Hanuman and Sovann Macha (The Monkey And The Mermaid)

“The monkey general Hanuman was a very close aid of the Prince. When the Prince’s lovely wife Sita was kidnapped and taken prisoner, the Prince asked Hanuman to help him rescue her. Hanuman didn’t hesitate. He called the monkey army together and devised a plan. First they would construct a bridge across the ocean. Then they would cross waters to the land where the Princess was being held, fight off her captors, and bring her safely home. One-by-one, the monkeys started lifting heavy boulders, and placing them on the sea. They would heave one huge stone after the other, and put them all down close together to form a causeway. But, as they were working, they noticed something strange. After struggling to move a big stone into place, the monkeys turned around to get another boulder. When they returned with the next stone, the one they had just left had disappeared. This happened again and again, until, finally, they went to inform Hanuman, their leader.”

-As retold by Toni Shapiro from The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies Website

So if you’ll recall from my last entry, the Art’s Council of Long Beach asked The Coral Youth Institute to produce a commercial for use as a promotional tool for The Khmer Arts Academy in Long Beach, CA to encourage the Cambodian Youth of Long Beach to learn more about their culture. The first part of the shoot covered the story of Moni Mekhala and Ream Eyso, which was the subject of my previous entry here. The second part of the shoot was a simple taped interview session of several of the students in full costume. And once again, since getting the kids dressed up for the shoot was a major undertaking, several of the parents from KAA wanted me to capture some portraits of the kids once the commercial filming was done. So here’s a few shots from the shoot. Enjoy!

Btw, if you would like to find out how the story of Hanuman and Sovann Macha ends, you can visit The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies Website here for another rendition retold by Toni Shapiro.