Premiere of Short-documentary Series: “Stories of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Archives”

The short-documentary series: “Stories of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Archives” under the project “Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Archives Preservation and Digitisation” were officially premiered at the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Centre in Phnom Penh on Jan. 17, 2022.

The event was held under the strong partnership between the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the United Nations Educational, Science and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Ministry of Culture and Find Arts of Cambodia, and Bophana Audiovisual Resource Centre.

The premiere of the short-documentary series was attended by a number of honorable guests including H.E. Dr. Park Heung-kyeong, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Cambodia, H.E. Mrs. Phoeurng Sackona, Minister of Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, Mr. Hyunjun RHO, Country Director of KOICA Cambodia Office, Mr. Alam Sardar Umar, Head of Office and UNESCO Representative to Cambodia, Mr. Chea Sopheap, Executive Director of Bophana Audiovisual Resource Centre, and other national and international participants.

KOICA and UNESCO have agreed to work together on the project “Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Archives Preservation and Digitisation” from 2015 to 2020 with the grant aid of US$1,150,000. The short-documentary series, which are released to the public for the first time on Jan. 17, sums up the five-year long efforts, said a press release of KOICA.

Under the framework of Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Archives Preservation and Digitisation Project with the support from KOICA, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum’s Archives over 700,000 pages have been preserved and almost half a million of them have been digitised, said the same source, adding that this documentary heritage is the most detailed account of the prison system of the Khmer Rouge regime.

According to the press release, the objectives of this project are 1)-to preserve and digitise the archives of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, inscribed on the international Memory of the World Register in 2009, 2)-to support the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in developing into an educational and peace-building site where youth, Khmer Rouge survivors and the general public can have access to information about their historical past and carry on dialogue about peace and non-violence, and 3)-to build the capacity of the staff at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts to manage the archives.

The archives tell a thousand stories about what happened at the S-21 Prison during the Khmer Rouge Regime. Some of those stories have been captured by Bophana Audiovisual Resource Centre in a series of five short documentary films that UNESCO presented them at the official launching ceremony.

The short-documentary series “Stories of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Archives” will raise awareness for the Cambodian people, especially the younger generation, of the events that took place during the Khmer Rouge regime, and will help them better understand their past to promote reconciliation and peace education.

Source: Agency Kampuchea Press