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" People of my generation did not like very much to tell what we lived through during the Khmer Rouge regime. "
Rithy Panh
Tell
Generation
Like
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" When I do feature films, I usually have a very strong sense of what I want to do. I have topics and subjects, so I go for it. I even know technically what I want to. But in the case of documentary, the story comes to me. "
Rithy Panh
Know
Want
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" I have never been political in a partisan sense. "
Rithy Panh
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Sense
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" Sometimes if you can tell one personal story with a lot of sincerity, it can become a universal story. "
Rithy Panh
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" I think that, as a filmmaker, you're always making the same film, regardless of how many different stories you tell. This is the case for me, whether I'm making documentaries or fiction films. "
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" Cannes or Oscars is not only to bring happiness and recognition - they protect people like me. The world knows who you are. You can work. You can express. You can help other people. It's not only the star system. It's a symbol of freedom. "
Rithy Panh
Happiness
Freedom
People
" A country cannot develop without a strong identity. "
Rithy Panh
Strong
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Country
" Totalitarians always want to kill culture. But imagine life without football, Faulkner, or Bob Dylan. It's not life. "
Rithy Panh
Want
Football
Culture
" When you screen a film like 'The Missing Picture,' it is not like watching TV. Watching TV is very solitary. When you watch cinema, you watch it together, and you talk about it after the screening. "
Rithy Panh
Cinema
Talk
Picture
" When we pray to Buddha, we are not praying to a piece of stone, an image of Buddha, but we pray to the soul of Buddha behind the piece of stone. The souls of the people who are dead now are still with us. "
Rithy Panh
Soul
People
Stone
" Film is subjective, and we must be careful with that. The kinds of films I love are those that observe, and I give possibility for people to talk. No need for me to tell people what to think - even when I make a film like 'S-21.' It's only one point of view. It's still a film; it's not a tribunal. "
Rithy Panh
Love
Me
Need
" I love archival films very much. I spent thousands of hours watching archive footage. Every time I see it, I see something. Sometimes I think I know this footage, but two years later, I see it again, and I see something new. "
Rithy Panh
Love
Sometimes
Think
" Art is freedom. If you defend art, you defend freedom. "
Rithy Panh
Art
Freedom
Defend
" When I make a film, I don't watch a lot of other films. I read a lot; I try to read poems, things that can liberate my human condition, that make me go away... I spend a lot of the time doing nothing, just concentrating on the subject. Sometimes I'll sit in my chair for two or three hours without doing anything. "
Rithy Panh
Time
Three
Sometimes
" Every day, do small gestures of generosity! It does not mean go to Cambodia. Do it at home. If you do nothing at home, evil becomes normal. "
Rithy Panh
Evil
Home
Small
" Evil has always been there; it's always a part of us. Evil is no big surprise. But what about the people who gave freely, who stood up for human dignity? Even in the most extreme and terrible situations, these acts of dignity existed. And for me, that is the banality of good. "
Rithy Panh
Always
Evil
Good
" Evil has always been here since the world began. Good is what is difficult. It is a work of every day. "
Rithy Panh
Every Day
World
Day
" I'm not someone who has to make a film at any cost. I have to find the right way to make it or not at all. "
Rithy Panh
Find
Way
Someone
" I didn't survive because I was stronger than others. I survived because my family and friends helped me to survive. They took my place. My job is to give them back their dignity, tell their story, and say their names. "
Rithy Panh
Family
Friends
Job
" If you can keep something very personal, like a song, like a color, like a story, deep in your heart, then nobody can destroy that. Nobody can destroy your imagination; nobody can destroy your love. "
Rithy Panh
Love
Imagination
Heart
" I left Cambodia when I was 12 or 13. I didn't really escape, but I needed to go away. "
Rithy Panh
Away
Escape
Go
" To me, form is not something that you can plan beforehand, especially for a documentary. You can't write it or sketch it. It requires a confrontation with reality, with history, with ethics and morals. After identifying good content, you have to find the right form to express that content. "
Rithy Panh
Ethics
Reality
Me
" Cinema is not truth. Even when you make documentary films, you can choose to show this shot and not the other shot - this side and not the other side. In cinema, there's one truth - not 'the truth.' It's only 'my point of view.' Cinema is powerful because of that. "
Rithy Panh
Show
You
View
" When the Khmer Rouge reached Phnom Penh, the first thing they did was to evacuate the population. Then they took over. The point of a revolution is to bring justice to the people, so even if you don't have proof of sabotage, you manufacture it. "
Rithy Panh
Revolution
Over
People
" It's better to live a world where you can hear different languages and sensibilities. "
Rithy Panh
You
Live
Different
" Art is giving to what you create a soul. "
Rithy Panh
Soul
Art
You
" I have only one life, and I can't do all. If I do one thing well, I'm happy. "
Rithy Panh
Happy
Only
Well
" In this era of digital special effects, I think it's good to work with our hands and our hearts, to use water and clay, to dry it in the air from the sun. This brings you back to the element of life. "
Rithy Panh
Sun
Water
Work
" For the young generation, when they see that there is a film director from Cambodia to go on to be nominated, for them, a lot can change. I don't know another way to restore our identity if it's not art. "
Rithy Panh
Art
Change
Generation
" We need a peaceful, modern Cambodia. We need to achieve that. It's not easy. "
Rithy Panh
Easy
Peaceful
Need
" There is no book-learning culture in Cambodia. People do not read. The children do not read in school. Educators must come up with a policy that meets the great need for knowledge: using modern audiovisual methods that the young can connect with. "
Rithy Panh
Children
Great
Knowledge