Charlie Petersmann
Switzerland | 2017 | 38 min
World premiere
Language : Khmer
Subtitles : English, French
Miss Rain lives protected by water. Her brother spends his time on a boat fetching her between the lakeside village and the meanders of the river. Whether she is swimming or moving on the water to fish, she is reassured, in harmony with her element. When the rainy season is approaching and it is time to leave the floating dwellings for terra firma, Miss Rain remains alone in her cabin among the reeds. The land sends her back to her nightmares. For her, the forest is the place where the devil hides. Over 30 years ago, under the Pol Pot regime, all of her family was killed in the woods and her spirit has never recovered from it. Her dreams are still filled with shadows and flames.
The simple and enchanting mise en scène of this story and the construction and flow of this tale enable us to draw as close as possible to the characters and to grasp the consequences of the Khmer dictatorship. This film, just like Miss Rain and her brother, is haunted by a past which cannot resurface again and remains hidden in the shadows of the Cambodian forest and the black night, interspersed with flaming torches.
Madeline Robert