''Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll'' is a 2014

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed by John Pirozzi about Cambodian rock music in the 1960s and 1970s, and the impact of the Khmer Rouge regime and

Cambodian genocide The Cambodian genocide was the systematic persecution and killing of Cambodian citizens by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot. It resulted in the deaths of 1.5 to 2 million people from 1975 to 1979, nearly 25% of Cambodia's populati ...

on the local music scene. It received positive reviews from critics.

Production

The idea for the film began when American filmmaker John Pirozzi was in Cambodia filming '' City of Ghosts''. He was given a copy of the album '' Cambodian Rocks'', a collection of untitled and uncredited music by artists presumed killed under the Khmer Rouge, and began researching the stories of the artists. Cambodian-born artist and sociology professor

Linda Saphan LinDa Saphan (born 1975) is a Cambodian artist and social anthropologist. Born in Phnom Penh, she grew up in Canada and graduated in France. She has supported women artists from Cambodia, co-organizing the first Visual Arts Open festival celebrati ...

acted as associate producer and lead researcher for the film. The film includes profiles of influential performers like Sinn Sisamouth, Ros Serey Sothea, Pen Ran, Baksey Cham Krong, Liev Tuk, Huoy Meas, Yol Aularong, Meas Samon, Pou Vannary, and several others (including Pen Ram, Pen Ran's sister), most of whom perished during the Khmer Rouge genocide, plus interviews with surviving performers like Sieng Vanthy, Mol Kamach, Mol Kagnol, and members of Drakkar. The film takes its title from a song by Sinn Sisamouth.

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

the film has a score of 79 out of 100 based on reviews from 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Film reviewer A.O. Scott of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' mentions in short that, "Mr. Pirozzi's film is an unsparing and meticulous reckoning of the effects of tyranny on ordinary Cambodians. It is also a rich and defiant effort at recovery, showing that even the most murderous totalitarianism cannot fully erase the human drive for pleasure and self-expression."

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to ''Don't Think I've Forgotten'', featuring full versions of several songs that appeared as snippets in the film, was released on 12 May 2015. Personnel at

Dust-to-Digital Dust-to-Digital started as a record company that specialized in documenting the history of American popular music, including historical recordings of blues, gospel, and country music. They've since expanded their catalogue to include a breadth ...

helped locate original versions of the songs and remaster them for compact disc.John Pirozzi and LinDa Saphan, liner notes, ''Don't Think I've Forgotten'', soundtrack, 2015.

Track listing

Note: Blank entries below indicate unknown information. The song "There's Nothing to Be Ashamed Of" (track 8) by Pen Ran is also known as "Love Like Honey" on other compilation albums. Additional songs may have slightly different English titles in other compilations due to the difficulties of translation from their original Khmer titles. The song "Dying Under the Woman's Sword" (track 14) is credited on this soundtrack to Yol Aularong and Va Savoy, but on the '' Cambodian Rocks'' compilation it is credited to Aularong and Liev Tuk.

References

External links

* * * {{IMDb title, tt2634200 Documentaries about music 2015 films 2014 documentary films 2014 films American documentary films Documentary films about Cambodia Documentary films about the Cambodian genocide Rockumentaries Music of Cambodia 2010s American films