I love archival films very much. I spent thousands of hours watching archive footage. Every time I see it, I see something. Sometimes I think I know this footage, but two years later, I see it again, and I see something new.
I have never been political in a partisan sense.
To me, form is not something that you can plan beforehand, especially for a documentary. You can't write it or sketch it. It requires a confrontation with reality, with history, with ethics and morals. After identifying good content, you have to find the right form to express that content.
The Khmer Rouge can't destroy me. I still have my imagination and am capable of making films. I am not locked up.
Film is subjective, and we must be careful with that. The kinds of films I love are those that observe, and I give possibility for people to talk. No need for me to tell people what to think - even when I make a film like 'S-21.' It's only one point of view. It's still a film; it's not a tribunal.
'The Missing Picture' is about my story and my parents. Before this film, I never said 'I' in a film, so it is very personal.
We must be capable of writing our own history.
Cambodia is not only a country of war, but also a country of culture. It's in our DNA.
When we pray to Buddha, we are not praying to a piece of stone, an image of Buddha, but we pray to the soul of Buddha behind the piece of stone. The souls of the people who are dead now are still with us.
Every time you are getting ready to make a shot in a documentary film, you are asking yourself questions about your cinematographic approach. You are approaching the truth, but the image is never the truth itself.
Sometimes if you can tell one personal story with a lot of sincerity, it can become a universal story.
I'm not someone who has to make a film at any cost. I have to find the right way to make it or not at all.
I have only one life, and I can't do all. If I do one thing well, I'm happy.
When you screen a film like 'The Missing Picture,' it is not like watching TV. Watching TV is very solitary. When you watch cinema, you watch it together, and you talk about it after the screening.
What I like to do with every film is to bring a form, like a cinematographic proposal. If you watch 'S21,' it's a form; 'Duch, Master of the Gates of Hell' is a different proposal.
A country cannot develop without a strong identity.
Art is giving to what you create a soul.