រឿង ព្រះប្រជាកុមារ-Le petit prince du peuple-The Little Prince

Filmed in Angkor Kandal in 1966, this movie features an authoritarian princess and her orphaned step-nephew, the ​“Little prince” in the title. A free rendition on kingsmanship set in an imaginary principalty near Angkor in the 18^th century, Prince Sihanouk’s film gives some interesting insights on the daily life in the Cambodian countryside way back then, along with a classical dance performance in Angkor Wat. 

While the young monarch’s virtue gains him the love of his people, his aunt attempts to seize the throne, opposed at the last minute by a popular upraising. At the end, the reinstated prince marries a peasant girl. Prince Norodom Sihamoni, then 13 years of age, succeeded his father Sihanouk as the King of Cambodia on 14 Oct. 2004.

In her Faded Reels: The Art of Four Cambodian Filmmakers: 1960 – 1975, researcher LinDa Saphan studied the ​“smashing success” of movie director Ly Bun Yim’s Runteas Krousar (1961), ​“an avant-garde for its time, depicting teenage angst through a group of young men who disregard the laws and conventions of their society and embrace a life of danger and crime.”, adding: ​“After Runteas Krousar, local film production went into a frenzy as audiences clamored for locally-made films. The first International Film Festival in Phnom Penh was held in 1968, with, unsurprisingly, the award for first prize bestowed on Le petit prince, directed by Prince Norodom Sihanouk.”

• Title: រឿង ព្រះប្រជាកុមារ [Preah Prachea Komar] — Le petit prince du peuple — The Little Prince
• Date: 1967
• Format: 35 mm, Eastmanncolor
• Direction, Writing, Music Composition: Norodom Sihanouk
• Production: SNC Khemara Pictures, Cambodia
• Cast: Saksi Sbong [Viseth Reaksmey, the despotic aunt], Norodom Sihamoni [the young prince], Khou Leang Hak [Anuphep Ksatra, the uncle and supposed guardian], Ly Kim Uong [the faithful marshal].
• The movie is dedicated to director’s ​“fellow countrymen of Cambodia with his deepest gratitude for their constant support.” Proceeds from ticket sales were used in the construction of the Royal University of Battambang. [source: Eliza Romney, King, artist, film-maker: the films of Norodom Sihanouk, Melbourne, Monash University unpublished M.A. thesis, 2001.]