Rice

Directed by Ines Sothea

A day in a children’s camp in a rural area during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. Five young boys decide to have a ‘party’ with rice they have ‘stolen’ from the camp store, grain by grain day by day. In three months the rice collected is the size of a fist and the boys can’t withstand waiting any longer. They cook the rice at the lakeside, taking care not to be seen. But when they see the cooked rice they are mesmerised by the scent and the taste and don’t notice that they are spotted by a Khmer Rouge cadet. As a consequence the camp Commander sends them to be ‘re-educated’ (killed) as an example to the rest of the boys.