Photo: Amnesty Finland

Amnesty Finland and the Trade Union Solidarity Centre of Finland (SASK) present a screening of Who Killed Chea Vichea? in Helsinki on Thursday, April 9. Special guest: Vichea's wife Chea Kimny, who now lives in Finland with their children.


Post-film panel discussion with:

• MEP Heidi Hautala
• STTK Head of International Affairs Risto Kousa
• Cambodian journalist Sophorn Sar
• Executive Director at Pro Ethical Trade Finland Lotta Staffans

For more details see SASK's web site.
If you are on Facebook, please join Amnesty Finland's Facebook event.

Labels: screenings

The Myanmar (Burma) premiere of Who Killed Chea Vichea? is at Myanmar Deitta's Witness Yangon Documentary Arts Space on 18 September, 2014.

Hosted by Mote Oo Education, the screening is followed by a short presentation from Katie Julian and Kaung Hla Zan, who discuss how the organization has turned the documentary into a bilingual teaching and learning resource for Myanmar classrooms, and a Q&A with producer Rich Garella (via Skype).

Free public screening of the film, shown with both Burmese and English subtitles.

"A devastating exposé of life and death that reveals the inner workings of a dictatorship … an extraordinary film."  — Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch

Labels: screenings

Who Killed Chea Vichea? returns to Rhode Island for a screening at Providence's historic Hamilton House. Followed by discussion with producer Rich Garella.

Labels: screenings

The Phnom Penh Post interviews Who Killed Chea Vichea? producer Rich Garella.

Labels: press

Due to statements made by Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan (see “Deportation, Jail Threatened if Film Screened,” in today’s Cambodia Daily on page 16), those who planned to attend the screenings of Who Killed Chea Vichea? scheduled for this afternoon and evening should check the following web pages for updated information and please forward this to those you know who may be interested.


We will also post updates on the film’s Facebook page.

As of this writing and to my knowledge, the screenings are planned to go forward as scheduled, at 5pm (Khmer) and 7pm (English) at the new location:


Update: 
The screenings have been canceled. Loud Mouth Films respects the right of the host involved to make this decision in light of recent developments.

Regarding the above article "Deportation, Jail Threatened if Film Screened" in the Daily:

Government spokesperson Phay Siphan is cited saying that the government is concerned that the film would influence public opinion. That is exactly the issue here. In a country that respects freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, the people are free to assemble, discuss as they please, and expose themselves to any kind of information and form their opinions freely based on that and on their own conscience.

Cambodian officials have never to our knowledge provided any legal basis for a ban on Who Killed Chea Vichea? or any specific film. In stating that they ban a film without providing any legal basis, these officials demonstrate that Cambodians do not live under the rule of law, but under the rule of power. Two decades after the Paris Peace Accords, and a decade after the assassination of Chea Vichea, the rule of law exists only as a smokescreen. It vanishes whenever those in power find it convenient to blow it away.

Meanwhile the killers of Chea Vichea and those who ordered the killing are still "at large." It is our intent to honor Chea Vichea and many others who struggle, and continue to struggle for basic human rights and a better and freer Cambodia. 

However the government is making the screening of this film into a test of its respect for freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and the rule of law. So far today it has failed that test, as it consistently fails, because its fundamental nature is to feel threatened by these freedoms.

Rich Garella, Producer, Who Killed Chea Vichea?
for Loud Mouth Films

Note: The statements above are made by Rich Garella and Loud Mouth Films. No part of them should be attributed to any other individuals or organizations.

Labels: news, press, screenings

The welcome would have been by Rong Chhun, President of the Cambodian Federation of Unions.

Both screenings would have been followed by Q&A with:

• Chhorn Sokha, Program Officer for Labor Rights, CLEC
• Rich Garella, Producer, Who Killed Chea Vichea?
• Dr. Kek Galabru, President, Licadho
• others might have been announced. 

Sponsored by
Sithi Hub/CCHR
The Overseas Press Club of Cambodia

Labels: screenings

Congratulations to the Cambodian Center for Human Rights for having the courage to screen Who Killed Chea Vichea? in Phnom Penh.

Who Killed Chea Vichea? examines the case and demonstrates that Cambodian authorities from the police on up were instrumentally involved in the murder. This case and many others show that impunity is still the rule in Cambodia. It must end.

Read the story at Radio Free Asia (English translation here).

Labels: screenings

Almost ten years after the murder of Chea Vichea, the two men featured in Who Killed Chea Vichea? went to Cambodia's Supreme Court on Wednesday for their final appeal.

The presiding judge acknowledged that the two had no connection to the crime, saying, “We have no evidence to say that Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun were guilty ... Furthermore, the two people could not have been present at the scene, as they were both in the provinces.” (Phnom Penh Post) This is exactly what we proved in Who Killed Chea Vichea?.

The result? The court has dropped all charges and ordered their immediate release from prison.


This ruling is very welcome news. But there is still no reason to conclude that the court’s decision demonstrates judicial independence.

In the wake of the July elections, the government’s legitimacy is on the brink of collapse. Despite tilting the playing field steeply to its advantage, the ruling party was able to claim only a narrow victory, and that claim is hotly contested. Suddenly both the people of Cambodia and the international donor community see that Hun Sen will not rule forever, and perhaps not even for long. Hun Sen and his Cambodian People’s Party are now engaged in a desperate effort to improve their image. Meanwhile as far as we can tell the Supreme Court hearing was scheduled only after the election. So the release of Samnang and Sok Oeun may signal desperation, but it is not evidence of actual judicial reform.


• If Cambodia's judicial system were independent, the prison doors would open too for land-rights activist Yorm Bopha and others now imprisoned for challenging official abuses.

• If Cambodia's judicial system were independent, we would see a serious investigation into who killed Chea Vichea, instead of the decade-long charade during which the courts did practically nothing more than investigate and imprison two innocent men who knew nothing about it.

• If Cambodia's judicial system were independent, we would see investigations and prosecutions of all of those who worked together to frame Samnang and Sam Oeun — those who manufactured evidence, those who lied in sworn testimony, those who extracted Samnang’s confession by threats and torture, who cost two innocent men five years of their lives.

Just one example: If you’ve seen Who Killed Chea Vichea? you know that the police took Samnang to the place where the gun was hidden. The court has now implicitly acknowledged that he could not have known where that was. The police knew, because they were working with those who killed Vichea. Today’s ruling was an admission of all this.

But most important today — even if the court’s ruling is part of a public relations effort — is to join Samnang and Sam Oeun and their families and celebrate their freedom!

Labels: news, press

The acclaimed documentary Who Killed Chea Vichea? will be shown for the first time in Lisbon on Wednesday, 3 July. Thanks to the 7th EuroSEAS Conference 2013, the screening is open to the public as well as to those attending the conference, with free admission for all.


Who Killed Chea Vichea? will be shown in the original English and Khmer version, with English subtitles, and will be followed by a discussion with producer Rich Garella.

See poster in English or in Portuguese.

Labels: screenings

Who Killed Chea Vichea? screens in a double feature with Enemies of the People in Mae Sot on Tuesday May 28 at 8pm.

At the ExPPACT Foreign Correspondents' Club, 206 Intarakhiri Road. Subtitled in English and Burmese.

Labels: screenings

On March 7 Who Killed Chea Vichea? screened at Shippensburg University as part of the International Studies Film Series "From Human Wrongs to Human Rights: A Global Undertaking."

The screening was followed by Q&A with producer Rich Garella, and was free and open to the public.


Sponsored by the International Studies Program, the History/Philosophy Department, and the Office of Social Equity. Download International Studies Newsletter with article on the screening here.

Labels: screenings

Originally convicted soon after the assassination of labor leader Chea Vichea in 2004, the two men served nearly five years of their sentences before their provisional release was ordered by the Supreme Court on 31 January 2008.

Phnom Penh Post article
Licadho statement
Human Rights Watch statement

The Peabody Award-winning documentary Who Killed Chea Vichea? was released in 2011 and broadcast on US public television that year. Based on over five years of research, investigation and filming, it demonstrates conclusively that neither man was guilty of the crime. Furthermore it implicates members of the security forces and exposes a coordinated plot by the police and courts to frame Samnang and Sam Oeun. The film is banned in Cambodia.

"It's an absolute disgrace," said Bradley Cox, the director of Who Killed Chea Vichea?. "The incarceration of activist Mom Sonando, the killing of environmentalist Chut Wutty, the re-imprisonment of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun… When will our diplomats pull their thumbs out and do their jobs? They call themselves champions of human rights, freedom of speech and the rule of law and yet they consistently look the other way when they're needed most.

"Shame on the Cambodian government for this travesty of justice and shame on us for allowing it to happen over and over and over again."

"No one can seriously believe they're guilty," said Rich Garella, producer of Who Killed Chea Vichea?. "There hasn't been a shred of evidence presented against them. This re-conviction is heartbreaking, despicable, disgusting.

"In ordering the re-imprisonment of these two men, Hun Sen is being very purposeful. He is showing that he can do anything in Cambodia. He is showing diplomats, opposition politicians and the public in general that he can and will imprison even unimportant regular people. It's not just the influential who must fear him. It's everybody. Hun Sen is being quite open about his position as dictator. He is a dictator by any reasonable definition."

Loud Mouth Films is the production company for Who Killed Chea Vichea?, co-produced by the Independent Television Service with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The film is available in English, French, Spanish and Khmer at www.whokilledcheavichea.com/order.html and by download at www.whokilledcheavichea.com/seeit.html. The Khmer-only version can be seen online at www.vicheamovie.com and is free for distribution within Cambodia.

Labels: news

The 3rd annual Luang Prabang Film Festival: Celebrating Southeast Asian Cinema, which runs from December 1 to 5, features the Laos premiere of Who Killed Chea Vichea?, in its impressive lineup of films.

"Standout films this year include Who Killed Chea Vichea?, a documentary about the assassination of a Cambodian union leader and the ensuing cover-up." -- TIME magazine

The complete festival program is here.

Labels: festivals, screenings

Just announced: Who Killed Chea Vichea? will screen in competition at the 25th Annual Foyle Film Festival, running from November 21st through 25th in in Derry, Northern Ireland.

There's a great lineup of films -- check out the full program! 

Labels: festivals, screenings

art6 presents the exclusive Richmond screening of the Peabody Award-winning documentary Who Killed Chea Vichea?, a highly charged murder mystery and political thriller focusing on the assassination of a Cambodian labor leader. Produced by Richmond native Jeffrey Saunders.

There will also be shorts by Mary Beth Reed, abstract hand-painted films mixed with film images, and a film by Charlie Bissey about a young woman watching her own abandonment unfold.

Labels: screenings

Who Killed Chea Vichea? screens for the very first time in Berlin, at Moviemento Kino on October 30.

We are proud to double-feature with We Want (U) to Know, an extraordinary film in which villagers from all around Cambodia take the camera in their own hands to document what they have gone through during and after the Khmer Rouge era.

The films are followed by Q&A with Ella Pugliese, director of We Want (U) to Know and Rich Garella, producer of Who Killed Chea Vichea?.

Labels: screenings

The University of Calgary hosts a screening of Who Killed Chea Vichea? on Monday, September 17th.

The screening is free and open to the public, and includes a discussion after the film with producer Rich Garella.

Labels: screenings

Who Killed Chea Vichea? is featured in multiple screenings at Imagining Cambodia, the Cambodian Studies Conference hosted by Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.

Co-sponsors are the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Ohio University and the University of Massachusetts–Lowell. Producer Rich Garella will speak on the Media and Film panel.

These screening are not open to the public, but the new film Lost Loves will screen for the public at 8:00 pm in Cole Hall. Filmmaker Chhay Bora will be there to offer commentary.

Labels: screenings

Who Killed Chea Vichea? will be the opening film at the 9th Annual JEEVIKA: Asia Livelihood Documentary Festival, organized by the Centre for Civil Society and taking place from August 31 to September 2 in New Delhi, India.


This will be Who Killed Chea Vichea?'s India premiere. Thirteen films were selected in the professional category, along with five student films; see the full program.

Labels: festivals, screenings

This film documents the 2004 assassination of outspoken Cambodian labor leader Chea Vichea. Filmmaker Cox records his own intense five-year investigation of the murder from the moment he arrives on the scene and films Vichea’s bleeding body in the street.

From there on, Cox has the story in his teeth and tracks it where it takes him—from Phnom Penh into Cambodian villages, across Europe, to Canada and the United States. He interviews family members and supporters of Vichea and of the two men who were railroaded for the crime. He speaks to people who provide alibis for the accused men and follows a fearful eyewitness to Thailand to take her statement. 

With strong reportorial instincts, a dogged investigation, and an innate ability to collect, film, and connect the disparate pieces of the story, Cox exposes the government involvement in Vichea’s killing and abuses of power at the country’s highest levels. 

VERDICT: Who Killed Chea Vichea? is the double cinematic whammy: an intense and disturbing true drama and a testament to the power of documentary film.

Labels: reviews