Department for Languages and Cultures of Southeast Asia
Asien-Afrika-InstitutLanguages and Cultures of Southeast Asia
Announcement: 17.04.2025 – Film Screening: "Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot" (with English subtitles)
17 April 2025, 5:00 pm, by AAI Webmaster
Photo: Screenshot from "Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot" by Dulac Distribution (cropped).
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the start of the Killing Fields regime, we kindly invite you to this film screening with English subtitles on Thursday, April 17th, 2025, at 17:00–21:00 h (CEST/MESZ).
« RENDEZ-VOUS AVEC POL POT »
is the latest film by renowned Cambodian director Rithy Panh. The film is partially based on the harrowing true story of Elizabeth Becker, a well-known American journalist and the first foreign reporter who undertook the perilous journey to Cambodia to meet and interview the leader of the genocidal regime, Pol Pot.
The film depicts the adventurous journey of three foreign journalists to Cambodia, who were invited by the Khmer Rouge to visit Democratic Kampuchea and have a personal interview with its leader, Pol Pot. What the Khmer Rouge showcased to the three foreign journalists and presented to the world appeared progressive but did not reflect reality in any way. The entire country of Cambodia became a battlefield from April 17, 1975, to January 7, 1979, during which nearly 2 million innocent Cambodians lost their lives, leaving survivors with pain and psychological trauma that persists to this day.
The film will be shown on April 17, 2025, by the Department of Languages and Cultures of Southeast Asian at the University of Hamburg, on the 50th anniversary of the start of the Killing Fields regime. The screening will be supervised by Prof. Dr. Jörg Engelbert, a German historian and Southeast Asia scholar, and Mr. Savuth Prum, a survivor and witness, as well as Dr. med. Sady Keat, who personally experienced the genocide. Following the film, they will answer questions and engage in discussion with the audience together with Prof. Dr. Jan van der Putten, a scholar known in the fields of Southeast Asian studies and for Austronesian Languages at the University of Hamburg and Mr. Vannavuth Khieu, a nephew of Pol Pot's wife, who personally lived with Pol Pot before the genocide.
We warmly invite you to attend this new historical film for free on April 17, 2025, at the University of Hamburg. This event is open to public!
University of Hamburg
Audimax 2 (Main Lecture Hall #2)
Von-Melle-Park 4
20146 Hamburg
- 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM:
Welcome and social gathering before the program. - 6:00 PM to 6:05 PM:
Blessing dance. - 6:05 PM to 6:15 PM:
Presentation on the history of Cambodia before the Pol Pot regime. - 6:15 PM to 8:00 PM:
Film screening "RENDEZ-VOUS WITH POL POT" (with English subtitles). - 8:00 PM to 8:10 PM:
Interview with journalist Elizabeth Becker about her journey and personal interview with Pol Pot in Cambodia. - 8:10 PM to 8:15 PM:
Song "Oh Phnom Penh!". - 8:15 PM to 9:00 PM:
Questions and discussion with the audience.
The entry is free, but for planning reasons, we would appreciate if you confirmed your attendance on our participants' list until April 15th, 2025.
The Department of Languages and Cultures of Southeast Asia at the University of Hamburg sincerely thanks the French film production company Playtime in Paris for their support, which enabled the department to obtain the special permission of the producers and director Rithy Panh to allow the free screening of the film "RENDEZ-VOUS AVEC POL POT" at the University of Hamburg.
You can also find all this information on our Instagram account and on our flyer.
