Smart, Universal Music bringing Jessie J to capital

Singer-songwriter Jessie J performs in New York City’s Central Park in May. AFP

Smart, Universal Music bringing Jessie J to capital

Thu, 29 October 2015

Post Staff

UK pop idol Jessie J is to perform at a concert in Phnom Penh on December 12 hosted by telecommunications company Smart and Universal Music.

Smart chief executive Thomas Hundt at a press conference yesterday announced that the concert would be held on Koh Pich following the finale of Smart’s “Mega Concert 2015” tour and I Am the Fastest Competition which will feature a series of performances by Cambodian artists all around the Kingdom between October 31 and December 11.

Real name Jessica Ellen Cornish, the pop and R&B singer’s first album in 2011, Who Are You, landed in the top 15 on the Billboard Top 200 and had six top 10 singles.

The single "Domino" went onto double-platinum status. Her second album Alive in 2013 reached the top five in the UK Albums Chart while last year’s Sweet Talker reached number 10 on the US Billboard Top 200. According to her website, she’s sold more than 20 million singles and 3 million albums worldwide.

Jessie J will be the second big-name artist Smart has brought Cambodia in less than a year. In May, the company staged an open-air concert on Koh Pich with US pop star Demi Lovato, which was reported as being one of the biggest by a foreign artist ever in the Kingdom.

Yesterday’s concert announcement came after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Smart and six music production houses to have their artists’ music made available through Smart’s music streaming services.

Hundt said Smart was becoming an entertainment provider rather than just a telecommunications company.

He said the company’s goal was to increase respect for music copyright to ensure that songwriters were compensated for their work and that the collaboration was about making music “affordable and available everywhere”.

The concert is free, however two levels of premium areas are set aside for Smart mobile phone subscribers who activate top ups worth $2 or $20. For more details checksmart.com.kh.

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Festival an opportunity for Kingdom’s young filmmakers

A still from Chap Somchanrith’s "Cambodian western" short "A Fistful of Pebbles", which will screen as part of this weekend’s Chaktomuk Short Film Festival. Photo supplied

Festival an opportunity for Kingdom’s young filmmakers

Thu, 5 November 2015

Audrey Wilson

The fourth Chaktomuk Short Film Festival begins on Friday with a bigger lineup of homegrown shorts than ever before.

Twenty-two Cambodian shorts and 25 more from abroad will be screened during the three-day festival at Aeon Mall’s Major Cinema and the French Institute. All the films on the program are under 30 minutes long, and fictional rather than documentary.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, festival director Sok Visal said the event would enable Cambodian short filmmakers to interact with producers and gain visibility – and, eventually, to increase the quantity and quality of local content.

“I believe that Cambodia is [full of] young filmmakers; so as long as they can showcase their works through our film festival, they can reach out to a wider crowd,” Visal said.

The festival will open with a ceremony and screening of the award-winning Colorful Knots by Ly Polen on Friday at Aeon Mall’s Major Cinema.

Prum Seila, one of CSFF’s co-founders and the president of arts collective Kon Khmer Koun Khmer, believes the festival demonstrates that the short film format is important, especially for filmmakers early in their career. “They just need the floor,” he said.

Seila said there were more Cambodian submissions to the festival than ever before and, for the first time, organisers received submissions from the provinces.

Recurring themes and subjects include family, LGBT issues, science fiction and animation.

Seven Cambodian films have been nominated to compete for the festival award – $3,000, to be awarded by a panel of judges – and for an audience award of $700.

Rin Sokreth, a 23-year-old graduate of the Royal University of Phnom Penh, produced and directed one of the nominated films, Spool. He said he hoped to one day direct feature films.

“Directing the young generation to produce short films is the first step,” said Sokreth.

Sokreth’s film – which served as his thesis project at RUPP this year – focused on the plight of a young garment worker. He said CSFF was a motivation for him to produce the film and share a fictional story about the subject.

Chap Somchanrith, a filmmaker who works for BBC Media Action, directed, produced and wrote one of the other nominated shorts, a seven-minute film he describes as a “Cambodian western” called A Fistful of Pebbles.

His film has been shown at international film festivals and took third prize at the Tropfest Southeast Asia short film festival this year.

“We wanted to do something different from what young Cambodian filmmakers make these days,” Somchanrith said. “There are so many stories to tell in Cambodia.”

The Chaktomuk Short Film Festival is sponsored by Cellcard, and supported by the Ministries of Culture and Information.

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Cambodians getting a taste of Japan’s film legacy

A still from "Snow on the Blades", a 2014 Japanese film directed by Setsuro Wakamatsu, being screened in Phnom Penh as part of the first Japanese Film Festival in Cambodia. Photo supplied

Cambodians getting a taste of Japan’s film legacy

Fri, 6 November 2015

Audrey Wilson

The Japanese Film Festival in Cambodia, which runs until Tuesday, will bring a singular focus on Japanese cinema to the Kingdom for the first time.

Organisers will screen 16 feature films over six days at Major Cinema in Aeon Mall and Legend Cinema at TK Avenue Mall.

The film festival – organised by the Embassy of Japan in cooperation with the Japan Foundation – opened last night with a ceremony at Chaktomuk Theatre and a screening of the award-winning film Departures that was attended by the Minister of Culture.

Held to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Japan-Cambodia Treaty of Amity, the festival represents the first standalone festival of Japanese cinema in Cambodia, though Japanese films have been screened as part of larger events before, according to festival organiser Lomorpich Rithy.

“The rationale behind bringing this festival to Phnom Penh is to connect the people of Japan and Cambodia,” Rithy explained. She said that organisers hoped to promote Japanese culture in Cambodia, as well as to expose Cambodian film fans and filmmakers – especially from the younger generation – to a different cinema tradition.

The selection of films traverses Japan’s cinematic history: from films released this year to anime features to the 1954 classic Twenty-Four Eyes.

Notable films on the schedule include sports drama 100 Yen Love, Japan’s entry for Best Foreign Language film at the 2014 Academy Awards; the 2005 romance Tokyo Tower; and the film adaptation of Rebirth, which won 10 awards at the 2011 Japan Academy Prize.

“The history of Japanese films has a very strong history and foundation,” Rithy said. She believes that this legacy will connect with a Cambodian audience.

“In the big picture it’s different, but in some details, Cambodian and Japanese culture, it’s very similar,” she said.

For more details about the Japanese Film Festival in Cambodia go to jffcambodia.com.

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Takeo woman tried to slip fake cash to investor

Police yesterday inspect counterfeit money that a Takeo province woman allegedly gave to an investor in a purported antiques business. National Police

Takeo woman tried to slip fake cash to investor

Thu, 17 March 2016

Morn Vanntey

A Takeo province woman has been accused of fraud after she allegedly tried to pay off an investor in a purported antiques business with $500,000 in counterfeit “spirit money”.

According to police, since 2013, garment worker Sun Nary, 38, had received a total of $10,500 in two payments from 58-year-old Koh Thom district television repairman Touch Phann to buy and sell antiques.

On Tuesday, Nary hired a Highlander taxi to drive to Kandal province where she was to meet Phann in Sa’ang district’s Koh Khel commune and share the profits of the business, which she claimed was $500,000 packed in a locked metal box.

However, before handing the money over, Nary demanded $4,000 to pay for the taxi.

Suspicious, Phann agreed to hand over $2,000 but demanded the pair first count the $500,000 at a nearby police station, where the counterfeit nature of the money was discovered and Nary was arrested.

“All of the money was fake,” said Sa’ang district police officer Seng Socheat.

“The suspect has cheated the victim twice already and yesterday she intended to do it again,” Socheat added.

The suspect and the fake money were sent to Kandal Provincial Court yesterday afternoon. A representative of the court could not be reached yesterday.

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Food project targets women

A woman harvests vegetables on a farm on the outskirts of Phnom Penh last month. A new project is aiming to educate women in agricultural and environmental-friendly practices to increase their crop yields. Pha Lina

Food project targets women

Thu, 17 March 2016

Yesenia Amaro

USAID is spending $1 million on a project the aim of which will improve nutrition across four provinces by training women in farming practices that have higher yields, produce more nutrient-rich vegetables and require less resources.

The Women in Agriculture Network Cambodia project – covering Siem Reap, Battambang, Pursat and Kampong Thom – will also help boost women’s participation in local and regional markets in order to raise household incomes.

Women in the Kingdom are expected to raise a family while also farming, said project leader Rick Bates, a horticulture professor at Penn State University,

“That’s why it also makes sense to work with women and to help them adopt technologies that are going to make their jobs easier,” he said.

A research component of the project would help understanding of women’s role in the country’s agriculture, said US Embassy spokesman Jay Raman.

It “complements other US government-funded programs in the agriculture sector to find ways to break down the barriers that women face”, he said.

The project is in its early stages, and involves researchers from various universities, who are due to begin work over the course of 2016, and local NGOs.

The training component would see women learn about sustainable practices, like the trickle irrigation system, which drips water only in the area surrounding the plant to stop excess water use, Bates said.

If the women mainly grew seasonal rice, they would learn about which other vegetables are in demand during the course of the year and when they should be grown to best utilise their land year-round.

Participants would also learn about vegetables that are nutrient-dense so they could also use them to improve nutrition in their home, Bates said.

Nearly half or half of the population in the four provinces were found to be under acute food insecurity, according to a 2015 Council for Agriculture and Rural Development report.

Cambodia was among the countries in Southeast Asia where people consumed the least vegetables, said Stuart Brown, from the World Vegetable Center, which will provide nutrition training as part of the project.

“The goal is to have an impact over the long period to reduce stunted children and to introduce households to vegetables and nutrition,” he said.

But nutrition expert Dr Frank Wieringa said encouraging women to grow vegetables wasn’t enough. “It’s not really about growing them, it’s about cooking them,” he said.

Women also needed more time to prepare meals and better diets that included meats, such as fish and chicken, Wieringa said

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New exhibit explores where Cambodia, the West intersect

Cambodian artist Yim Maline’s Zero Point (2015), pictured installed at the New School in New York City, is among works appearing in an exhibition at Sa Sa Bassac opening tonight. Photo supplied

New exhibit explores where Cambodia, the West intersect

Tue, 9 February 2016

Audrey Wilson

When Eng Rithchandaneth travelled to the United States in December for a month-long residency in Vermont and a stop in New york, it was the first time the 23-year-old artist had left Cambodia.

“I was afraid to get into my studio – I didn’t know what I was going to do,” Rithchandaneth said. The resulting two-part work – a sculpture installation and a video – comes to Phnom Penh this evening as part of a multi-disciplinary exhibition at Sa Sa Bassac.

Futurographies, which features the work of 11 different artists, explores disparate themes about the relationship between Cambodia and the West and crossing between the two. Three of the artists are based in Phnom Penh, while the rest are members of the Cambodian diaspora, working either in the US or France.

The initial iteration of the exhibition was conceived by a team of students and artists at the New School, a university in New York City, and went on show there from November to January.

One highlight was My Asian Americana, a video piece by Studio Revolt, a team based in Cambodia and the US. The work shares the stories of Cambodian-american deportees: nostalgia for their childhood in the US, and a readjustment to their new home in Cambodia.

Flags hung from the gallery wall by Korean-American artist David Kyu were a blend between those of Southeast Asian nations – Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam – and the American stars and stripes. The photography of Pete Pin, who splits his time between Phnom Penh and the US, explored his Cambodian family history. Visual and written journals by Chath Piersath recorded his experiences in Cambodia, the US, France and Turkey.

Bringing the works to Phnom Penh, co-curators Chum Chanveasna and Robert McDonald have transformed Sa Sa Bassac’s gallery in Phnom Penh into a lively conversation between the artists’ varied work.

However, McDonald said yesterday that the Sa Sa Bassac curators wanted to adjust the emphasis for the local audience.

“We wanted to use the opportunity here to focus the show on a bit of a different angle – something more about the foundation of the diaspora,” McDonald explained.

That foundation includes sculpture by Yim Maline, a local documentary project by the Genealogy of Bassac Group and the work of Rithchandaneth, who began her artistic career with Sa Sa Art Projects in 2012.

Daneth’s work, Feeling, Destroy which is new for the Phnom Penh exhibition, is striking: a video of the artist throwing her own sculptures into a river in Vermont, making them part of the riverbed. Those that remain – clay representations of skulls and bones – will be on display in the gallery.

“I didn’t want to bring it back to Cambodia – I wanted to keep it in the US,” she said.

She added that her work deals with both these personal themes and larger ones: the differences between the US and Cambodia, the future, and “what happens at the end of development”.

For Sa Sa Bassac, which often displays the work of Cambodian artists on their own, an exhibition with so many artists offered curators an opportunity to create something unique.

“You get to create dialogues between different artists’ work. When you do solo exhibitions, it’s more about the dialogue between the artists and their own work,” McDonald said.

After its run at Sa Sa Bassac – made possible by a crowdfunding campaign – the exhibition will travel to the New School’s Paris gallery.

“When my work can exhibit in New York or in another country, it makes me really happy,” said Rithchandaneth.

“My work goes first, before me,” she added with a smile.

Futurographies opens tonight at 6pm Sa Sa Bassac, #18E2 Sothearos Boulevard. The exhibition runs through March 26.

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Socialite: Nomi International Fashion Incubator and more

Singapore Club Cambodia celebrates the 15th and last day of Chinese New Year on February 22 at the Himawari Hotel. Hong Menea

Socialite: Nomi International Fashion Incubator and more

Mon, 7 March 2016

Chhim Sreyneang

Nomi International fashion Incubator

Nomi International fashion Incubator announced its advanced technical training course at the offices of Nomi Network’s Cambodia on February 16. Nomi International fashion Incubator aims to help people reach their personal goals with confidence and gain a competitive edge in fashion production and technical training through this hands-on, skills-based course. Lessons include trend forecasting, technical fitting and specs, basic pattern-making and more. During the gala opening, the guests enjoyed food, drink and learned more about the Incubator, the instructors and its full course listing. The office is located at No16A, Street 450, Sangkat Toul Tumpoung 1.

Chaine Dinner @ Topaz

The Cambodian Chapter of the gastronomical association Chaine des Rôtisseurs, the Cambodian Bailiage, held its monthly soiree on February 29. This month, they celebrated at Topaz restaurant, which served a special menu with marinated langoustine carpaccio in a lemon, chili and Thai basil dressing, light cream of green asparagus soup with Brittany lobster and plenty of red and white plonk. Every month they bring together people with a common appreciation of quality wines and fine dining at different high-class restaurants with special food from expert chefs. The guests indulge in treats ranging from foie gras to premium tuna and marinated lamb.

SCC celebrates the last day of Chinese New Year @ Himawari

Singapore Club Cambodia celebrated the 15th and last day of Chinese New Year on February 22 at the Himawari Hotel. It was a colourful celebration with the perfect decorations, entertaining lion dance display, joyful yu sheng toss, vibrant emcee, spectacular fan and drum dance and guests dressed in festive wear. Singapore Club Cambodia wishes one and all a healthy and prosperous year ahead!

STC 4th Tourism Gathering & Networking event @ Mahob Khmer Cuisine

The Siem Reap Tourism Club celebrated the Fourth Tourism Gathering & Networking event at the Mahob Khmer Cuisine Restaurant on February 26. The guests were mostly made up of hoteliers, industrialists and tourism experts who shared their experiences in the tourism industry. They enjoyed a buffet dinner under the star-filled night sky at the Mahob Khmer Cuisine Restaurant. The guests, who also participated in a lucky draw auction, were charged $28 per person, and the proceeds, which totalled $1550, were donated to Angkor Hospital for Children.

Hennessy Artistry Club Series 2016 @ Boss Club

The Hennessy Artistry Club series continued at the Boss Club on Friday, March 4, with rocking by DJ FayeFangKaew from Thailand and DJ Pink from Cambodia. Next stop for the Hennessy Artistry Club series will be 2Nite Lounge on Friday, March 11. Ticket for Hennessy Artistry are available at EPIC, Vito Retro, Jet Studio, Boss Club, 2Nite Lounge, MIP, Forest, Rukku, Samba and Mango Mango. Make a note of the dates and ask for Hennessy Artistry invitations while purchasing Hennessy VSOP.

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Army on artillery recruiting drive

A 130-millimetre artillery gun is fired in Kampong Speu during a 2013 military exercise.Sreng Meng Srun

Wed, 16 March 2016

Vong Sokheng and Shaun Turton

At least 700 applicants have signed up to join the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), with the successful recruits to be trained to operate new Chinese-built artillery, a senior military source said yesterday.

News of the recruitment drive, revealed in a document circulated in local media yesterday, came as US and Cambodian soldiers began the second day of the annual Angkor Sentinel joint military excises in Kampong Speu province.

According to the document, signed in January, 500 recruits, between 18 and 25 years old and holding at least a high school diploma, were to be trained at the National Defence University and the Army’s artillery headquarters in Kampong Speu’s Samrong Tong district.

Defence Ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat said the induction was the first specifically for artillery soldiers. “This requires long-term training . . . When they finish . . . they will be shared to units and regions,” he said yesterday.

Speaking anonymously, a senior RCAF officer yesterday said 700 people had already signed up despite a recruitment deadline not until April 30.

“Our artillery expert solders are not yet strong enough with the new weapons technology, so the training for the young generation is important,” he said.

“The types of artillery we are using now are mainly 100mm, 130mm, BM-21 [a truck-mounted rocket launcher system] and other smaller mortars. Previously, our soldiers used Soviet-made weapons, but they are old now. The new weapons we have are made in China.”

Between 2005 and 2015, using estimated figures, $114 million of Cambodia’s $252 million in conventional weapons acquisitions came from China, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

China has sent at least four gunboats, 50 portable surface-to-air missile launchers, two transport planes and 12 helicopters, financed by a loan, SIPRI data show.

Jon Grevatt, Asia-Pacific industry reporter for defence analyst IHS Jane’s, said China’s support was “vital” as the West wouldn’t arm Cambodia given its “political situation”.

The US does not provide lethal aid to Cambodia but runs joint trainings. The annual two-week Angkor Sentinel exercises, which started on Monday, focus on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and improving military-to-military cooperation, according to the US Army’s website.

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Marriage under the Khmer Rouge: a documentary series

Marriage under the Khmer Rouge

Some half a million people are thought to have been forced into marriages by the Khmer Rouge, but because of the nature of the crime many victims have found the subject particularly difficult to discuss. As members of these forced unions grow more comfortable talking about their experiences, and the Khmer Rouge tribunal hears testimony on the subject, a clearer picture is beginning to emerge.

In these three films, the Post talked to victims, including one of the country’s most powerful businessmen, to lawyers participating in tribunal proceedings, and to experts who have sought to understand the cultural and psychological effects of Cambodia’s history of forced marriage.

Marriage Under the Khmer Rouge, Part 1: The Civil Parties

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Marriage Under the Khmer Rouge, Part 2: The Okhna and His Wife

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Marriage Under the Khmer Rouge, Part 3: The Charge

The Phnom Penh Post

Sat, 27 February 2016

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Green Room's beer Heineken® made in Phnom Penh

On February 24, the beer brand Heineken® beer class international high quality and value in the world have set up special programs to provide a new experience of listening to music in Heineken green room green room Capital Club Epic

Heineken® beer fans, hundreds of people joined after downloading smartphone called the Heineken Green Room mobile app that allows them associated with the program to confirm their participation. This is also the first smartphone is being consumed in the country to offer participants an experience changing the way communication and listening to music.

This smartphone offers viewers experience spiritual music through using technology to track their activities and responses to Other shows throughout the night and report back in the morning after their own experience, along with the results of " photo shell Philippines "which is very interesting and can be shared.

"Visual experience" is focused primarily on the giant screen spherical shape is called the orb showed razzle attractive mind set designed specifically for various applications by the artist named Brandon Tay (SYNDICATE). Program participants can also capture image capture and send photos Se feet to the giant screen The orb that they can follow up completed applications.
Music Night concert by Dj Maily, AKA, the "Queen Mexico Music" and a female DJ ranks 1 in the country, while Nikki Nikki has amazed audiences with music and electronic dance. Many dance music tracks are concert by DJ Gang music, such as EDM and hip-hop continues to make you dance all night.

What is more amazing is Universo Robot Team of Pyrotechnics, who has performed around the world have shown a fantastic spectacle, using LED technology and equipment modern features to create a unique visual experience of food great at night.


Heineken Green Room in Phnom Penh is the first time that Cambodia has participated in top international music forum held in in 17 cities in Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, China, Laos, Mongolia and Myanmar.

Heineken beer has committed to provide the experience of high-class, high-tech and modern for its supporters through relations with the international world of music and ensure that the city becomes a modern and growing rapidly in Asia .

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Famous water park to attract tourists to visit the world's most

You like swimming baths and leisure sure you remember to water park, amusement rides lubricant and relax relaxing on the lawn. CNN's Web site showed a water park in a number of countries with a variety of rides to attract more tourists to play:

1. Aquatica water park United States

Located in Orlando, Florida at the water park Aquatica tourists can enjoy sightseeing with various rides beach and garden plant diversity. What specifically is the coasters pipeline across the pool dolphins.

2. Aquaventure water park UAE

Located in Dubai Aquaventure water park to attract more tourists to visit. The tourists will enjoy a train ride through a private beach, relaxation and to visit the pool shark.

3. Water Park Area 47 Austria

Area 47 is located in the city of Innsbruck is a natural water park outside. Tourism can play recreational water accompanied by a mountainous landscape and entertainment coasters.

4. Water Park Beach Park in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil

A water park, which is powered rides tall (41 meters) and skate faster ride. There, there are many strange devices where attract small children to visit parents.

5. Water park, Caribbean Bay, South Korea

In Gyeonggi Province water park Caribbean Bay lubricant many rides a wave pool and hot tub room sleep well. most of the tourists prefer to relax relax and sleep there.

6. Water park Siam Park Spain

Located on the island of Tenerife, Siam Park, a water park built by Thai fashion. Popular rides there was Power 27 meter tower, visitors can glide down through the pool shark and sea rays.

7. Water park Tropical Islands Germany

Held island-style uniforms factory three major water park Tropical Islands attract thousands of tourists to visit 6 per day. Here it is also preparing a rain forest, hotels and nightclubs.

8. Water Park Watercube China

In Beijing Watercube water park is organizing the most unique rides with more flexibility and lubrication many other rides.

9. Water Park World Canada

Located in Alberta's West Edmonton Mall in Alberta Water Park World attract many tourists to visit the bath and enjoy. What is special here is the lube tube ride more flexible Bungee Jump Jump and wave pool.

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