Khmer Bokator

[boroshsonny]

Let me just say, Khmer cultures has came a long way. Through time and suffering caused by the many years from wars. Yet we stilled rise, slowly to where our country have left off before the genocides from the early 60's and 70's. Asia was once conquered by 2 empires which was the Khmer and China. And way before China/Khmer came to power, rumors of a Bhuddism monk who have made a journey from India to Khmer/China and many other countries to teach the art of fighting.

At this time Khmer's have not believe in Bhuddism
yet. Most of the Kru (master) worship Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire which their believed was god. If you have ever look at Preash Prum Mok Boun, that's what it represent . (Preash Prum) mad face=fire, smile face=earth, calm face=water, and sad face=wind, I believe. You would only know about this if you have trained in Khmer Martial Arts. For thousands of years Khmer people have also practice Khmer Kung fu and many other form of arts. Theres Kbach Khun Boran(ancient), Kbach Bradal Serey(Muay Thai), Kbach Satt! etc.(Kung Fu), Dao(sword), Dombong Bokatao(Eskrima), Dombong Weng(Long staff, which reaches from tip of your right finger to the tip of your left toe), Sraw Ngay Phane(Tai Chi), Sraw Ngay Phane is at the top of the food chain when you speak of Cambodian Martial Arts. As a matter of fact, rumors of Labokator or Bokatao is being taught, which is to my experienced Bok-a-tao, bok meaning bok and katao is cross fighting sticks.

My family came a long way and we dont want any confusion for the younger generation. My grandmom is Kru Khun Dombong Weng, my dad carry on as a master of most Khmer martial arts out there. Granny had told a story about what happen between her and grandpa: One day grandpa ask grandma if he could go cockfighting, he did this so many times and had never win. So grandma said: dont you ever had enough with this rooster gambling of yours. So granma said no more that's it , I'had with you, you're grounded and no more cockfighting from this day period.lolz. So granny left to go to the market, my grandpa was so mad, bursting with pressure, he went and took the most precious souvenirs that our ancestor had passed on from generations to generations. It was treasure case like full of scrolls(ga-phee) about Khmer ancient arts, voo-doo spells(VAY-TA-MON IN sangsagrits), Khun Dombong, there's about 10-15 scroolls in there.

These things are so old, it was even written on ink or papers! It was written using jaa. And so granpa burned em all, granny got back home saw the ashes. She knows rite away wut just happened, grab her dombong veng(long staff), beat the shiet outta him. And so she kick my grandpa out for good, never heard from him since. From what my dad knows, granny said she was 13 generation boran, my dad is 14 gen, and we're 15 gen. Sounds like a shallow joke but its not. My whole family , ten kids in all knows how to fight. Words to all, theres so many old khmer guys out there that claim they knows boran, bradal , bogatao , etc., they do it just to get the fame, threaten lil kids or maybe make some extra cash. They dont have pride in themselves, yeah they might a lil or two styles claiming that its boran which is not.

I tell you one thing im lucky that my family is a part of this martial arts thing. We are very humble people, if we dont tell you that we trained martial arts, you would never know. These style are very rare, even back in the 50's only two out of ten khmer are trained on it. The rest are bradal serey(kbach samay ,modern kickboixing) thats how it was called which is the same as muay thai, some have trained on other sports such as karate, etc.. Boran is boran, serey is serey period!! Boran , when taught you have to be very flexible, be like water as in Bruce Lee's words! Boran is not an agrresive style when trained, but is very dangerous when counter strike. We are trained: 40% elbows, 40%knees, 5 % punches, 5% kicks, 5% grappling, and the other 5 is on you. The reason this style is so dangerous, first of all it's not a sport, it is used to protect the country. We would be fighting people with spears and swords, etc.

My pop told me, Cambodian have always trained hard in martial arts, just like the chinese. Some even trained 15hours a day, 5 hours for farming, 4 for sleeping. That's what my dad did. My dad trained so hard, he eats , sleep, think and **** martial arts. For 40 years my dad did research, upgrade, downgrade and even add some new theory to boran. He had sworn that the new boran that we now learning is even better thatn the ones he master'd taught him. I am currently training my cousing boran so when we fight next year in K1 kickboxing or MMA, people will see somethin new unlike any style out there. Over the past 40 years, my dad have trained thousands of people of all kind, stilled none have really show the courage of bringing this style out. I see students come and go and come and go, but no result of representing this style to the fullest. I've have waited 28 years, with no goal or accomplishment in my mind until now. I wanna do this for my dad and for every single khmer out there. Khmer pride , we'll rise. Thank you for your time reading.

http://kos06.tripod.com

WWW.khmermartialarts.COM

[brooklynmonk]

http://photo.ringo.com/214/214271902RL708321407.jpg
By Dante Scott

Before there was Muay Thai, there was Bokator. Now, you can see Bokator
On the web for free. http://youtube.com/watch?v=617qPJPBSPM


Bokator, the complete fighting art, developed by the Khmers during the Angkorian Empire. Bokator is the predecessor of modern Bradal Serey, Khmer kickboxing, also called Pradal Serey. Where kickboxing is limited to kicking, punching, elbows, knees, and head grapples, Bokator includes ground fighting, joint locks, manipulations, throws, weapons, and animal styles.

“Bokator, the Great Angkorian Martial Art” A new film, starring Grand Master San Kim Saen and Antonio Graceffo, will be debuting later this year, to show Bokator to the world. The film was directed by Tim Pek, an Australian Khmer film maker, most famous for his film of Khmer Rouge retribution and forgiveness, “The Red Sense.” Tim, a Khmer Rouge genocide survivor met Antonio while working on the film “Krabei Liak Goan,” (Buffalo Protecting Child). This Khmer Kung Fu movie pitted the hero, national Bradal Serey champion, Eh Phou thoung against Antonio Graceffo, who played the bodyguard of the villain.

“In addition to helping to make Bokator accessible to people all over the world, I enjoyed making this film because I didn’t have to die.” Said Graceffo, who originally came to Cambodia to find and write about Khmer martial arts.

A lifelong martial arts practitioner, Graceffo recently became the first foreigner to earn the Black Krama (black belt) in Khmer Bokator fighting. (Another American, Derek Morris, was the first foreigner to earn a Black Krama be certified as an instructor of Bokator.)

In addition to the independent film, San Kim Saen and his two American students have worked together on two shows for the History Channel, “Human Weapon,” and “Digging for the Truth.” Bokator will also be featured on the brand new web TV show, Martial Arts Odyssey, hosted by Antonio Graceffo. The show follows Graceffo around the world, as he explores new and often obscure martial arts. The pilot is currently running on yuotube.com

Click here to see the trailer for the movie, about Bokator Khmer martial art: http://youtube.com/watch?v=617qPJPBSPM

To see the pilot episode of “Martial Arts Odyssey,” click here. http://youtube.com/watch?v=3haZwrsY_oM

[brooklynmonk]

http://photo.ringo.com/230/230875702RM050858650.jpgBradal Serey, Putting a Modern Spin on an Ancient Art
Learning Khmer Kick Boxing with Paddy Carson
By Antonio Graceffo

(also called Pradal Serey)

“We have to remember why we are in that ring we are there to hurt the other guy we aren’t in there to make love to him. So, the quicker we can hurt him, the better. You want him to think I don’t want to get hit like that again.” Paddy Carson.

The pads POP! As a Khmer fighter nails them with a series of perfect round house kicks. When the Khmers kick, the leg comes around like a baseball bat, and the shin smashes into the target, decimating it. This is not Ta kwan Do or Karate, this is Bradal Serey, Khmer kickboxing.

“It’s all technique. You have to get the technique right first, then you will get the explosion on your punches and kicks in the fight.” Says Paddy Carson, the owner and principal trainer of Paddy’s Gym, in Phnom Penh.

Khmer pop music blares as Paddy’s stable of about twenty Khmer boxers go through their paces. The assistant coach Socheat blows the whistle signaling the beginning of the round. The fighters always train three minutes on, one minute off, just as in a real boxing fight (in western boxing). Many trainers live by the adage “you will fight the way you practice.” Timing your workouts will prepare your body a professional fight.

Sports research has proved that western boxers have the most powerful punches of any combat sport athletes. Paddy’s fighters use western boxing as a base for their Khmer boxing.

“You should learn to punch like a boxier but kick and elbow like a Khmer boxer. Then you will have the whole package.” Says Paddy, who has trained over 14 world title holders.

Before coming to Cambodia, Paddy worked as a trainer in Thailand for 13 years. The first foreigner who was ever granted a professional boxing license, he came to Cambodia to help support Khmer boxing and has a dream of building a Khmer fighter into a world title holder.

“I think elbows are better in Khmer boxing than in Muay Thai. Unfortunately, Cambodia has had all civil wars, and the Bradal Serey instructors were killed by Pol Pot. So, throughout the Twentieth Century, Cambodian boxing went up, and then down, and then up and down. Thailand has gone continually up and up. Thailand have marketed the sport all over the world. Thailand has joined the international bodies and have produced world title holders. If Thailand and the Philippines can produce world title holders, I believe that Cambodia can too. The Khmers are tough boys. They come from the provinces with nothing. Some of them don’t even have money for food, but they train hard. They are respectful to me and the assistant coach. They always bow when they see us. And now they know that if they listen to what I teach them, they can win.”

In addition to his professional Khmer boxers, Paddy has a number of westerners training with him. It has almost become a cliché for westerners to go live in a camp in Thailand and study Muay Thai. But in Cambodia, there aren’t a lot of gyms which are really equipped for westerners. The average westerner who is starting to learn Khmer boxing is already past the age that Khmers will retire from the ring. Plus, the training and fighting style need to be modified to match our larger bodies and lesser flexibility.

Some coaches stress high kicks and head kicks. They make you stand at a bang and smash it as high as you can with your shins. Paddy disagrees with this type of training.

“We are all built differently in this world. Some people can do double flying spin kicks or whatever, but some people can’t. If you aren’t a high kicker then what do you want to do high kicks for? You do what you were built to do. If you can’t do high kicks, then do low kicks. In Thailand, I told my foreign fighters, don’t train and fight like the Thais.”


“It is stupid to try and kick your opponent in the head in the early rounds when you are fresh and he is fresh. You are never going to get it. How often in fights do you see the guy get knocked out with a high kick? Almost never. Wait till he is tired. Wear him down. Work the body. Work the legs. In the later rounds, when he gets tired, and you are still fresh, then you go for the head kick.”

Working the legs means repeatedly kicking your opponent’s thigh with your shin. A normal man can only withstand two or three kicks to the thighs, before his leg will buckle and he will go down, involuntarily. Even a seasoned fighter can be chopped down, like a tree, if you repeatedly land the same kick on the same portion of his leg, again and again.

“My fighter, my world champion, was very short and he used to fight people who were a foot taller than him. He wasn’t a high kicker, so I told him go in there, work the legs, work the legs, and throw combinations. He knocked his opponent out.”

Paddy wasn’t suggesting that high kicking is a bad thing, only that it must be appropriate for your ability.

“If you were a high kicker then I would train you that way. Not that I couldn’t teach you that, but why do that all the time. Go for the body, go fro the arms.”

Very few fighters go for the arms. This means kicking your opponent in the biceps with your shins. Very few people can stand up this type of punishment. The arms will quickly become useless. Eh Phou Thoung, Cambodia’s greatest kick boxing champion, is known for kicking his opponent’s in the biceps. In his career, he has broken the arms of several of them.

“Ninety percent of head kicks don’t reach their target. The opponent sees it coming and he blocks with his leg or his shin, and possibly, you hurt your leg. Don’t do that! Wait till he throws a high kick, then attack.”

“I like a high kicker, the higher the better. During a high kick, he is wide open and it takes longer for the leg to come down. He is defenseless and off balance the whole time. When the opponent does the high kick, kick his base leg.”

Another opportunity that many fighters miss is kicking the inside of the leg or kicking the base leg. When an opponent throws the high right kick, his left leg, the base leg is a wide open, inviting target. You can lea your head or duck your head slightly, to avoid the high kick. At the same time, shoot a kick in and hit the inside of his left thigh or calf muscle. With all the weight on that one leg, there is a good chance the man will go down. At the very least, he will be in a lot of pain.

“When I was fighting I was a take down artist. I would catch the kick, trap the leg, and kick the base leg out from under him. This is something we don’t see enough of here. You also don’t see a lot of inside low kicks. I tell my guys smash the inside kick just above the inside of the knee.”

Brining modern innovations to a centuries old sport, which is so steeped in tradition and national pride can be difficult. Reasonably, the Khmer fighters are resistant to adopt new techniques, brought to them by a westerner.

“I teach Richard, my foreign fighter, all the new techniques first. Then, the Khmers see him improve, and they pick it up and improve too.”

Having an extensive background in both western boxing and professional kick boxing in the west, Paddy stresses movement and position.

“When you kick, the foot has to come back to perfect position again so you can throw another technique. Some of the Thais and Khmers throw a kick and it is thirty seconds till they do something else. You need to be moving and doing something all the time. If you watch the big kick boxing matches on cable, and listen to the foreign commentators from Australia they are saying if the Thais don’t start doing combinations they will not be able to keep up with the western fighters. I have been doing that for twenty years, teaching my guys combinations.”

Kicking is almost the only thing that many coaches teach. Once a guy has a decent kick, they put him in the ring and expect him to win.


“The Thais and Khmers are quite static when they fight. They get knocked out sometimes by punches that wouldn’t knock out another fighter. In the west, the sport is being dominated by people with boxing and kicking background. But here, they aren’t learning the boxing. I have seen fighters here knocked out with a jab.”

Having trained and fought on both sides of the border and both sides of the globe, Paddy sees the strengths and weaknesses of the Thai fighters and believes that with his help, the Khmers can exploit those weaknesses and become world champions.

“If a western boxer can learn Muay Thai and go to Thailand and win a title, then I believe that Khmer boxers could do it.”

Once the Khmers start winning international competitions, then they will be able to reclaim the name, Bradal Serey, and tell the world the true origin of kick boxing.


If you are going to Phnom Penh and you want to train with Paddy, contact him: paddycarson1@hotmail.com

Antonio Graceffo is an adventure and martial arts author living in Asia. He is a professional fighter and the author of four books available on amazon.com Antonio was the first foreign student of Bokator, in Cambodia. Contact him Antonio@speakingadventure.com see his website www.speakingadventure.com

[brooklynmonk]

http://photo.ringo.com/230/230876026RL727965894.jpg

By Antonio Graceffo

“If you want to train for fighting number one, you must be fit.” Says Paddy Carson, a professional trainer for Bradal Serey, Khmer Kickboxing, in Phnom Penh. For the last four years I have been living in Phnom Penh, off and on, and Paddy has been my teacher, pushing me beyond the limits time and time again. He drills into all of his students that fitness is the key to winning fights.


“Take Mike Tyson, was one of the best in the world. He hasn’t trained in a year. We put him in the ring right now with number twelve in the world and he will get knocked out because he is not fit. You need to be fit because you want to throw the same techniques, the hard bombs, from round three to round five.”

One of the biggest conditioning drills that we do at Paddy’s Gym is working the coaches pads. Paddy calls out the combinations and we have to respond with the right techniques. Four years ago he was only training me in boxing, so the commands were simple. One, was a straight right. Two was left right combo. Four was two left right combos. Three was an upper cut and five was a hook. But now that I am changing to Bradal (Pradal) Serey, the combinations become more complicated as he is now calling for kicks, knees, elbows, and grapples.


When I was just boxing, during the first round, my punches were solid, powerful. When Paddy shouted, “Give me eight,” I ripped into the pads with four left right combos. But, if my cardiop was bad, by the second round, I felt myself weakening. By the fourth round, you could be hitting in slow motion. By the fifth round, I wasn’t even hitting anymore. My hand stayed more or less stationary and Paddy swatted it with the pads.


“If this was a fight, you’d be defenseless.” Paddy would tell me.


It was true. I have had fights where, in the later rounds, I got so tired, I saw the punch coming but just couldn’t be bothered to move out of the way. Getting hit seemed like it would hurt less than trying to move.

Kickboxing takes about five times as much energy as regular boxing. Each time you kick, you are lifting your entire, massive leg in the air, and of course your base leg has to take all your weight. Your muscles begin to burn, and you can look really stupid throwing a slow pathetic kick. Somehow, it is more humiliating than throwing a slow pathetic punch.


“You don’t want your techniques steadily getting weaker during the fight.” Paddy tells us. “Your first round must be hard, your fifth round must be harder.”

Bradal Serey fights are always five rounds.

“We always train three minutes, with one minute rest. In a Khmer boxing fight they even get one and a half minutes rest, but we train three and one to get my boys in shape. I train them two and half minutes then the last thirty seconds we pump it out.”

Where Paddy stresses conditioning, fighters and trainers at other gyms have other opinions on what is important.

“A lot of fighters in this part of the world think that they need to make their shins hard.”


This is so true. The rumours and legends people have heard in the west about kickboxers training on trees and bamboo posts, or sitting up at night banging their shins with bottles are true. This always perplexed me, because as a boxer, I know that I need my hands to make a living, so I take good care of them. If you have ever seen a real boxer’s hands, they are not hard and covered with scars and knobs, like a kung fu master. They are soft, pampered, protected by hand-wraps and gloves. Why would kickboxers want to smash their best money-making asset against a tree?



“Your shins get developed not by kicking tress and a poles.” Says Paddy. “You aren’t going to make your shins any harder. All that will do is bruise a bone. To get harder, to condition your bones, you kick the bag. You do three minutes on each leg. And the conditioning will come naturally, with time. You can start with a bag stuffed with cloth remnants. Eventually, you can move up to a harder bag, filled with sand. You shouldn’t smash a tree hard with your shins.”



Toughness is an important part of being a fighter. But toughness, just like conditioning, has to built up gradually. You lose it when you lay of training, and you have to earn it back.



“Take a boxer who has been out of training for a while. His face gets soft. After he is training again his skin gets harder. It gets immune to the shots. It’s the same with the shins. People say I kick the trees. If you want to kick trees, go kick the bag instead, or train by fighting. First fight with shin pads, then wean yourself off the shin pads.”



Another mistake that a lot of people make in their training is sparring too hard.



“In training, I believe you should never go full out. Guys get in the ring and they smash each other. When one of my fighters is approaching a fight, I start to condition him mentally. I get him to believe in himself. You have to believe in yourself. If I put my fighters in the ring a month before the fight and they are bleeding and smashing noses and that, then by the time they get into the tournament everything is out already.”



Paddy tells a story about how a horse race trainer never lets the horse run full out in training. Then, on race day, he pulls away, and wins.



“You want to build them up when they are sparing so that when it comes to the fight they want to let it out. You make them hold it back, hold it back. Then when they get in the fight the mind and body say, I want to see what I can do.”



“That is what a lot of people don’t understand. That’s how it should be, hold back and on fight day, explode and everything jells.”



“Back in South Africa, we have an ultra marathon of close to 100 km. The guys who win it, never run a full 100 km in training. They run very long distances, but hold them selves back till race day. Fight training is not just getting in there and smashing a bag. I have had five world champions and the most regional champions in South Africa.”



“That is the difference between a good trainer and not a good trainer. There are trainers like Angelo Dundee in their eighties and still producing world champions. That comes from experience.”



“You can’t juts let your guys kick the bag and then put him in a championship. It can work like that at the beginning. But like that, you will never make it to the world championship level. Not just anyone can train you to that level. A lot of these guys think training means kicking the bag really, really hard again and again. But it is so much more than that.”



What is power worth?



“Look, power is a lot. We all want power. I want my fighter to be able to knock the guy down with one punch. Some people just don’t have that kind of power. Some guys can train ten years and won’t get there. Others will do it in one year. But they could all be good and they have to fight in their ability. Anyone could be a fighter, but not everyone could be a champion.”



“To a good fighter, power is important, but it isn’t everything. A good fighter is a thinker. He knows strategy. I have seen guys strong as an ox they get in their and win on strength. And they go and they go, moving up the ranks, but when it comes to their twelfth fight or fifteenth fight then they are fighting a guy who is strong and good. The better fighter has strategy and he is a thinker, and the big brawler gets knocked out.”



“Did you ever see a brawler become the world champion in boxing? It never happened. Tyson was not a brawler. He fought smart.”



After our training sessions, Paddy and I often discussed Butterbean, the 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) 398 Lbs. (180 KG) wrecking machine who was called “The King of the Four Rounders.” Butterbean hit so hard, he could demolish almost any opponent he faced and wracked up a winning record not only in boxing, but also in K-1 and MMA. According to Wikipedia, “His combined professional fight record currently stands at 89 wins with 63 knockouts, 13 losses and 5 draws.”



The important lesson Paddy always wanted me to learn from butterbean was that for all of his power, he was not a brawler, he was a thinker. He was smart enough to see exactly what his talent was, and to exploit it to make money. His special, God-given ability, was to pound a man into unconsciousness during a four round bout. If Butterbean had tried to go for the title he would have had to fight ten and eventually twelve rounds. He may have done Ok or may have completely run out of gas and gotten hurt. Instead, he capitalized on his strength, stayed at four rounds, and won almost all of his fights. What is more, because he stuck to his guns and only fought within his comfort zone, he made more money doing four-rounders than any challenger almost-was who tried for the heavyweight belt.



The lessons I learned from Paddy this week were:



Conditioning is key: If you are out of gas, you can’t fight.
Condition your shins naturally. Don’t kick posts or bamboo. Work the bag and let toughness come.
Sparring is training, not fighting: Never go all out in sparring. Hold something back for fight day.
Fight smart: fight your fight. Fight the fight that matches your abilities. Stay in your game and you have the best chance of winning.


If you are going to Phnom Penh and you want to train with Paddy, contact him: paddycarson1@hotmail.com



Antonio Graceffo is an adventure and martial arts author living in Asia. He is a professional fighter and the author of four books available on amazon.com Antonio was the first foreign student of Bokator, in Cambodia. Contact him Antonio@speakingadventure.com see his website www.speakingadventure.com

[GWR]

Link featured Frontpage today:

http://www.2bangkok.com

Citebite Link from AFP article:

http://pages.citebite.com/c2g2f2o5x2hdk

Cambodia's 'Lion Fighters' rise again as martial art is revived

2 days ago

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — The rolling thunder of an oncoming monsoon storm provided the appropriate soundtrack to Ratanak Akthun's entrance into the ring.

The self-assured young fighter eyed his opponent, Puth Khemarak, who seemed less solid and a little dazed by the applause that greeted his own entrance into the gymnasium in Phnom Penh's Olympic Stadium.

Their clash was to be the first full-contact fight of last month's National Bokator Championships, and the crowd, made up of students from opposing fighting schools, clapped and shouted itself into a frenzy.

Cambodia's ancient martial art of bokator is enjoying a sudden revival after centuries of neglect and its near extinction under the communist Khmer Rouge regime, which outlawed the practice and murdered its masters.

...........

Following link may expire. If so, use Citebite link above ^^^^^:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jCgvvqhvwE7rFwOuP5F4yu_qRT6g

[brooklynmonk]

New, In Depth Bokator Video, featuring Antonio Graceffo, on Youtube
By Dante Scott

This is the first production video ever done about the Khmer Martial art of Bokator. It stars Grand Master San Kim Saen and features Antonio Graceffo. The narration is provided by Antonio and is the most thorough explanation of the origin and spirit of Bokator to date. The video production was done part by a local company, in Cambodia and part by Soso Whaley, the producer of Martial Arts Odyssey.

Martial Arts Odyssey is the youtube show hosted by Antonio Graceffo, adventure and martial arts author. The show follows Antonio around Asia, as he trains with masters of ancient and sometimes lost arts, and as he tries to discover the perfect martial art.

Antonio had this to say about his participation in the show. “Life is a journey of development. The road I have chosen is martial arts. The show gives me an opportunity to share my path with people from around the world.”

Khmer people and martial arts fans from have already begun writing in, leaving comments and encouragement. To find out more about Bokator, take a look

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LJQA6P4xzCo

martial,art,arts,khmer,bokator,bradal,serey,pradal ,muay,thai,Cambodia,Cambodian,Antonio,graceffo,Bro oklyn,monk,Phnom,penh

[brooklynmonk]

http://photo.ringo.com/154/154777413RL426650946.jpgBy Dante Scott

“Before there was Muay Thai, there was Bokator”

The trailer for the new film about Khmer Bokator has just been released and is available for free on youtube.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vb8f0K9Jdyg

The ancient Cambodians didn’t leave many written records to tell us how they lived. Fortunately the history was somewhat preserved in the stone carvings on the walls of Angkor Wat and in the arts, handed down from generation to generation.

Grand Master San Kim Saen is the man credited with surviving the Khmer Rouge genocide, and then returning to Cambodia to revive the dying Khmer Martial Art of Bokator. Today, he works closely with writers and film makers in an effort to document his country’s art and share it with the world.

Film producer, Tim Pek, of Transparent Pictures, whose family endured the hardship of the Pol Pot Regime, was a child refugee to Australia. Now, as an adult, he has returned to his home country to make films, giving a voice to a people in a desperate need to tell their story.

The release date of the Bokator film was delayed because Tim was working on another Khmer film, called “The Red Sense.” Shot in Australia, the story revolves around a young woman who discovers that the Khmer Rouge soldier who killed her father, is alive and well in Australia. She is torn between wanting to take revenge or if in forgiving her father’s executioner, she could bring healing to herself and her people.

Both films show the deep cultural and religious roots of the Khmer society. Bokator is about martial art, but it tells so much more.

The first half of the Bokator film is a documentary, telling the origin and nature of the martial art. The second half is a mini-film, starring martial arts and adventure writer Antonio Graceffo, called “Brooklyn Bokator.”

Always the baddie in Asian action cinema, Antonio plays a boxer from Brooklyn, with a bad attitude and a fat belly who gets beat up by an old man. Seeking revenge, he returns to boxing trainer, played by his real-life coach Paddy Carson, asking his coach to get him in shape so he can beat up the old man.

“If an old man beats you, then you must not fight him, you must learn from him.” Says Paddy.

“As always, I was honored to play in a Khmer movie. I am so grateful for all of the email and support that has come to me from Khmer people around the globe.” Says Graceffo, who receives countless emails, daily. “The actual acting was pretty funny. I play a big out of shape boxer from Brooklyn. It wasn’t much of a stretch. The story is in a lot of ways, based on my own experience of coming to Cambodia to train. For example, in the beginning of the film, my character doesn’t speak Khmer. And he gets a little sick when his training brothers ask him to eat spiders. By the end, he gets used to all of that and he learns to respect the spirit of Angkorian warrior.”