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Films |
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THE
BIG SCREEN... |
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Originally
Oliver Stone’s baby, the Beyond Borders
team came to Cambodia in summer 2000 for
a preliminary scout. UK-based location manager
Sam Breckman worked with Hanuman Films co-founders
Nick Ray and Kulikar Sotho, scouting around
the temples of Angkor, the capital Phnom
Penh and the South Coast. Oliver Stone eventually
pulled out of the project and the script
did the rounds for a year or more. |
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| It was
finally shot in 2002 with Director Martin
Campbell and Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen
starring. It was released in October 2003.
Our team worked with the Art Department,
sourcing props and costumes from the late-1980s
communist period in Cambodia for the set
in Chiang Mai, Thailand. |
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Tomb
Raider – Paramount British Pictures
– 2000 |
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Tomb Raider
was the first major Hollywood film to shoot
in Cambodia since Peter O’Toole starred
in Lord Jim in 1964. The Tomb Raider crew
were all set to travel to China to film
the Terracotta Army coming to life, when
the sequence was pulled at the last minute,
as it had already been featured in a Chinese
movie. Cambodia was next on the list and
Hanuman Films was chosen for scouting at
Angkor. Following a successful scout with
a full technical crew, Paramount British
Pictures appointed Hanuman Films as their
local servicing partner in the Kingdom of
Cambodia. |
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Kulikar
Sotho worked as Local Liason Manager, essentially
Line Producer, arranging all filming permissions,
script approval, temporary import/re-export
of equipment, visas, accommodation, transport
and catering for the production. Nick Ray
worked as Location Manager on the film,
selecting locations for the shoot, building
a photographic inventory of the temples
used in shooting, approving all sets or
alterations to be made at each site and
working with local authorities every step
of the way to ensure this first sensitive
shoot at Angkor passed without incident. |
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Hanuman
Films also took responsibility for recruitment
of extras, recruitment of site security,
recruitment of humpers and labourers and
recruitment of a large team of interpreters
(some turned out to be more like interrupters,
but most acquitted themselves well!). |
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| Notable milestones passed during
production included: |
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- Securing the support of the Council
of Ministers for the project to go ahead,
despite some high level objections;
- Obtaining permission to build a traditional
floating village on the royal pond at
Angkor Wat;
- Getting nine containers over the roads
from hell in the middle of the wet season,
taking five days for the trucks to cover
just 320km;
- Juggling the shooting schedule around
the state visit of President Jiang Zemin
of China and King Norodom Sihanouk to
Angkor;
- Arranging the safe arrival of 30 or
so servicing vehicles from Thailand, another
journey from hell that required two army
units to build bridges along the way;
- And a successful wrap after eight days
of dawn 'til dusk intensity, making Cambodia
the smoothest part of the shoot for the
crew.
Tomb Raider premiered on June 15th 2001
at Mann’s Theatre in Los Angeles.
Nick and Kulikar were both invited to the
premiere and stayed with Producer Lloyd
Levin for a long weekend of partying. |
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Two
Brothers – Pathe Films –
2001-2002 |
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Jean-Jacques
Annaud’s Two Brothers, starring Guy
Pearce, is the story of two young tigers
in colonial Cambodia and their struggle
for survival in a human world. A Disneyesque
plot it may be, but it is beautifully shot
around the temples of Angkor and some groundbreaking
locations in north-east Cambodia. Nick Ray
worked as location scout on Two Brothers,
selecting the locations throughout Cambodia.
Nick scouted with JJ around the temples
of Angkor for a week in June 2001, before
the director returned with Producer Xavier
Castano in November 2001 for a second scout
of principal locations. JJ and Nick made
two motorbike assaults on the remote jungle
temple of Preah Khan in Preah Vihear province,
but eventually had to concede defeat after
some memorable adventures and take a helicopter
instead. |
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From March
2002, Nick worked with First Assistant Director
Christophe Cheysson, tracking down locations
throughout Cambodia. Regions of Cambodia
covered included Battambang, Kampot, Kratie,
Kompong Cham, Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri.
In April, JJ returned with a team of personnel
for a full technical scout throughout Cambodia
to select the final shortlist of locations.
By May, most of the locations were finalised
ready for the shoot in October, but Nick
was unable to work with the production crew
due to prior work commitments in Uganda
and Rwanda on behalf of Lonely Planet. |
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Kulikar
Sotho worked on the full technical scout,
arranging all logistics such as accommodation,
transport and catering. She also worked
as a facilitator and translator for the
team on their travels around Cambodia in
April and May.
Two Brothers is due for general release
in early 2004. |
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Five
thieves (Paanch Kaurav) |
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Paanch
Kaurav, or Five Thieves, is the latest action
film from young Indian director Rakesh Mehra.
With a pulsating plot owing a debt to action
flicks like Indiana Jones and The Mummy,
it tells the story of a team of treasure
seekers in British India. Director Rakesh
and Art Director Samir Chanda visited Cambodia
in July 2003 to scout locations for the
film. Nick Ray scouted with them for one
week around the temples of Angkor and will
team up with the production in Cambodia
once the locations in India are bedded down. |
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TELEVISION |
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THE
SMALL SCREEN... |
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A New History of the 20th century – Blakeway/Discovery – 2005 |
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A flagship history series for Discovery, Professor Niall Ferguson takes a closer look at the tumultuous events of the last century. The crew came to Cambodia in September to film for a few days in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Locations included the Killing Fields of Choeng Ek and the riverfront area in the capital, as well as Angkor Wat. Kulikar Sotho worked as Fixer for the shoot and arranged all permissions and logistics. |
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The Challenge – The Travel Channel – 2005 |
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This popular show pitted contestants against each other to try anc complete a variety of challenges around the world. Here in Cambodia the teams needed to work on a dolphin monitoring post for the Mekong Dolphin Conservation Project. The crew and teams came to Cambodia in August and spent several days in Kratie working with the local population. Kulikar Sotho worked as Fixer for the shoot and everything went smoothly. |
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Austin Stevens: Snakemaster – Animal Planet – 2005 |
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Austin Stevens gets up close and personal with the snakes of Cambodia in this popular Animal Planet series. For the Cambodia episode, the crew spent two weeks with Fixer Nick Ray, filming in the mangrove swamps of Ream National Park, the lost jungle temple of Beng Mealea and the River of a Thousand Lingas at Kbal Spean. Working with a Russian snake specialist, the show featured several of Cambodia’s most dangerous snakes, including the banded krait and the Malayan pit viper, also nicknamed nature’s landmine due to its explosive bite. |
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Hanuman Films arranged all the permissions and logistics for the crew throughout Cambodia. This included a luxury tented camp in the bush for the week-long shoot at the remote temple of Beng Mealea, complete with showers, toilets and catering. The shoot went very successfully and included a number of local crew for lighting and smoke effects. |
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Survivors: Chris Moon – Darlow Smithson/Discovery – 2005 |
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Following hot on the heels of Timewatch Pol Pot, the popular Discovery show Survivors came to Cambodia to film the story of amputee marathon runner Chris Moon’s kidnap by the Khmer Rouge in 1993. Chris Moon was working as a deminer for the Halo Trust and was kidnapped in Pursat province, but managed to successfully negotiate his release. He later lost his leg clearing landmines in Mozambique, but went on to run marathons all over the world, to raise money and awareness the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. |
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Another drama-documentary, this project included many complicated drama scenes with dozens of extras on some days, plus a local crew to take care of casting, costume, props and make-up. Many scenes were shot in the jungle around Siem Reap, including Phnom Kulen and the remote road north to Anlong Veng. There were also several scenes involving a helicopter, supposedly set in Mozambique, which involved finding African extras in Phnom Penh, not as easy as it sounds. |
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This project ran over several weeks and confirmed Hanuman’s position as the number one service provider in Cambodia for drama-documentaries. |
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Timewatch Pol Pot – BBC – 2005 |
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The award-winning Timewatch team travelled to Cambodia in April 2005 to film a feature-length special on the life of Pol Pot. This drama-documentary featured an innovative mix of drama recreations, interviews and archive footage from the Khmer Rouge period. Kulikar Sotho worked as Fixer and was able to work minor miracles in bringing everything together. |
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The drama scenes included more than a dozen leading local actors, more than 100 extras on some days, plus a local crew to take care of casting, costume, props and make-up. Locations were selected all over Cambodia including Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, as well as remote areas in Kompong Cham province. Some of the more sensitive scenes included the evacuation of Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975, which was filmed in Takhmau, and the clearing of houses in Phnom Penh in the days following the Khmer Rouge victory, which was filmed around O Russei Market in Phnom Penh. This involved clearing busy streets and extensive communication with the population to put them at ease. |
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Many of the interviewees were themselves senior Khmer Rouge cadre and Kulikar was able to arrange meetings with Brother Number Two, Nuon Chea, Nhim En, Tuol Sleng Prison photographer, Him Huoy, Chief Interrogator at Tuol Sleng Prison, and Youk Chhang, Director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia. Meeting with senior Khmer Rouge cadre took great personal strength and professionalism on the part of Kulikar, as many of her family were killed by the Khmer Rouge, including her father. |
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Although smaller in scale than the feature films Hanuman has worked on such as Tomb Raider, this was one of the most complicated projects we have undertaken, as the subject matter was so sensitive. With the imminent Khmer Rouge trial, the government were uncomfortable with the team interviewing surviving senior leaders and the public needed to be reassured before seeing hordes of Khmer Rouge troops swarming the streets of Phnom Penh once again. Plus we had to arrange all the filming and location permissions. The fact the shoot went so smoothly was down to the hard work and commitment of Kulikar and her excellent relationship with visionary director Andrew Williams. |
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The Really Wild Show – BBC – 2004 |
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The leading wildlife show for children in the UK, the Really Wild team came to Cambodia to film the Phnom Tamao Animal Sanctuary and the rare freshwater river dolphins in the Mekong near Kratie. Popular presenter Michela Strachan fronted the show and enjoyed meeting the gibbons, otters, tigers and sun bears at the wildlife sanctuary. She also got some glimpses of the rare dolphins, although they were fairly fleeting. The shoot went smoothly and helped to reinforce Hanuman’s reputation within the BBC. |
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Around the World in 80 Treasures – BBC – 2004 |
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This was a watershed project for Hanuman, as we crossed several borders to take responsibility for line producing in three countries in the region, Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand. A major series for the BBC Arts team, Presenter Dan Cruickshank travelled five continents in search of the world’s most impressive treasures. These included the great Buddhist temple of Borobodur in Java, the unique culture of the Toraja people in Tana Toraja in Sulawesi, the majestic temples of Angkor Wat and the Bayon in Cambodia and the ancient capital of Ayuthaya in Thailand. |
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Nick Ray worked as Line Producer on this shoot for more than one month, travelling to Thailand and Indonesia to set up the sequences. He met the crew in Yogyakarta and Java and spent the next ten days travelling with them through Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand. The Tana Toraja shoot was particularly complicated as it involved a charter flight from Makassar to Rantepao and several sensitive sequences, including a funeral celebration and a visit to their sacred burial sites. |
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The Around the World in 80 Treasures was a great success in Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand and has led to a long-term partnership between Hanuman and the BBC, with Hanuman now the recognised supplier for Cambodia and much of the Mekong region beyond. |
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The Jungle – ITV – 2004 |
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This flagship ITV mini-series examines the relationship between man and the forest and in the final episode, the team visited Angkor to understand the relationship between deforestation and the decline of the Khmer Empire. Filming in June 2004, the team included Presenter Professor Charles Higham, author of ‘The Civilisation of Angkor’. Shooting for a week at selected temples around Angkor, the crew also travelled to the riverbed carvings of Kbal Spean. The sequences in Cambodia included a short drama recreation of a royal hunting party stumbling across the temples while travelling through the area by elephant in the 16th century. |
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Worlds Apart – National Geographic – 2003 |
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The Worlds Apart team came to Cambodia in December 2003 to film an American family living the local life with a Cambodian family near Siem Reap. Nick Ray worked as Fixer and assisted in selecting the family to work with in the Roluos area. Approaching by a combination of 4WD, speedboat and tractor, the Darwins were well and truly disorientated by the time they arrived. They spent one week living without electricity and running water, learning to fish and harvest rice. They also made a pilgrimage to the holy mountain of Phnom Kulen, including sleeping overnight next to the River of a Thousand Lingas. The ultimate cross-cultural experience, Worlds Apart was an eye-opener for everyone involved. |
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Lonely
Planet Cambodia – Discovery Channel
– 2000 |
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It was
1999 and Pilot Productions was yet to feature
Cambodia in its popular Lonely Planet series.
Nick Ray, author of the bestselling Lonely
Planet guide to Cambodia, approached Pilot
with an outline for a Cambodia show, knowing
the time was right to feature the kingdom
as tourism began to take off. Nick chose
the locations to be featured in the one-hour
show, before scouting them all with Producer
Bini Adams and Fixer Kulikar Sotho. |
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Shooting
took place in January 2000, as popular presenter
Ian Wright and a small crew landed in Cambodia
for a three-week shoot. We shot all over
Cambodia, including Phnom Penh, Siem Reap,
Takeo, Kampot, Sihanoukville and Mondulkiri.
Highlights included a hilltribe wedding
in the village of Putang, a night in a wat
at the sacred hill of Phnom Da and an encounter
with a fortune teller at Angkor Wat. Presenter
Ian Wright was so taken by Cambodia that
when asked on a BBC Radio programme to where
he would return if he could only go back
to one country in his life, he chose Cambodia.
Angelina Jolie, Jean-Jacques Annaud and
many other industry stars feel much the
same way, having succumbed to the charms
of this kingdom. |
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| The show was broadcast on the
Discovery Channel Asia in June 2000 and has
been repeated worldwide many times over the
past few years. |
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The
Race – Thames Television –
2001 |
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The Race,
modelled on ABC’s popular Race Around
the World, passed through South-East Asia
in 2001. The young teams had a series of
challenges to complete in Phnom Penh and
Siem Reap before moving on to Thailand.
Kulikar Sotho worked as Fixer on the production,
looking after logistics for the teams and
crew and chaperoning them during their time
in Cambodia. The Race was broadcast on ITV2
in late-2001. |
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Wish
You Were Here? – ITV – 2002 |
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The Wish
You Were Here? team flew into Cambodia to
feature the temples of Angkor in a double-header
show with the bright lights of Bangkok.
Presenter Rhodri Thomas and a small crew
spent two days with Fixer Kulikar Sotho
and Location Adviser Nick Ray. The popular
show was screened on the UK’s ITV
channel in May 2002 with most of the running
time dedicated to Angkor. |
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NBC
Today – NBC – 2002 |
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NBC Today,
America’s leading breakfast television
show, came to Cambodia in May 2002 to shoot
a Cambodia special. Nick Ray was originally
asked to front a live broadcast on the steps
of Angkor Wat, but due to prior obligations
he suggested the NBC crew feature his pro-poor
tourism project Tourism Against Poverty
(TAP) in remote Preah Vihear province. Nick
travelled to the remote jungle temple of
Preah Khan for his TAP assignment before
meeting up with veteran NBC correspondent
Keith Miller. Once together Nick drove Keith
to a remote Angkorian bridge in the forest
before continuing on to the jungle-covered
temple of Beng Mealea. The team spent the
night with a local family in a nearby village
before exploring the temple the following
day.
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minutes during the Cambodia special, which
was broadcast on NBC on 16th May 2002. |
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BBC
Holiday – BBC – 2003 |
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The BBC
Holiday team came to Cambodia in March 2003
to feature Phnom Penh and the temples of
Angkor on their long-running travel show.
New presenter Jennifer Cox and a small crew
spent five-days in-country putting together
the programme. Kulikar Sotho worked as fixer
for the shoot, arranging all accommodation
and transport and looking after the crew
during their time in Cambodia. The programme
was screened in October 2003. |
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Rain
Falls From Earth – Ghost-2-Eleven
– 2003 |
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Rain Falls
to Earth is a US documentary examining the
impact of the Khmer Rouge on Cambodian society.
The US audience is far less aware of crimes
of the Khmer Rouge than might be expected
given the US government’s involvement
in Cambodia’s war. The film, produced
and directed by Steve McClure, aims to bring
the Cambodian trauma to a US audience, interviewing
both victims and victimisers in Cambodia
and the US about how the Khmer Rouge period
has affected their lives. This challenging
documentary is a haunting portrait of contemporary
Cambodia and a people trying to rebuild
their lives after many years of darkness.
It is still in production and will be distributed
for worldwide screening during 2004. |
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COMMERCIALS |
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SELL,
SELL, SELL...200
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Pfizer Promotion Film – Drescher Films – 2005 |
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Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer produced a commercial to highlight their foundation work in Cambodia, Morocco and Uganda and Hanuman worked with Drescher Films to make this possible in Cambodia. Filming an intern at the Angkor Children’s Hospital in Siem Reap, the crew had a short but sweet shoot, basing themselves at FCC Angkor Hotel. We also hired a local lighting team for the interiors at the hospital. |
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Dragon
Air – Moviola – 2002 |
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Dragonair
became the first international company to
successfully feature Angkor Wat in a commercial
shoot in spring 2002. Kulikar Sotho worked
with Hong Kong-based Moviola Productions
as Line Producer, taking responsibility
for entire production in Cambodia. Kulikar
arranged all filming permissions, including
the sensitive dragon dance shoot at Angkor
Wat, and arranged all logistics, such as
accommodation, transport and import/re-export
of equipment. During the five-day shoot,
Kulikar also acted as interpreter for the
15-strong production crew from Hong Kong. |
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| The commercial covered four
countries, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Japan and
Taiwan, but, according to the Moviola crew,
it was in Cambodia that things ran most smoothly.
It was broadcast in the Asia region from late-2002. |
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Landmines
Awareness – Warner Bros/Falling
Pine – 2002 |
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Film giant
Warner Bros (WB) and the US government’s
development arm USAID teamed up in 2002
to produce a public awareness film about
the perils of landmines in Cambodia. Blending
film and animation, the short commercial
featured the everyday lives of Cambodian
amputees and their struggle for survival.
Primarily targeted at children, often the
victims of landmines in remote areas, it
was presented by some of WB’s most
famous cartoon characters including Bugs
Bunny and Daffy Duck. Falling Pine Productions
put the commercial together for WB and USAID
and Kulikar Sotho worked as Fixer on the
shoot, selecting the interviewees and villages
to be featured. The commercial was broadcast
across the Cambodian networks in late-2002. |
