NICE HAT! 5 Enigmas in the Life of Cambodia
Nice Hat! is a wildly original, intimate lens on Cambodian culture ( ancient and modern) seen entirely through hats. Yes HATS! It attempts to counteract the many portrayals of Cambodia as either 'seat of disaster' or 'tourist confection' by getting to the more human reality of Khmer culture -- where breathtaking creativity and excruciating tragedy co-exist. The way in is an astounding lineage of caps, crowns, scarves, and head pieces of every description which thread together the last ten centuries with the last ten minutes and tie Cambodia to every corner of the globe. Guiding us into this vision are Cambodians ranging from a renown film director (Rithy Panh,) to a princess, to a young guide nicknamed James Bond -- joined by Cambodians of every stripe who make, sell and wear hats. NICE HAT! is all about unfolding complexity -- by the simplest of means.
"Infused with a great love and respect for the Cambodian people, Brisbin’s charming and sympathetic film strikes a perfect balance of concern about the past and optimism for the future." Robert Williamson for Firecracker Media -- one of his selections of 5 highlights in the Bangkok Int'l film Festival
"...as the film goes deeper and deeper, both into the hats and into the history, you get shivers at how brilliant hats are as an organizing device, a perfect and completely original lens onto one of the truly most heart-breaking stories ever... in every way, the hats are a device deft enough and subtle enough to contain the enormity of Cambodian history—really!--the most original and witty vantage point imaginable." John Grayson, Canadian filmmaker
