Comrade Duch: The Bookkeeper of Death, Sunday on Global Voices

The ITVS-funded documentary by Adrian Maben premieres Sunday, May 20 on Global Voices on the WORLD Channel.

Kaing Guek Eav (alias Duch) is a Jekyll-and-Hyde character who began as a mathematics teacher, and then became the commandant of Tuol Sleng prison in Cambodia, ultimately responsible for the torture and murder of 14,000 people. Comrade Duch: The Bookkeeper of Death recounts his flight, conversion to evangelical Christianity, and how he was finally brought to justice before an international tribunal. Watch the trailer after the jump.

› Continue reading

Tags: Adrian Maben WORLD Channel, Cambodia, comrade duch, Global Voices, kaing guek eav

Filmmaker Adrian Maben on Comrade Duch

By Chanel Kong

The documentary Comrade Duch: The Bookkeeper of Death examines the life of a gifted Cambodian mathematics teacher turned mass killer ­­­— responsible for the torture and murder of 14,000 people — and how he was brought to justice. Filmmaker Adrian Maben offered ITVS some background on the project, which was funded through ITVS International.

How did you come upon working on a project about Comrade Duch?

In 1999 and 2000 I worked with American journalist Nate Thayer on directing a series of films that featured the last interview of Pol Pot, recorded on camera a year before his death. Nate’s interview was a remarkable scoop.  For the first time, the most secretive of all Khmer Rouges – Brother Number One – was going to talk.

On camera, Pol Pot seemed affable and managed to explain himself with ease.  However, he said practically nothing of interest about the reasons for the murder and atrocities committed during his regime.  He denied knowing about the mass killings because he said that he was at the top level and only knew about “important” problems!
› Continue reading

Tags: adrian maben, Cambodia, comrade duch, khmer rouge, new year baby

On the Scene at a War Criminal’s Conviction

Filmmaker Adrian Maben

The ITVS-funded film-in-progress Comrade Duch tells the story of the gifted Cambodian mathematician turned mass killer Kaing Guek Eav and the trial to bring him to justice. Filmmaker Adrian Maben was outside the courtroom last month when Duch was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 35 years in prison.

When I started to work on Comrade Duch, it was clear in my mind that this film should not be a courtroom film with heaps of legal wrangling and judicial squabbles. The central idea was to find an answer to the question of how one man could possibly inflict so much pain on his fellow citizens and justify his acts.
› Continue reading

Tags: Cambodia, comrade duch, indie films, international, ITVS, kaing guek eav, khmer rouge, PBS, Thailand

The Trials of Comrade Duch

Kaing Guek Eav or "Comrade Duch"

Much ado about the sentencing of Kaing Guek Eav — known by his Khmer Rouge nickname “Comrade Duch” — to 35 years in prison (to be reduced to 19 considering time served) on July 26 in Phnom Penh by a United Nations-led tribunal. The verdict and sentence shocked many Cambodians who remember Duch’s reign of terror as a remorseless prison chief in charge of torturing and murdering as many as 16,000 Cambodians on the orders of the notorious Pol Pot. Many Cambodians were angry that the sentence had not been harsher, given the horrific nature of the crimes.

Adrian Maben, director of a recently funded ITVS film called Comrade Duch, is currently in Phnom Penh to document the sentencing and the reaction to it. Maben has directed three previous films on the Khmer Rouge for ARTE.
› Continue reading

Tags: adrian maben, Cambodia, comrade duch, documentary, ITVS, kaing guek eav, khmer rouge, PBS