PRESS RELEASE
BARE HANDS AND WOODEN LIMBS:
Healing, Recovery and Reconciliation in Cambodia
In English and Khmer with English subtitles
Version with Spanish Subtitles also available
Digital Video 52:30 mins
www.BareHandsWoodenLimbs.com
Cambodia's genocide was second only to the Nazi Holocaust. Although Pol Pot's murderous regime ended in 1979, the civil war itself did not end until 1992. The hard work of recovery and re-building is extremely difficult, partly due to landmines, which continue to maim and kill more than two people every day. Despite international assistance with the removal of one million landmines over the last decade, ten million still remain in the ground in Cambodia alone.
Bare Hands and Wooden Limbs is a film about healing. It follows the stories of two remarkable men at the opposite ends of the political spectrum, and their vision to establish a village for landmine survivors.
In 1975 Khmer Rouge forces kidnapped and tortured Chhem Sip, aged 14. He managed to escape, until he reached a refugee camp in Thailand. Eventually he was adopted by an American minister, became a U.S. citizen and turned to activism to help other Cambodian immigrants. Yet, he never felt at peace. However much he assisted other Cambodians who had made to the U.S., he felt he owed even more to those he had left behind.
In 1970 Touj Soeurly became a Khmer-Rouge soldier, rising to the rank of Commander. He is a charismatic leader who trained his men in all the required military activities, including the laying of landmines. In 1989 he stepped on a landmine and lost a leg. He decided to leave the military and do something for former soldiers and civilians who had also become amputees, many of whom end up as beggars in the streets. Soeurly works out of a strong sense that he has miss-spent his life, that the Khmer Rouge vision for Cambodia was the wrong vision, and now he needs to work for a different vision, to compensate for his past.
The result is the village of Veal Thom, formed in 2000. The mission of Veal Thom is simple: to give at least some of the amputees of Cambodia, who are shunned outcasts in their society, a place where they can live and work - that is, can be self-sufficient, productive members of society.
Almost four hundred disabled people and their families now live in Veal Thom, each on an allotment of five acres. They build everything themselves - from houses to wells to schools - with their "bare hands and wooden limbs" in Chhem Sip's words. Sip was instrumental in helping the village grow, and worked closely with Souerly. Thirty years ago Sip and Soeurly were on opposite sides of the war. But now they are working together, and Sip feels that he is now able to bury his bitterness about the past.
About the Filmmaker
Alison McMahan is the founder and producer for Homunculus productions, a company that makes documentaries, industrials, and training films. Currently in postproduction on an industrial and PSA for Pensamento Digital, an NGO in Brazil that brings computers and internet access to Brazil's poorest communities. Our most recent production was the training film, Cambodia: Living with Landmines.
Written and Directed by Alison McMahan
Produced by Alison McMahan
Executive Producer Dr. Yvette Marrin
Editor Kathryn Barnier
Cinematographer Mathieu Roberts
Composer Bronwen Jones
Sound Design: Splash Studios, Inc. NY
Online Edit: Glue Editing and Design, NY
Narration by Sam Waterston
This film was made possible by the support of the McMahan Abilities Activist Foundation and private donors.
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