoine.
@Meta House, #37 Sothearos
Boulevard:
Enemies of the People (2009,
93 mins), 4 PM:

A personal journey into the

heart of darkness by a Khmer
journalist, whose family was
wiped out in the Killing Fields.
Inside the Belly of a Dragon
(2015, 75 mins), 7 PM:

A remarkable voyage of
discovery and recovery
for an Irish clown, Hugh
Brown. Followed by a Q&A
with co-director Ian Wiggins.
@Bophana Center, 200 Oknha
Men
Sinn Sisamouth (2001, 45
mins, KH version), 5 PM:

A portrait of the famous

singer.

Sun, March 13
@Meta House, #37 Sothearos
Boulevard:
Giovannis Island (2014, 102

A man crippled by the

mundanity of his life experiences something out of the
ordinary. Charlie Kaufmans
first foray into stop-motion
animation

mins), 4 PM:

Director Nishikubo
Mizuhos animated ode to
post-war survival
Short docs about Khmer
Rouge Legacy, 7 PM:

Scars of Cambodia (2014,

30 mins) features a key device, or rather lack of one:
There is no speech.
The Conscience of Nhem
Em (2008, 26 min) follows
the story of the S-21 prison
photographer.
Cambodian Cinema, 8.15 PM:

Featuring two KhmerAmerican films by Greg

Cahill, The Golden Voice
(2006, 25 min) and Two
Shadows (2012, 94 min).

Mon, March 14
Tue, March 15
@Meta House, #37 Sothearos
Boulevard:
The Image Revolution (2014,
81 mins), 4PM:

About the birth of the innovative US company Image

Comics by former Marvel employees 20 years

ago.
Dam Documentary Night, 7 PM:

Mekong (2012, 52 min) examines the on-going struggle

of local communities against
dam construction on the
upper Mekong. Dam Nation
(2014, 94 min) envisions a
naturalist-friendly future in
which rivers are once more
allowed to flow freely.

Wed, March 16
@Meta House, #37 Sothearos
Boulevard:
Bonne Nuit Papa (2014, 95
mins), 4 PM:

Tracing her fathers footsteps, the German filmmaker

immerses herself deeper
and deeper into the history
of Cambodias ideological
wars.
Sierra Leones Refugee All
Stars (2005, 80 mins), 7 PM:

Following Africas most

inspirational band.
AMY (2014, 128 mins), 8.30 PM:

The story of Amy Winehouse in

her own words, featuring
unseen archival footage and
unheard tracks.

Sat, March 12
@Sa Sa Bassac, 18E2 Sothearos Boulevard
From The Heart of Brahma
(2014, 28 mins, English w/ KH
subtitles), 6-7:30 PM, with a
conversation with the artist
and director:

The short doc follows

Prumsodun Ok, a Cambodian-American dancer
and choreographer whose
practice seeks to revive and
revitalize Cambodian classical dance, and exposes the
artists mission to open dialogues around tradition and
gay love, and to make his
classical art form inclusive.
@French Institute, 216 Street
184
Girafada (2013, 85 mins, AR w/
French subtitles), 10 AM:

Yacine is a veterinarian in
the last zoo of Palestine. In
order to save a female giraffe, who cannot live alone,
Yacine needs to find her a
mate. But the only zoo who
can help him is in Tel-Aviv.
I Kissed a Girl (2015, 98 mins,
FR w/ EN subtitles), 5 PM:

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Contact Mary Clavel to book your space
Tel: 010 678 324

included a Salada de
Frango, a fresh chicken
salad with grapes and
potatoes with a touch of
mayonnaise and mustard
and the wonderful Salada
de Morangos, an unusual
combination of fresh salad
with strawberries and wild
mushrooms.
Alongside a passion
fruit caipirinha, which
is $6 per glass or $10
for bottomless cockails,
this is the perfect way to
start a meal. Next up is
the Assado, a dish with
brisket, potatoes, carrots,
celery and onions. Throughout the
meal, restaurant staff bring around
premium cuts of meat, which are
sliced tableside.
These include boneless lamb

Around Town

Jeremie wakes up along-

UR EVENT LISTED?

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the

WEEKLY
Phnom Penh

THURSDAY MARCH 10, 2016

the unlikeliest places. I saw one

boy at a restaurant, she said. He
was carrying food to a customer
and I thought he has a good walk.
He has movement!
Panngoen took the busboy
with the good walk aside for a
conversation. He said he wanted
to be a lady, but he didn't know
how, Panngoen said. So I said
come, follow me. The first day
the other dancers laughed at him
because of his curly hair and dark
skin... But he wanted to work in
Rosana. He wanted to be a girl.
Now she is a superstar.
This superstar is the 22-year
old Belle (the wearer of the flouncy
pink dress) and she has been with
the revue for three years now. All
my life I wanted to be a beautiful
girl, Belle said, I feel very happy
now to be able to perform.
Like many other dancers,
Belle who was originally named
Nao Narith started as a costume
worker backstage at Rosana

In other
companies they
wouldn't accept us,
even though we can
do the work. They
disliked ladyboys

Choreographer Kanoklak Panngoen watches Belle practice her routine during rehearsals before the evening show.

as long as one and a half hours

applying makeup backstage. The
time is well spent even from good
seats at the front of the theater, it is
not always easy to tell male from
female.
Despite her accomplishments,
Panngoen was humble about
the quality of the show. It's not
perfect not the same as the
ladyboys in Thailand, she said,
pointing out that finding ladyboys
with long, beautiful legs has been
a challenge. Expectations are
a little lower in Cambodia, she
explained.
If the show did not quite meet
Thai standards, the audience
didn't care. Mostly Chinese and
Korean tourists, they clapped
along, waved to the dancers, and
gasped audibly when Gangnam
Style played. Most were so eager
to record the spectacle that they
flagrantly broke the rule against
filming the show, raising their
smartphones to shoot video.
For
young
Cambodian

men who dream of becoming

women, there are few chances
to be the object of this kind of
attention. Rosana is the dream of
Cambodian ladyboys, Panngoen
said, because there is nothing
else... If the Khmer ladyboys didn't
have Rosana what would they do?
If they wanted to be a lady to have

long hair and a dress they would

have nowhere else to work.
Rosana gives dancers the
chance both to earn a living and to
live out their gender identity, even
if they come from poor families. If
you want to be a beautiful woman
you will spend a lot of money,
said Ms. Sambo, but a lot of them

Fabien Mouret

Fabien Mouret

before getting her moment in

the spotlight. Panngoen helped
her not just to learn to dance,
but also helped her through the
difficult transformation process of
hormone therapy and surgery.
I train them not only for
dance, I train them for life, how to
live as a ladyboy, said Panngoen.
I teach everything how to take
care of their skin, how to take
hormones, everything. Rosana
helps the dancers find skilled
surgeons in Bangkok who can
give them breast implants or facial
surgery.
To put the lady in ladyboy,
Rosana's dancers can spend

Fabien Mouret

from page 07

And, 21, puts on her makeup backstage.

10

the

WEEKLY
Phnom Penh

Emm, 36, puts on her headdress backstage.

[the dancers] come from a poor

family. Now they can earn a little
money...they can afford makeup,
they can afford a motorbike.
The dancers at Rosana have
the chance to be more than just
performers. Some have also
gotten desk jobs, the kind of job
that several performers said is
usually off limits to ladyboys,
because of a common prejudice in
Cambodia that transsexual people
are uneducated.
One of the dancers, Ker Mao
Rath, who goes by Mong, used
to be a dancer in a bar, until she
was recruited by Rosana. Now
Mong, who speaks Chinese, Thai,
and English, works a second job
as a sales assistant at the cabaret.
'Rosana gave me the opportunity
to do office work, she said. In
other companies they wouldn't
accept us [ladyboys], even though
we can do the work. They disliked
ladyboys.
She said her two salaries
have made her life better. This
is evident in at least one way:
she has made enough to buy an
iPad, on which she plays a game
of Mortal Kombat in the makeup
room as she waits for the night's
show to begin.
An hour later, Mong is
onstage in sequins and feathers
at the end of her dance. She
steps backwards as the curtains
close in front of her. Just before
the curtains close, she blows a
kiss to the audience, and the
lights go out.

THURSDAY MARCH 10, 2016

Flavors
The Humble

Roots of Cambodian

Coffee
By Michael Light

Fabien Mouret

Sophorn Panna mixes coffee

beans at Feel Good Coffee

ophorn
Panna
was born poor in
1988 in a small
house in Takeo
province. He described his
fatherdrafted into the
Cambodian military at 18
during the Khmer Rouge
timesas lost by the
time he was old enough
to start remembering him.
Sophorns mother raised
him and his seven siblings
on her own. By the time
he was 14, Sophorn was
working. His first job was
picking the young leaves
off tamarind trees to bring
to a local market for sale.
He picked palm fruit for
a few months and was
excellent at climbing trees.
Then
I
was
a
fisherman, he says. In
the nighttime, during the
right season, sitting by
a small river with a net.
Cambodia was different
then. Hed come home
early in the morning
carrying 10 kilograms
of fish. Then, he would
get himself ready to
go to school. He was

discouraged first from

attending high school
and then college, but
did both anyway. With
financial help from one
of his sisters back home,
hed eventually move
to Battambang to study
information technology
and finance at the
university there. Living
with an aunt in the city, he
never stopped working
when he wasnt in class he
was cleaning her house,
or working as an admin
at the school, or picking
up shifts at a restaurant,
which is where Sophorn
first made a cup of coffee.
Now, at 28, as the
head roaster at Phnom
Penhs Feel Good Coffee,
he is one of the most
important
figures
in
Cambodias
burgeoning
industry, a seminal part
of the promotion and
advancement of the quality
of the Kingdoms coffee.
Feel Good, a selfdescribed
social
enterprise, was established
in 2013 by industry

veterans Marc Adamson

and Jose Riverawho
had previously worked
in coffee in the US, New
Zealand and Australia
in hopes that it would
eventually develop into
a provider of sustainable
employment, education
and opportunity for its
Cambodian staff. In its
two years, the business,
which initially consisted
of a single cafe employing
five young Cambodians,
has grown into two cafes
with a combined staff of
thirteenand even now
those spaces arent big
enough.
With
clients
throughout the country
from small coffee shops
to
large
hotelsthe
demand for Feel Goods
coffee is only growing;
this year they purchased
more green coffee beans,
the unroasted seeds of
coffee cherries that after
being cleaned and sorted
and roasted and ground
become a cappuccino,
than ever before. And

although Sophorn admits

that the Cambodian coffee
industry is currently seeing
a period of rapid expansion
in step with the rest of
the growing economy,
he and Feel Good are far
less concerned about the
quantity of clients they
deliver beans to or the
number of customers that
trundle through the doors
of their shops. While those
things are important, sure,
what Sophorn really cares
about is quality.
When I was 18, he
says, I could not drink black
coffee without sugar. In
Cambodia, we drink coffee
when we meet with our
families, when we celebrate,
in the morning, at nighttime,
in our offices and at
funerals. The most popular
preparation is coffee with
sweet milk and ice.
Most of that imported
coffee from Vietnam, he
explained, tastes terrible.
Coffee can pretty simply
be split into two literal
family treesthe Arabica
family, which is known for

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its quality, and the Robusta

family, whose beans comes
from easily-cared-for trees
that generally end up being
freeze dried and packed
into containers of Nescafe.
A lot of the coffee being
bought and consumed by
Cambodians is Vietnamese
Robusta, which is easily
imported and costs nearly
nothing per kilogram$6
at the lowest. For reference,
the worlds most expensive
green coffees, generally
belonging to the Arabica
familys Gesha variety
grown in Panama, can cost
upwards of 36 times that.
Part of Feel Goods mission
is to source all its green
beans from Southeast
Asia. They import high
quality coffees from places
in Thailand, Laos and
Vietnam. But, as Sophorn
explains, Feel Good is also
committed to promoting
Cambodian-grown coffee.
To learn that a coffee
crop even exists in the
country
is
surprising
to some, but as it turns
out there are quite a few
farmers
in
Mondulkiri
growing
a
hybrid
Catimor
(Arabica)
variety. The
majority is
bought up by
large-scale
distributors
in
Phnom
Penh, but the

coffee also shows up as 10

percent of Feel Goods
signature blend, which is
otherwise made up of Lao
and Thai coffees.
The main thing is that
in Cambodia, there is an
environment
conducive
to growing coffeethere
are waterfalls and high
elevation and lots of shade
for the trees to grow in. We
hope that buying and using
coffee from Mondulkiri
will promote Cambodian
coffee as a whole, and
encourage farmers to pay
attention to the quality of
the coffee theyre growing,
Sophorn says.
But the representation
of Cambodias crop doesnt
end within the countrys
borders. Last year, Sophorn
traveled to Kuala Lumpur to
compete in an international
barista
competition.
Stacked against a strong
field of competitors, he
highlighted the Cambodian
notes in his coffee by
serving it alongside dark
chocolatewhich
the
drink itself carries deep
notes ofand tamarind.
He was docked few points
by judges, and although he
ultimately received second
place it was a major victory
for Cambodian coffee.
Since 2008, theyve
opened
700
new
restaurants and cafes in
Phnom Penh, Sophorn
says. Coffee around the
world is big. In Cambodia
its getting bigger.
the

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Phnom Penh

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