Cambodia fest is heavy on horror

Cambodia’s struggling film industry, undergoing a revival after being obliterated by communist rule in the 1970s, opened its second national film festival Monday with vampire and ghost stories dominating the competition entries.

Nine of the 22 entries were horror movies, but government leaders told local stars and producers gathered for the film festival preview that if they want to succeed, they must steer away from superstition and move toward realism.

Cambodia’s film industry was destroyed by the communist Khmer Rouge, whose brutal 1975-79 rule is blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people by starvation, execution, overwork and disease. The Khmer Rouge, trying to create an agrarian utopia, believed that artistic, educational and intellectual pursuits were corrupt practices.

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