Rithy Panh, a renowned documentary filmmaker, was born on April 18, 1964, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. His life took a dramatic turn in 1975 when his family fell victim to the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, and he was forced to flee to Thailand.
In 1979, Panh escaped to Paris, France, where he was welcomed as an orphan. Despite the challenges he faced, he went on to study at La Fémis, the prestigious French National Cinema School.
Panh's professional journey began in 1989 with the release of his documentary Site 2, which won numerous international awards. This marked the beginning of a unique body of work that explores modern Cambodia and the devastating legacy of the Khmer Rouge regime.
One of Panh's most acclaimed documentaries is S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine, released in 2003, which delves into the notorious torture prison of the Khmer Rouge. His avant-garde documentary The Missing Picture, released in 2013, made history as the first Cambodian film nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
Panh has also been instrumental in preserving Cambodia's film, photographic, and audio history through his work with Bophana: Audio Visual Resource Center - Cambodia, a project he co-founded with director Ieu Pannakar.
Throughout his career, Panh has received numerous accolades, including an honorary doctorate from the University of Paris-VIII in 2011 and the Preservation and Scholarship Award from the International Documentary Association (IDA) in 2014. In 2012, he published his critically acclaimed autobiography, L'Élimination.
Today, Rithy Panh is widely regarded as one of the most acclaimed documentary filmmakers and the most famous Cambodian filmmaker worldwide, known for his powerful and thought-provoking films that continue to shed light on the dark chapters of Cambodian history.
