The character arc of Rithy Panh

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born 18 April 1964 in Phnom Penh, the son of a school inspector and senator. Between then and now sit the expulsion from the city in 1975, the loss of his parents and siblings, an escape to Thailand in 1979, a refugee camp, Paris, a carpentry school, a film school, a first documentary in 1989, an archive founded for his country, and an Academy Award nomination in 2014. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Rithy Panh?

Somebody handed him a camera, and he never put it down.

His father was an undersecretary at the Ministry of Education, a senator, a schoolteacher and a school inspector, so he was born into a house that believed in records and in learning. In 1975 the family was expelled from Phnom Penh with everybody else. His parents, his siblings and other relatives died of overwork and hunger. He was eleven. What that was like is in his own films and his own writing, where he chose to put it, and this page does not repeat it.

He got out to Thailand in 1979 and spent time in a refugee camp, then reached Paris. He was enrolled at a vocational carpentry school, which is the sort of thing offered to a boy with no papers and no family, and while he was there somebody handed him a video camera. That is the hinge. He went on to the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques and came out a filmmaker.

Site 2, his first documentary, came in 1989. Rice People in 1994 became the first Cambodian film submitted for an Academy Award. S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine, in 2003, put survivors and the men who had guarded them in the same rooms and filmed what happened. The Missing Picture, in 2013, won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes and was nominated for an Academy Award. He also co-founded the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center, an archive that collects and preserves Cambodia's film, photographs and recordings, so that the country holds its own record. In May 2025 he was named jury president of the 78th Locarno Film Festival. His line is worth reading because he made the remembering itself into a body of work.

The moments

Rithy Panh's timeline.

The 1970s

17 Apr 1975

The city was emptied

Setback, and it changed everything. He was eleven. What it was like is in his own films, where he put it, and not here.

~1979

He got out

Milestone, and it changed everything. Fifteen years old, across a border, alone, into a camp.

The 1980s

~1981

A carpentry school

Setback, and it changed his direction. The training offered to a boy with no family and no papers. It was not the plan and it led to the plan.

~1983

Somebody handed him a camera

Milestone, and it changed everything. One object, passed to one person, and the whole line turns on it.

1 Jan 1984

Finish the trade, or follow the camera

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: follow the camera, taken, or qualify as a carpenter. He made Site 2 in 1989, S-21 in 2003, and The Missing Picture, which the Academy nominated.

~1988

Film school

Milestone, and it changed his direction. From carpentry to the French national film school.

~1989

Site 2

Milestone, and it changed his direction. His first film, about a camp, which is where he had been.

The 1990s

May 1994

Rice People

Milestone. The first film his country ever sent to the Academy.

The 2000s

May 2003

S-21

Milestone, and it changed everything. He put survivors and the men who had guarded them in the same room, and filmed it.

~2006

The Bophana Center

Milestone, and it changed everything. Not a film this time. A building, so the country keeps its own record.

The 2010s

23 May 2013

Un Certain Regard

Milestone, and it changed his direction. A film that uses clay figures where no footage exists, because none was allowed to exist.

16 Jan 2014

Nominated by the Academy

Milestone, and it changed everything. The boy from the carpentry school, on the Academy's list.

The 2020s

May 2025

Jury president at Locarno

Milestone. At sixty one, the one handing out the prizes.

The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is an archive with a building and a staff, which means the record of a country no longer depends on one man remembering it.

Your turn

Every line draws a unique story.

His began again from nothing at fifteen, with a borrowed camera. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.

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Rithy Panh: frequently asked questions

What people ask about his line.

What is Rithy Panh's character arc?

A boy who lost his family under the Khmer Rouge, escaped to Thailand at fifteen, was placed in a carpentry school in Paris, was handed a video camera there, and became the filmmaker the Academy nominated for The Missing Picture.

What were the turning points in Rithy Panh's life?

The expulsion from Phnom Penh in 1975. Escaping to Thailand in 1979. Being handed a video camera at the carpentry school in Paris. Film school, and then founding the Bophana archive for Cambodia's own record.

What happened to Rithy Panh during the Khmer Rouge years?

His family was expelled from Phnom Penh in 1975, and his parents, siblings and other relatives died of overwork or malnutrition. He was eleven. He escaped to Thailand in 1979 and lived in a refugee camp before reaching Paris.

How did Rithy Panh become a filmmaker?

By accident. In Paris he was enrolled at a vocational carpentry school, and while he was there somebody handed him a video camera. He went on to graduate from the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques and made his first documentary, Site 2, in 1989.

What is The Missing Picture, the film by Rithy Panh?

His film of 2013, which uses clay figures to show what no surviving footage records. It won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes that year and received an Academy Award nomination, announced in January 2014.

What is the Bophana Center that Rithy Panh founded?

An audiovisual archive he co-founded to collect and preserve Cambodia's film, photographic and audio heritage. It matters because it means the country's record is held in the country, rather than depending on individual memory.

What is Rithy Panh doing now?

He continues to direct, and in May 2025 he was announced as jury president of the 78th Locarno Film Festival. He holds both Cambodian and French citizenship and remains involved with the Bophana archive in Phnom Penh.

Where does this timeline of Rithy Panh's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Rithy Panh isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to him.

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Sources

Rithy Panh, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
Cannes Film Festival official record, Un Certain Regard 2013.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 86th Academy Awards nominations.