How would you feel if you knew you were invited to a function presided over by the Prime Minister of your own country? I’m sure you’d make time to attend it. Without hesitation, I accepted that invitation to attend PSE (Pour un Sourire d’Enfant)’s grand 30th anniversary, as an SFO‘s long-time partner. For your context, PSE has been founded by a French couple, now naturalized as “Cambodian”, to transform the lives of disadvantaged children around Stung Meanchey dumpsites into employed and productive citizens. Over the years, I have been “fortunate” to have work with both the NGO-supported students and its dedicated staff, especially in its ever-growing film school. As what matters to me here is PSE’s Anniversary, I’ll walk you through three meaningful moments I experienced myself as follows:
1. Reunion with one of my best former classmates
How many high school classmates have you kept in touch with? Not many, aren’t there? Well, Pharith is considered one of the few as we have always been looking for ways or time to catch up from our respective weddings to a simple coffee catch-up. With my professional relationship with PSE, my attendance made perfect sense to rekindling our friendship. Besides the edge I gained over the upcoming protocol, Pharith’s shared lesson with me was this: “Flow with your life saver, if you don’t know how to swim yourself in an unknown ocean”!
2. Reassurance of SFO’s Partnership with PSE’s Film School
Although SFO has forged our inter-institutional relationship with SPE’s Film School in the last several years, I’d say this foundation started back in 2018. That was when SFA was shaped, surprisingly by PSE’s Film School alumni like Vutha, Vuthy, Syna. They have respectively contributed their resources and creativity to sustain our eco-system until its current status. To cross-share our expertise, CSFF keeps conducting our screenings or workshops with new students over there. Eventually, some of them have ended up volunteering in our latest editions, relieving our production and technical burdens in professional manners. In the very word of its current Dean, Seladavid, “Though vocational our training may look, some of our alumni earn even more than so-called blue-collared workers”.
3. Minimalist Protocol of our PM and his Team
HUN Manet, our current Prime Minister, unprecedentedly graduated from West Point, USA. This military background and his similar age (45-48) have already sparked my interest in how he leads our country. While I expected him to take long in his official speech, from time to time, he kept his clock checked and got back on track of his script, without going unnecessarily long-winded. When PSE’s Co-Founder, Mammie, cancelled her presence, due to her sudden medical conditions, his team “seemed to ask for his permission” to cut off that planned section of wearing her with an official medal of honor. Surprisingly, our ceremony was ended two hours earlier than expected. Needless to say, I’m sure he went on with other necessities in his daily or otherwise important agenda!
Until here, you may be wondering why I am blogging about another organization than our own? Well, in both work and life, we usually need partners to complement our personal and professional gaps. In PSE – Film School’s instances, its students have supported in most technical terms, namely photography, videography, editing, sound recording, lighting, camera operations, through both of our annual flagships, SFA and CSFF.
PS: Now that CSFF is extending its call for entries till July 20th, as our final deadline, take advantage of this extension. Prepare your video creatively and STILL submit it now via www.filmfreeway.com/csff!
