Chea Vichea was Cambodia’s most prominent labour leader. For years he led his free trade union to improve working conditions for the country’s 300,000 garment workers, becoming a beloved grassroots figure and highly respected within the international labour community.

But in 2004, during the filming of a documentary on his successes, Vichea was shot dead in suspicious circumstances. Under intense international pressure to find Vichea’s killer, Cambodian police arrested two suspects and extracted a confession.

Both were sentenced to 20 years - but were these men really behind the death of such a respected man?

Compelled to unravel the truth, director Bradley Cox’s film transformed from a portrait of a much-fêted activist into a highly-charged murder mystery.

From the police station and courtroom to the headquarters of the ruling party and finally to the garment trade itself, this is a political thriller about those who will stop at nothing to protect what they feel is rightfully theirs.

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Festivals and Awards

Winner

George Foster Peabody Award 2012
Special Jury Prize for Reportage, Human Rights International Film Festival Paris, 2011
Best Cinematography, United Nations Association Film Festival, 2010
Grand Prize Directorial Discovery, Rhode Island Int’l Film Festival, 2010
Best Political Film, Philadelphia Independent Film Festival, 2010

Official Selection

IDFA Film Festival 2010
Seoul Human Rights International Film Festival, 2010
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, 2010
United Nations Association International Film Festival, 2010
Al Jazeera Documentary Film Festival, 2011
Athens International Film Festival, 2011
Riverside International Film Festival, 2011
Minneapolis-St Paul International Film Festival, 2011
Documentary Edge Film Festival NZ, 2012