Brief: Create a short film that helps the audience think about migration, diversity, social inclusion, or prevent xenophobia in a constructive way.
Entry into the PLURAL + Youth Video Festival 2019 (spearheaded by the 'United Nations Alliance of Civilisations' and 'The IOM”).
INSIGHT: Gender roles are black & white in Khmer society, and the ‘Chbab Srey’ is an idolised poem in Cambodian culture that shapes many young girls’ early life.
IDEA: Unpack what it's like to grow up as a woman in Khmer society today.
EXECUTION: Animatea conversation between a mother and daughter as she teaches here the values in the ‘Chbab Srey’.
Strategy:
Interviews: Leabphea and other women shared their cultural experiences in depth.
Cultural research: Online deep-dive into points made in the interview.
Script writing: Transferring the history, facts and mythology into a story that felt genuine and spoke the same language as the context it held.
Story-boarding: All materials used - black and white paper, ink, tissue paper and string - could all be found in Leabphea’s village in her province. Many metaphors relating to the poem were buried in the script and were visually translated.
