In honour of Cambodian rice farmers

Paris based Rithy Panh's first feature 'Les Gens de la rizière', an elegiac unsentimental tribute to his native Cambodia will be screened at Alliance Francasie on Tuesday June 10 at 3 pm and Wednesday 11 at 6.30 pm.

This is a story of Vong Poeuw, his wife Yim Om, and their seven daughters. Rice growing is at the heart of everything in their lives, their joys, their beliefs, their survival... The plot of land is small, the family is large, the children are growing. The balance is a fragile one.

A banal incident occurs and the cycle of life is transformed into a tragic cycle. Focused on a hard-pressed rice-growing family with its Russian-doll-pack of seven daughters, the film, based on a novel by Shannon Ahmad, follows their travails as the seasons turn and the wife takes over the burden of responsibilty after her husband succumbs to a deadly thorn.

Impressive as it is - the cast of professionals and non-professionals show extraordinary commitment; the landscape, interiors and actors are finely photographed; and the tone is ably sustained - the film is somehow neither as moving nor as satisfying as it promises to be.