Cambodia: The Power of Memory Our World

But, with the pilot still being investigated

for manslaughter, and the inquests to come, it may be months before

they know if anyone will be held to account.

Now on BBC News, it is time for Our World.

Yalda Hakim visits Cambodia to meet Angelina Jolie.

40 years ago, Cambodia experienced a genocide

Now, a new film directed by Hollywood superstar

Angelina Jolie has won the backing of the

The presence of the Cambodian royal family at the movie's premiere,

a stamp of approval for a film about the genocide that has never

happened before, a significant acknowledgement that there needs

to be more public discussion about the events of that time.

I hope this doesn't bring up hatred, I hope it doesn't bring up blame,

I hope it just brings up discussion and I hope that the people of this

country are proud when they see it because they see what they survived.

On the banks of the Mekong River bursts of colour,

This is Phnom Penh today, full of life, bustling,

Seeing all this it is hard to imagine that just four decades

In 1975, the Khmer Rouge, a radical communist movement,

took power, forcing millions from the cities

This was their year zero, an attempt to create

It was easy to find yourself an enemy of Angkor,

Practising religion, showing emotions or even wearing

In four years over two million people were killed,

In 1979, weakened by infighting, the Khmer Rouge were driven

from power by invading troops from neighbouring Vietnam.

40 years later, a new film about those times,

First They Killed My Father is breaking new ground.

There have been films made about the genocide before,

It is funded by one of the world's biggest content distributors,

But it's filmed entirely in Cambodia with Cambodian actors

Because it's directed by Hollywood superstar Angelina Jolie.

She has had a deep connection with this country for almost 20

years since she first made a film here.

It is where she adopted her first child, a Cambodian boy.

She has even been given Cambodian citizenship.

I thought what story do I feel is really important to tell?

I felt that this war that happened 40 years ago and what happened

to these people was not properly understood and not just

for the world, but for the people of the country.

I felt that I wanted them to be able to reflect on it in a way

This film is graphic, detailed and personal.

It is based on the true story of Loung Ung, who was five years

old when the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge began.

She managed to survive but her mother, father and two

And in a country where almost every family suffered under the regime,

the film-makers hope this will resonate and encourage people

to speak more freely about their deep, personal pain.

Right in the centre of the capital, Tuol Sleng, also known as S21,

was a high school that became a prison.

Inmates were stripped, suffocated, interrogated,

Foreign tourists from all over the world come here to learn.

But you don't see many Cambodians here.

Some of the local people I've spoken to say they don't want to be

There are thousands of pictures taken of each prisoner

Each of them would have had families, a life and this

is the only way we can now remember them.

Over 12,000 people are estimated to have come through these doors.

I think of all the photographs, it is the ones where

they are smiling which make me feel most sick because we now know

They would have had some idea of what would happen to them.

It just doesn't fit what's actually going on in this place,

At 86 he is one of the last still alive.

He comes back here every day to share his story with one person

Like so many others, he was accused of being a spy

As a mechanic he was useful to the Khmer Rouge and they kept him

He takes me to see his cell where he was known as number 22.

Now he has made it his duty to repeat his story over and over

as a tribute to the thousands who didn't.

He wants to make sure every single person who walks through the doors

of the museum understand what happened here.

Rithy Panh was just 11 years old when the Khmer Rouge

He is now arguably the country's most influential artist and produced

The Oscar nominated film-maker says this is a country that has trouble

And there are so many ghosts in this country.

On the outskirts of the capital the anonymous dead.

They call them the killing fields and these mass graves exist

One favourite mantra of the regime was "to keep you is no benefit,

Some victims were shot dead, others buried alive,

This is yet another mass grave where more than a hundred victims

were killed, mostly women and children.

And this over here it is the most unimaginable, but they had a killing

tree and now there are just these colourful beads,

So what has been done to bring those responsible to justice?

A UN-backed court was set up in Cambodia.

Hundreds of millions have been spent so far,

though only four officials have gone to trial, a deliberate decision

to only try those at the very top of the Khmer Rouge.

Further funding for the tribunals is now in jeopardy and it is unlikely

But some of those who suffered say a tribunal is not the only

They say what is needed is to keep speaking up.

This is the biggest film premiere this country has ever seen

and the presence of a superstar like Angelina Jolie has brought

The film's screening at one of Cambodia's world-famous ancient

temples is a deliberate display of the approval it has

at the highest level of Cambodian society.

The presence of the King and Queen of Cambodia is highly symbolic.

This kind of domestic support and backing of a film

about the genocide has never happened before here in Cambodia.

For Angelina Jolie this is a passion project.

This film is in a way my way of saying thank you to Cambodia.

Because, you see, Cambodia changed my life.

The film is being screened in Cambodia seven months before

Schoolchildren and victims sit side-by-side, a generation who know

the story all too well, and a new generation willing

So I hope this doesn't bring up hatred, I hope it doesn't bring up

blame, I hope it just brings up discussion and I hope

that the people of this country are proud when they see it

because they see what they have survived and I think it sheds light

on what it is to be Cambodian, a lot of the beauty of love

You think this nation is ready for that?

I hope so. Yes, I do.

The hope is this film will make it easier for the country to talk

Some have already found the courage to do so.

His weathered face shows the hard life he has lived.

The 65-year-old now sells bananas for a living.

When it comes time for talking about his past, though,

He wants to meet us in a remote pagoda.

Before he was a farmer he was a torturer at the infamous

Tuol Sleng prison that I visited in Phnom Penh.

So there was screaming, begging, asking you to stop?

During that time he did not consider he was guilty.

It has been 40 years since the events he describes

and he calls himself a victim as well.

But does he think he should have been punished?

Pratt Korn tells me the past haunts him, he feels

He says he often talks to his children about his past,

but it is difficult for them to believe that their 64-year-old

father, now grandfather, could have committed

After the film premiere, Angelina Jolie has come to hear

She listens as one by one they speak.

The old share their stories, a lifetime of emotion is released.

I realise how difficult it is for them to open up.

The pain is still so present, like it happened yesterday.

How do you think this film will help the younger generation

when you hear her speaking you see her tears and pain?

What do you feel your responsibility is?

Well, to that question my responsibility would be to pass it

on to a way longer generation and to show them what the devastation was,

the struggle they have been through, the pain, in order for that to avoid

Do you think it is hard for them to open up?

As a society Cambodians don't like to talk about their feelings

Do you think that it is difficult for them to talk to the younger

people about what has happened to them?

In my opinion I don't think they feel they don't want to talk.

They really want to talk, they really want to reveal

what they have been through, but the problem is how the listener

For many Cambodians this is a first, to finally be speaking to strangers

about their private, painful memories.

Each move a symbol of the past, present and future.

It goes back thousands of years to Angkorian era,

a mixture of Hindu and Buddhist mythology.

In the past it was only ever taught at the Royal Courts.

But the dance almost vanished under the Khmer Rouge and only

a few of those who knew the art survived.

Now it is slowly making a comeback with a new generation keen

Another thing almost lost is being restored,

all the more precious for having been saved.

The many Cambodians I have met and spoken to say they are slowly

restoring pride in their culture and finding strength

This nation's people are clearly still haunted by the events of 40

years ago and are still looking for a way to heal.

I think they will always search for answers, and need to remember.

But they don't want the brutality of the past and the need to remember

My advice for the weekend is to be prepared for everything. There will

be some rain and when it arrives it will