Phnom Penh - Die Stadt der Huegel - Teil 1

The movie deals with a meeting between a western woman traveler and the city of Phnom Penh in Cambodia. This meeting between the two leaves the traveler with unpleasant feelings of heaviness and depression. The traveler goes through a personal journey and learns more about the city and its people. She comes across many different stories: from the ancient mythology, past and recent history and our present time. By putting together these stories, the city and its nature reveal itself. During this journey the traveler and the city becomes one.

The city becomes a junction of stories that bring together; the ancient story of the character of Penh- the woman that established the city; the Buddhist belief that compassion offers redemption from the roots of pain and suffering; the present memory of a nation that killed itself - genocide; and the urban present of a bare and wounded city.
The city of Phnom Penh lives the tension between the basic belief in compassion and humanity, and the acknowledgment of the cruelty within.

This movie was made with artistic and documentary skills. There is a distinction between the authentic photography of the city and its people; and between the mythological stories that are presented with a performance like artistic language; a sign language.
The mythological stories are a triptych of 3 pieces. Each part tells a mythological story based on the myth of the city Phnom Penh. The last part of the triptych is a fiction, never happened and based on the recent history of Cambodia between 1975-1979.