New documentary digs deep into the Cambodian psyche, finds hope

For his recent documentary on Cambodia, Angkor Awakens, American filmmaker Robert Lieberman interviewed more than 140 individuals. Dozens made it onto the screen.

The result is an ambitious study of Cambodian politics as it operates within the collective psyche, spread across generations. But the film is aimed primarily at a Western audience, the director says.

Lieberman himself is a character. A physicist who teaches at Cornell University in the US, he’s written several novels and made a handful of films, including the documentary They Call It Myanmar, which drew global praise when it was released in 2012.“This was a much more complex story,” he says via Skype this week. “Cambodia has a tangled history.”

Angkor Awakens was four years in the making. It arose from a personal interest in the generational effects of genocide – Lieberman is a child of the Holocaust – and it shines in its exploration of inherited trauma, and the dangers of keeping silent.