The screenwriter and director Savunthara Seng is the founding editor-in-chief of “MARG1N”, a film magazine published in Phnom Penh. He currently works as a production assistant at the Cambodian production company Anti-Archive. He participated in the Purin Film Fund’s Short Film Camp in Bangkok and was a Flaherty Fellow in 2024. He regularly programmes film screenings and speaks on film criticism in Southeast Asia. After making several video works, Oupatevak het tam phnom is his first short film.
What was your starting point for „Oupatevak het tam phnom“?
I worked on several drafts of the script that focused more on ritual sacrifices and the subsequent investigation of a site where mysterious disappearances occurred. As I thought more about the material loss after the fact, and the eeriness and vastness of the jungle where such incidents tend to take place, I began to center the helicopter crash in the story. The script went through a week of intensive development at the Chakto Script Lab, which was organized in Phnom Penh in late 2024 and where it won the lab’s support grant and where I was mentored by script consultant Wim Vanacker. This was where I could say the “start” really happened.
Do you have a favorite moment in the film? Which one and why this one in particular?
My favorite moment is when the journalist hears the rustling leaves and then escapes. My basic instruction to the actor (Nareach Pich) was to run as though he had been noticed by a predator in the jungle. I didn’t tell the cinematographer (Songsit Kasiroek) where the actor would run. I wanted to create this rhythm of being surveilled and chased. They both fell while running as the camera swayed back and forth trying to capture the actor, an accident or error that made it into the film. By the end of the take, they dropped to the ground, exhausted, a feeling you can sense even if it wasn’t captured on screen.
What do you like about the short form?
What I like about short-form filmmaking is the ability to experiment in ways that a two-hour long movie might struggle and feel daunting to watch. The economy of time and the limitation of scale are captivating and bring about bursts of creative energies during both the production and the post-production, something I find very rewarding. With the short form, I can take risks without the fear of losing what I want to say. I’m able to accentuate certain moments or memories, rather than feeling the desperation to untangle narratives or rationalize anything.
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