Graves Without a Name

Graves Without a Name attempts to recount events during the genocide in Cambodia under the rule of Khmer Rouge, from 1975 to 1979. But how can we even imagine suffering, brutality, and cynicism on such a scale? How do we imagine the deaths of millions of people? Graves Without a Name takes a detour via present-day Camobia and the lives and healing of survivors and their relatives. Director Rithy Panh interviews them, while also searching for the graves of his own relatives that fell victim of the disaster. This is accompanied by beautiful images that hint to the mourning Panh goes through, and by an imaginative use of voice over that threads together excerpts from philosophy and poetry. Graves Without a Name is storytelling at its finest, and a testament to the pain and necessity of trying to imagine and remember the past. CFO

Rithy Panh (b. 1964) is a French-Cambodian filmmaker and writer, born in Phnom Penh. He escaped from Cambodia to Thailand in 1979 and has later made a number of acclaimed and award-winning films about the the Cambodian genocide. Panh studied at the national French film school Le Fémis.