Cambopedia

We are proud to introduce some of Roland Neveu’s remarkable photographs from his book ‘Cambodia: Years of Turmoil’. Please visit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angkorphotography
festival/sets/72157594330457623/

In May 1975, as Cambodia was being cut off from the outside world, the Khmer Rouge expelled the last remaining foreigners over the Thai border at Poipet. Among them was photographer Roland Neveu. At the time, he had no inkling of the genocide that would be inflicted on this country. But for the next 30 years, he regularly visited Cambodia and its borders, working
clandestinely at times, to document the horrors of war and the hopes for peace.

The pictures in this unique book bear witness to his enduring interest and coverage of the Cambodian story. Many photographs appeared in leading international newsmagazines, books and exhibitions. At the 2005 Angkor Photography Festival, 14 exhibits and 7 nights of slide show projections were organized. French photographer Roland Neveu began his career in the early 1970s after a stint at the University of Rennes, in Brittany. Quickly immersing himself in the
‘grand reportage’ arena, he became one of the few western photojournalists to witness the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge in 1975. For almost two decades he travelled to hot spots around the world on assignment for leading international magazines like Time and Newsweek. Roland Neveu’s stories have ranged from documenting the first Soviet prisoners of war in
Afghanistan’s mudjahedeen holy war to Beirut’s siege in mid-1982. He also covered El Salvador’s bloody feud and the NPA guerilla struggle in the Philippines as well as producing the first images of AIDS in Uganda in 1986. His international reputation as a photo-journalist helped launch a career in the film industry where he worked as stills photographer with top Holly-wood directors including Oliver Stone, Brian de Palma and Ridley Scott. He work on Matt Dillon movie “City of Ghosts”, filmed in Cambodia.

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Cambodians call it Kampong Som, one of the most beautiful places where they can access clean beach. The beach itself is popular to both locals and foreign visitors.

This weekend was spent in the beach town formerly known as Kampong Som, though it has now been renamed Sihanoukville in honor of the former King. Back at Barnes & Noble in Lancaster in August, I looked through Lonely Planet’s Cambodia guide and among other things I learned that Sihanouk, in addition to being the King, was also quite the filmmaker in his day. In fact, twice he hosted the Phnom Penh International Film Festival, and strangely enough, both times movies he directed and starred in won the grand prize. You gotta love the reckless egotism, and you wonder if renaming the beach town might also have been his idea.

Julayne compared the countryside of Cambodia to Amazon, at least in a sense, when the blogger making a visit to Bakong, a temple in Siem Reap.

After riding along for about a half an hour, we turned left onto a red dirt road, which inevitably reminded me of two things: (1) backwoods of Southern Georgia, and (2) the bus ride into Ecuador’s Amazonian town of Mesahualli. In fact, the countryside of Cambodia resembles the Amazon quite a bit. It’s very lush, green jungle spotted with the smiling faces of children and the curious looks that come from the older locals as they look in at the white girl, or “barang”, as the Khmer people like to say.

Christine Perez wrote that Bayon temple is the ideal place for introspective inspiration, and labeled the ancient temple 7 wonders of the world.

Bayon temple is notorious for the countless carvings of Buddha-Hindu heads. Although most of them are missing ears or mouths due to nature and time, they are still pervasive. I climbed to th very top to find an old Khmer woman worshipping in a small room. When she finished praying, she spotted my curiousity and motioned for me to meet her at the top of the stairs.

It would be dissapointed if you have been to Siem Reap, visiting some great ancient temples but not having been to Banteay Srey.

It is said that the art on this temples walls must have been carved by some skillfull women as the intricate carvings and the 3 dimensional art wouldn’t have been possible by the hands of a man. Bantaey Srei though very small in size is considered the most beautiful of all. The ornatley carved stones on the pink hue stone is a wonder to watch.