At the end of the Khmer Rouge period (1975-1979), less than ten percent of Cambodia’s artists, dancers, musicians, and film makers remained in Cambodia. Marked as ‘undesirables’, members of the arts community, along with professionals, intellectuals, and educated Cambodians, fared particularly poorly under Pol Pot’s regime. While some fled abroad, most died at home from starvation, disease, or the excesses of forced labour, or were killed by the Khmer Rouge, which sought to ‘smash’ anyone who might pose a challenge to its ideology.
