Danech San, A Million Years (2018), Cambodia

A young woman relaxes at a riverfront restaurant, where she recounts her past experiences, finding enchantment in the flows of the river and trees on the nearby mountains. She strangely entered a parallel riverfront with a stranger and they recounted stories of fear until she finds herself realising her existence beyond reality, space, or time as well as her confusion with the current reality. A Million Years is Danech San’s debut film. The artist interweaves deep questions of today and tomorrow with the afternoon heat. The film draws upon a collection of ideas inspired by the memories and dreams of her own. The characters remember their past to recreate a collective memory based on impressions, sounds, and feelings. The film premiered at the 2018 Busan International Film Festival. It was subsequently named Best Southeast Asian Sort Film Award at the 2018 Singapore International Film Festival and won the Arte Short Film Award at the 2019 Internationale Kurz Film Film Festival Hamburg.

About Danech San

Danech San is from Battambang, in the northwest region of Cambodia. She started working with Anti-Archive, a Phnom Penh-based film production production company in 2015 as a casting and production assistant for Diamond Island (2016), which won the SACD Prize at the Cannes Critics’ Week in 2016. A Million Years began as San’s writings from her memories and dreams lingering in her mind. She then collected the ideas and came up with one story that expresses her innermost feelings on fear, relationships, and attraction.

The screening of Danech San, A Million Years (2018) at the Cinema For All Pavilion is supported by Anti-Archive and the courtesy of Danech San.