Beautiful Angkor-Wat, Cambodia

director: Gaston Méliès

original title: Beautiful Angkor-Wat, Cambodia

year: 1913

running time: 11 min.

synopsis

Cambodia was the penultimate stop on Gaston Méliès' film journey around the world, and he made four feature films and three documentaries there. Most of them are set in the ruins of the temples of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. Today, no satisfactory explanation can be found for the sequence of images; there are obviously-staged shots of people riding elephants and what appears to be a fragment of an acted scene. Most of the footage is merely a descriptive contemplation of a sacred place untouched by the tourism industry.

biography

Gaston Méliès (1852-1915), the brother of the more famous Georges, was primarily his sales representative in the United States. However, he has been directing films himself since 1903. He was first celebrated by American audiences. In the years 1912-13 he traveled the world and shot documentary films with staged scenes in exotic environments.

more about film

director:

Gaston Méliès

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