We’re here to congratulate Cambodian director Rithy Panh for his latest autobiographical documentary titled The Missing Picture (L’Image manquante) – it has been named the best film in the Un Certain Regard sidebar at this year’s Cannes Film Festival!
Described as a powerful and haunting story, the film is a highly personal account of the horrors of childhood lived under the Pol Pot regime. Head inside to find more details…
The Missing Picture explores the bloody history of Pol Pot’s dictatorship in late 1970s Cambodia, and the tale is told using old documentary footage – whatever remained from the time, which was mainly of propaganda by the dictatorship.
Here’s Rithy Panh’s description of the whole thing:
For many years, I have been looking for the missing picture: a photograph taken between 1975 and 1979 by the Khmer Rouge when they ruled over Cambodia… On its own, of course, an image cannot prove mass murder, but it gives us cause for thought, prompts us to meditate, to record History. I searched for it vainly in the archives, in old papers, in the country villages of Cambodia.Today I know: this image must be missing. I was not really looking for it; would it not be obscene and insignificant?So I created it.What I give you today is neither the picture nor the search for a unique image, but the picture of a quest: the quest that cinema allows.
The jury was headed by Danish director Thomas Vinterberg who said that he’s “very honored to be awarding this prize, which we all agree is for a fantastic movie”. He also added:
“One of the finest achievements in filmmaking is to create unforgettable moments – moments that stay with us – as a collective memory – as a collective mirror of our existence.”
At the end of this report, let us remind you that The Un Certain Regard jury awards also include:
Prize of Un Certain Regard: The Missing Picture by Rithy Panh
Jury Prize: Omar by Hany Abu-Assad
Directing Prize: Alain Guiraudie for Stranger by the Lake
A Certain Talent Prize: The ensemble cast of La Jaula de Oro by Diego Quemada-Diez
Avenir Prize: Fruitvale Station by Ryan Coogler
