Still I Strive

In this uniquely structured documentary, filmmakers weave fact with fiction and reality with dream images, to tell the story of healing and transformation through the performing arts. Guided by their patron, renowned actress Peng Phan, the children of the NACA orphanage, the National Action Culture Association in Phnom Penh, work to achieve one of the highest honors in Cambodian society, to perform before the Princess Bopha Devi, a symbol of their culture and heritage. The children have created an original performance that combines royal Cambodian and traditional dances with original melodrama/songs that date back to the Khmer Empire. With its epic battles, forest chases, sequences of horror and tales of heroism, the play parallels the children’s harrowing backstories and mirrors the travails of Cambodia itself as it struggles to leave behind the monstrous legacy of the Khmer Rouge. A story of transcendence through compassion and creative collaboration, STILL I STRIVE celebrates a new generation confronting and transcending the memory of the past, turning toward a peaceful and productive future.