Ros Sereysothea was Cambodia's most beloved female rock singer until Pol Pot's nightmarish regime took over the country in 1975. Her enchanting voice, once used to entertain, was now her only chance of survival.
What started out as a little short film has quickly become an award-winning international phenomenon, reviving the memory and music of Cambodia's legendary Queen of Khmer Rock, Ms. Ros Sereysothea. In the midst of an extraordinary singing career, Ros Sereysothea and most other Cambodian musicians were killed by Pol Pot's brutal Khmer Rouge regime. The echoes of Cambodian pop music were nearly silenced forever.
Sometime in early 2006, Writer/Producer/Director Greg Cahill became fascinated with Ros Sereysothea's music when he first heard it on the City of Ghosts soundtrack. The intoxicatingly catchy songs compelled him to do some research on this mysterious singer from Cambodia. As he slowly pieced together the details of her biography, it became clear that this was an amazing story that needed to be told.
In the wake of Pol Pot's genocidal rule, Sothea's music survived only on rare bootlegged cassette tapes and vintage vinyl kept hidden during the Communist years. Like her music, facts about her life were not readily accessible. Greg spent months interviewing Cambodian immigrants to learn more about the golden age of Cambodian music and the subsequent horrors of life under the Khmer Rouge. One thing was for certain: people from Cambodia had nothing but fond memories of Ros Sereysothea and her beautiful voice.
After conducting intense research, Greg wrote the script in English, then had the dialogue translated into Khmer - the language spoken in Cambodia. He and his producer Matthew Caron began casting for the film in Long Beach, California. Long Beach is home to the largest Cambodian community in the world.
With an incredibly enthusiastic cast, many of whom survived the Khmer Rouge killing fields, the company shot the entire film on location in Los Angeles. The film was miraculously shot in just five days.
A year later, the film has played at numerous film festivals and cultural events, garnering the Golden Waterbuffalo Award for Best Short Film at CamboFest in Phnom Penh and the Special Recognition Award at the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival. With their eyes set on developing a feature-length version of the film, director Greg Cahill and producer Matthew Caron spent all of June 2007 exploring Cambodia, conducting in-depth research on the life story of Ros Sereysothea.
