Beyond The Bridge (2016):
Synopsis
In 1994, the reconstruction of the "Japanese Bridge" in Phnom Penh is complete after two years. Fukuda, the president of the Japanese company that oversaw the reconstruction, stands by the bridge and remembers the time he spent in Cambodia. It was a couple of decades ago when he came here to build the bridge. He fell in love with beautiful Mealea and promised her that they would get married and live in Japan together. However, as the Khmer Rouge gained power, his father made him return for fear of safety. Twenty years later, Fukuda stands by the bridge and wonders if Mealea is still alive.
Cast
Fukuda: Masaya Kato
Masaya Kato started his career as a model for fashion magazine Men’s Non-No and the Paris Collection before he turned to acting. He has appeared in numerous television programs, theater productions, and Japanese and international films including Christophe Gans’ Crying Freeman (1996), Takeshi Kitano’s Brother (2001), Gordon Chan’s Okinawa Rendez-vous (2001), Takashi Miike’s Agitator (2002), Yang Yun-ho's Fighter in the Wind (2004), and Tung-Shing Yee’s Shinjuku Incident (2009). In addition to Takashi Miike’s Terra Formars and Yukihiko Tsutsumi's Sanada 10 Braves.
Mealea: Chumvan Sodhachivy
Chumvan Sodhachivy is proficient in Cambodian folk dance and shadow puppetry, and began training in Cambodian classical dance in 1994, focusing mainly on the male role in the all-female classical court form. In 2006 Sodhachivy was accepted into Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center International Summer Arts Program, where she studied contemporary dance. Since then, she has participated in numerous contemporary dance workshops around the world. She has been a featured dancer in many works by Emmanuèle Phuon, Peter Chan and Alco Lents and toured internationally. Sodhachivy has also choreographed many dances. More recently she was a featured dancer in Stravinsky’s “Persephone,” directed by Peter Sellars at the Teatro Real in Madrid and Amon Miyamoto's “The Terrace of the Leper King”, based on the work by Yukio Mishima.
Beyond the Bridge Still Photography © Kimlong Meng
Production Stills:
Director on set
A moment
Puppet Theatre
A way home
The Bridge
