The Angkor Photography Festival, the first of its kind in Asia, was created in 2005 by Gary Knight, Christophe Loviny and Jean-Yves Navel. This 3rd edition will take place betwen November 17th – 28th, 2007 in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
The strong educational goals of the Angkor Photography Festival sets it apart from other photography events. Here, the participants contribute their art and their time, demonstrating that photography can change lives. The Angkor Photography Festival organizes free workshops for emerging Asian photographers, and plans to expand by creating a permanent school. In addition, it runs workshops for street children, and has created the Anjali center in Siem Reap to provide them basic schooling and art education.
This year, the festival presents this part of the world through the eyes of photographers
Рfrom Europe (Patrick Aventurier, Agn̬s Dherbeys, Olivier F̦llmi, Benǫt Gysembergh, Jeff Hargrove, David Hogsholt, Hans Silvester, Goksin Sipahioglu, and John Vink),
– from the United States (James W. Delano, Ron Haviv, Stuart Isett, Stephanie Sinclair and John Stanmeyer),
– from China (Zhao Guomin, Zhang Xinmin, James Zeng Huang),
– from India (Palani Mohan, Altaf Qadri, Dr Vi’vek M.)
– from Thailand (Suthep Kritsanavarin),
– from Singapore (Sean Lee, Chris Yap),
– from Korea (Lee Sung-Eun, Noh Suntag)
– from Japan (Michael Yamashita),
– from Taiwan (Chin Cheng Tsai),
– from Indonesia (Kemal Jufri, Toto Santiko Budi),
– from Bangladesh (Munem Wasif)
What started out as photography and dance workshops for street children during the first Angkor Photography Festival in 2005 has now evolved into a sustainable project aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty. The Angkor Photo Association founded Anjali, a center which currently provides daily care and education to local street children, many of whose paren’ts are landmine victims or suffer from AIDS.
The successful practice of photography and dance as therapy for the street children has led to the creation of a vibrant dance troupe. A show is performed publicly once a week and a book will be published in 2007 with the childrens photographic work.
