the Film

“Cirque du Cambodia” follows two teenagers, Sopha Nem and Dina Sok, over an eight-year period on an unlikely but fantastic journey. The two of them took part in a special circus training program in their village school and became top-notch performers. After watching a Cirque du Soleil video, they had a big dream: to become the first Cambodians to take the stage with the world-famous company. So, they moved to Montreal, where Cirque du Soleil has its headquarters, to attend a top circus school after receiving scholarships.

For years, they trained rigorously to achieve their goal and adjusted to a new world. They dearly missed their friends and families back in Cambodia, but they were determined to carry on.

The film had its premiere at the 2020 United Nations Association Film Festival and has since won a number of awards, including the Jury Prize at the 2021 Circus International Film Festival and Audience Awards at the 2021 Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival and the 2022 Berkshire International Film Festival.

PRESS

• Nikkei Asia “From Cambodian rice fields to the big top” (1/16/21)

• Khmer Times “Circus Film Juggles Festivals” (12/24/20)

• Hideaway Circus podcast (11/12/20)

• Circus Talk – Panel discussion: Transitioning from Social Circus to Professional with Circus Harmony and Sopha Nem (from the film) (11/9/20)

• UNA Forum Presents UNAFF 2020 - featuring filmmakers including Cirque du Cambodia director, Joel Gershon (10/22/20)

• KWMR Radio, Interview with Cirque du Cambodia director, Joel Gershon on the show “Airwaves,” hosted by Raul Gallyot (10/20/20)

• Voice of America – Documentary Film About Cambodian Circus Performers Set for World Premiere (10/17/20)

• Khmer Times – Battambang Acrobats to Feature in Film (6/30/17)

• Voice of America – From Battambang to Canada: Circus Performers Make It Big (2/4/17)

• Cambodia Daily – Flying High (5/21/16)

• Phnom Penh Post – Circus Stars Backflip Onto the Screen (11/8/13)

the Director

Joel Gershon is a journalist, documentary filmmaker and has taught as a professor in media studies abroad and in the U.S. In 2017, he came back to the U.S. after living in Bangkok for 12 years, where he worked as a TV reporter and producer, and as a writer. He discovered the magical arts school featured in the film, Phare Ponleu Selpak, while traveling in Battambang, Cambodia in 2011, and from that experience, “Cirque du Cambodia” was born. He chased this extraordinary story through four countries over eight years, capturing two young Cambodians improbable quest to become the first from their country to perform with Cirque du Soleil.