The Cambodian Space Project – Not Easy Rock ‘n Roll was a documentary hit for audiences that attended Sydney Film Festival. Larry Heath had the opportunity to speak with both producer, Richard Kuipers and cinematographer, Marc Eberle about the film and how it developed.
Erberle stumbled upon Australian musician, Julien Poulson in Cambodia and here was the moment that sparked an idea for the documentary,”We kinda coincided. I met Julian Poulson in Cambodia and then we met again two years later in November-December 2009,” Erberle explains. “He introduced me to Sry [Thy] in a restroom and said, ‘Look this is Sry. I just met her and I’ve decided to start a band with her, playing songs from the 60s Rock n’ Roll. I thought that’s a great idea, great hook, great angle to tell this backstory of the music about these two people.”
In collaborating with Kuipers, this enabled the documentary to be made possible when he first met with Erberle, “I knew about the project and I knew the film was being made. I hadn’t met Marc at that stage but I knew it was in production so I went along to meet Marc for the first time and that was three years ago,” Kuipers states. “I liked what he saw and I liked his work and I was like, ‘Lets see if we can make this work.’ ”
Kuipers supported Erberle’s vision and with much persistence, so did the investors wanting to make the documentary happen, “We brought it over here and we took it the ABC and to Screen Australia who backed it which was fantastic because they became the principal to the investors,” He further continues. “It was quite a thing to sell for an Australian Broadcasting. We had a lot of support and it took a long while – it always does with a documentary but that’s how Marc did it. He was on his own, using his own resources and to get it to that stage was mindblowing.”
Hear the full interview below!
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