Covid-19 Situation Update

Shortly after sending out our press release with details on this year’s programme, a situation began to unfold in Phnom Penh regarding possible new Covid-19 infections.

Due to new restrictions imposed in Cambodia due to the ongoing and developing situation concerning new Covid-19 infections in the capital, we are temporarily pausing our preparations to ensure that we are able to organise all our events in a manner that is safe and socially responsible to our community, participants and attendees.

We will provide another press release this weekend (Nov 14/15) with our updated schedule for our workshop and festival.

We are so grateful to the kind understanding of our tutors, curators and participants, as well as our local partners who has been incredibly supportive. Your solidarity powers us. 

It is with heavy hearts that we announce our decision not to hold the Angkor Photo Workshops this year. In the seven months since Covid-19 first emerged, we have been in continuous consultation with our team of tutors and committee members while monitoring the unfolding situation. 

Against our most optimistic hopes, the ongoing travel restrictions and need to prioritise the health and safety of our attendees makes it impossible for us to provide our participants with quality workshop experience that participants from all over Asia have come to expect from our professional workshops.

We are so grateful to the 359 photographers from across Asia who took the time to apply for our workshops. All applicants have been informed by email, and their applications will automatically carry over to 2021. 

Our festival will continue in November as announced, but like so many other public festivals around the world, we will be adapting our programme to bring as much of it to our audiences who are unable to be with us in Siem Reap. Among the planned activities are workshops for Cambodians, online talks and guest curator projections. So stay tuned for more projects from us and updates on the programme!

[Updated Covid-10 Travel Advisory to Cambodia]

A NOTE ABOUT OUR 16th EDITION

Dear friends,

Siem Reap’s sizzling month of April is usually the time of the year when we start looking forward to receiving applications for our workshops.

With the uncertainty and challenges brought by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, our organising committee has deliberated and we will press on with preparations for our 16th Edition this November. The workshops are planned to be held from 18 – 24 November 2020, followed by the public festival from 24 – 29 November 2020. 

However, we will be tweaking our schedules to allow for the current situation. The workshop’s annual Call for Applications will now be postponed to the end of May 2020. In the meantime, you can check out our tutors and start getting familiar with our application guidelines here.

We will continue updating you about our plans as we continue to monitor and assess the situation. Soon, we will also sharing a list available resources for photographers on how to navigate work and stay safe during the crisis, financial grant possibilities, and other initiatives aimed at media professionals.

To those of you who are continuing to document the unfolding crisis, we thank you for your dedication and commitment. Please stay safe.

To our community of photographers and supporters, we urge you to care for your own physical and mental health, and if possible, to offer your presence and support to your community.

The pandemic has placed–and will continue to place–an intense magnifying glass on long-standing issues of inequality, privilege and the devastating failures of plutocracy and a global capitalist system which prizes profit over everything else.

We will continue to support our community as best we can. Afterall, “A society must assume that it is stable, but the artist must know, and he must let us know, that there is nothing stable under heaven.” *  

Stay safe, see you soon.

Jessica Lim
Director

* Baldwin, James. (1962). The Creative Process. The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction.