The Return is a feature-length
dance/documentary film by Jo Parkes and Sven O. Hill. The
film was shot during a month long residency in Cambodia in
October 2005 and tells the story of Kim Sathia, formerly a
celebrated classical dancer, as she works towards her first
performance as Cambodia’s first professional disabled
dancer.
Excerpts of the choreographed dance are shot in various locations
in Phnom Penh and appear in 2 – 4 minute sequences;
short dance films which afford a meditative and poetic representation
of the themes of the film and the abilities of the group.
Interviews with Sathia, her collegues and her friends intercut
with the dance sequences to chart her life story: her struggle
to survive the Khmer Rouge regime, the rigorous training in
classical Khmer dance and subsequent celebrity as a performer,
her withdrawal from life after becoming disabled, the slow
return to dance and the struggle to relearn her body and overcome
her shame and to perform on a stage before her former collegues
once more.
Funded by the British Embassy, Cambodia; Epic Arts; Filmstiftung
Nordrhein-Westfalen; Paul Leonard and The Bishop of Southwark’s
Lent Appeal.
The
Return is distributed by Taskovski films
www.taskovskifilms.com
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