What Colors Smell Like

'What Colors Smell Like' is the result of weeks of drafting and selection between numerous other short film concepts I have written on my phone for years. I wanted to write something different, poetic and metaphorical, mixing techniques I have seen inspiring directors use before or finding them in my own artistic vision. I always want my short films to have a touch of my beloved home country, Cambodia, regardless of my french educational and social background. Hence, the characters' names, the authentic locations and the reference to the Khmer Rouge War. It is a small short film with no budget at all, created for my own pleasure and personal experience and with the help of some friends. I wanted to enter the CSFF as one of the youngest aspiring directors, to show people they are never too young to follow a dream and that all it takes to shoot a film is a camera and a bunch of friends. It doesn't have to look professional as long as you have created something personal and creative. Moreover, I wanted to enter my very first festival in a mindset that makes me say I have got nothing to lose, and that I should always try.
'What Colors Smell Like' contains different philosophical conflicts and puts the emphasis on the poetic dialogue between an old man and his young son. The big age gap between the characters serves to contrast a child's vision with an elderly person's vision on the same subject matter. The boy's narrative creates an entire imaginary universe open to multiple interpretations. The blind father delightfully accepts his son's innocent description of life, before finding himself obliged to answer a serious question about death when the boy turns the situation around. All in all, both still feel satisfied with the other's personal response and accept that they each have something the other doesn't. We are all born with differences and unequal chances that should make us feel grateful. Furthermore, some aspects in life just don't have answers - or are better left unanswered.