''Swimming to Cambodia'', also known as ''Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia'', is a 1987 American

concert film A concert film, or concert movie, is a film that showcases a live performance from the perspective of a concert goer, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by either a musician or a stand-up comedian. Early history The ...

written by and starring Spalding Gray, and directed by Jonathan Demme. The performance film is of Gray's play and monologue, which centered on such themes as his trip to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

to create the role of the U.S. Ambassador's aide in the film '' The Killing Fields'', the Cold War,

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

Year Zero A year zero does not exist in the Anno Domini (AD) calendar year system commonly used to number years in the Gregorian calendar (nor in its predecessor, the Julian calendar); in this system, the year is followed directly by year . However, the ...

, and his search for his "perfect moment". It was nominated for Best Feature, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay at the 1988 Independent Spirit Awards.

Background

Over a period of two years, Gray originally developed ''Swimming to Cambodia'' as a theatre performance piece. The original running time of the performance was four hours, and it was presented over two nights. Gray received a Special Citation for this work at the 1985 Obie Awards. In 2001, Gray revived ''Swimming to Cambodia,'' performing it on stage in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, and

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...

Content

The opening shots of the film show Gray walking toward The Performing Garage in New York City. He enters, and after passing the audience, takes a seat behind a table. On the table are a glass of water, a microphone, and a notebook, the latter brought by Gray. Behind him are two pull-down maps. One is a map of Southeast Asia and the other is a diagram of the bombing of Cambodia, which Gray tells the viewers/audience was called Operation Breakfast. There is also a back-lit projection screen showing a photograph of a beach. Gray's monologue describes his experiences filming a small role in the film '' The Killing Fields'', and the then-recent history of Cambodia up through the rise to power of the Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian genocide. Three scenes from ''The Killing Fields'' that feature Gray are shown at various points in the film.

Production

The soundtrack for the film was composed and performed by

Laurie Anderson Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...

, who would also score Gray's follow-up film, ''

Monster in a Box ''Monster in a Box'' is a monologue originally performed live on stage by the writer Spalding Gray then subsequently made into a 1992 film starring Gray and directed by Nick Broomfield. A follow-up to Gray's earlier work, '' Swimming to Cambo ...

.'' Gray returned the favor by providing the voice of a TV interviewer for her 1986 short film, '' What You Mean We?.'' No soundtrack album was released; Anderson later reused music from the film for a series of "Personal Service Announcements" which she produced in 1989 to promote her album, '' Strange Angels.'' While

Sam Waterston Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor. Waterston is known for his work in theater, television and, film. He has received a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award, and has receive ...

and

Ira Wheeler Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name * Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law * Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status o ...

are credited as cast in this film, they appear only in clips used from '' The Killing Fields.''

Home media

Shout! Factory announced plans for a DVD release of ''Swimming to Cambodia'' on May 28, 2013.Home Media Magazine
/ref> ''Swimming to Cambodia'' was released in the UK on region 2 DVD on March 16, 2015, by Simply Media.

References

External links

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Culture Vulture {{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming To Cambodia 1987 films 1987 drama films American documentary films American films based on plays Concert films Films directed by Jonathan Demme Films scored by Laurie Anderson 1980s English-language films 1980s American films