Preah Kunlong

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Overview

The indigenous Chong people, who live in the last great forest of Cambodia in the Areng Valley of the southwestern Koh Kong province, intuit the borders of their land through a fundamentally embodied experience based on ancestral and oral histories. A recurrent element in such histories is the presence of spiritual animals that inhabit the forest. The Areng Valley is under continuous environmental and geo-political threat, marking the potential end of the Chong's way of life. Together with a team that includes the dancer and choreographer Nget Rady, Khvay Samnang has embedded himself in the community, working with the Chong people to learn how the politics of land and the sense of belonging are increasingly at odds with each other.