Dimitri Gochgarian

Director, Photographer and storyteller

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A DAY AT THE 2016 TOKYO GAME SHOW with GREGOIRE HELLOT from GAMEKULT.COM (with ENGLISH subs)

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Looking back Photography by me :)

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Nightview Photo by me :)

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Phnom Penh, Cambodia

In early 2016, I had the chance to go to Phnom Penh, Cambodia in order to film the day to day work at Riverkids. Their goal is to help families in great difficulties to get by. This trip was an opportunity to discover people from different social classes and learn about the cultural practices of the country.

The sun is quickly rising above the city as it is late and in a hurry; it has already been an hour that tuk-tuks, bikes and cars are dancing in the streets, waking up Phnom Penh. The groaning engines and horns have replaced the sounds of the civil war that destroyed everything two decades ago. Cambodia is trying to rebuild itself and heal, slowly, like an orphan; its elderly all killed during the riots, leaving behind a young generation facing the big challenge of reconstruction alone. The country is now developing across many sectors, from infrastructure to the living conditions of its people; while some of them spend money on big cars and high end casinos, many families struggle living at and under the poverty line. That situation encourages child abuse, child trafficking, alcohol, drug addiction and domestic violence. Many NGOs have settled there and work every day to build a better tomorrow for the underprivileged.

The main problem remains education, the lack of which targets women first and foremost. Cambodia has a lot of illiterate and unskilled mothers who become completely dependent on their family and especially their husbands in a country where family has right over law. ‘My husband used drugs and was sometimes very aggressive towards me. He hit me with a belt and it was so severe that I bled a lot. I went to complain at the district leader’s office but they said since it is a family problem, they couldn’t help.’ emotionally admits Srey*, a 35 years-old woman who has to live in a poor community with her husband and two children. Earning between 10 to 15 thousand riel (around 2.5-3.60 USD) a month she sometimes has to beg for money or food in order to provide. She lives in a small place amongst one the many poor communities in Phnom Penh where comfort has been banned from entering. The smell of old wood, the noise from outside, the proximity with neighbours, the garbage thrown below the installation through a small hole, the nightly violence and drug abuses did not prevent Srey from cleaning the floor of her place, taking care of an improvised kitchen where one could barely cook something other than rice seasoned with soy or fish sauce. She is not an isolated case. And this lack of means has created a vicious circle as Chanda* reports: ‘My children don’t go to school regularly. Maybe 2 or 3 times a week. They want to study but we just can’t afford to pay fully for that. We don’t make ends meet.’ Going to school means buying uniforms as it is the rule here and each family must pay for them. This is an investment most families struggle with, but when they don’t have much to offer to their children in the now, they want to give them chance for their future: education is key so they can have a proper job and earn a living.

In a country where it is impossible to find a job without skills and proper ID, Kimhourt - a social worker who has been in charge in prisons and different associations over the past 20 years - admits ‘there is domestic violence as husbands are often the only ones who can generate an income. Women are not valued by their husbands, as they are considered as simple housewives who can only stay at home doing housework and taking care of the children. When they have a skill, they can make their own income and when they have their own income to support the family, they will gain more respect. They will be better off for their living condition, they will have value in their own community as well since they don’t have to rely on their husband.’ But how can an NGO achieve such a change? Well, sewing might be a first big step. It helps women learn how to produce outfits and uniforms for other NGOs and private schools. 

"We can not make enough money but we want our children to go to school"  -- Athit

When they can, some women do not hesitate to cumulate two jobs. Like Sokha*, a mother of two who provides for her entire family by herself. ‘My husband is currently unemployed and my second son who is six years old has to start school. In my family, I am the sole breadwinner and I have to pay for rent, food, water, electricity and my children’s school.’ Mentalities are changing and women are becoming the new foundation for many families’ future. In a community recently moved to allow a high-end hotel offering rooms with a view to rich tourists to be built, Athit* is living on his small boat with his wife and 3 children along with many other families.  They are left there, struggling to survive on fishing. Athit would like his wife to help ‘as a fish seller at the market’ because their children are sick and regularly in need of blood transfusions. This has a cost. They already lost one of their children because they couldn’t afford them. The situation is only getting more dramatic as living on a boat comes with other difficulties: ‘Once when we came back from the hospital, our boat was found sunk because of the wind. Our life is very difficult in too many ways to tell’ Admits Athit*. ‘We cannot make enough money but we want our children to go to school. We borrow money. We have to.’ These are troubled waters to sail on, far from the luxury and serenity of the advertisements for a new golf and spa complex that Phnom Penh is promoting a couple of kilometers from here. Cambodia’s government is betting on attracting banks and rich businessmen to elevate its economic level while its people are building their future on their women and education. Two different definitions of hope.

*Names have been changed to preserve anonymity.

Catch up the video documentary about Riverkids in Cambodia here : http://vimeo.com/165571969

All photos by Dimitri Gochgarian except the last one by Robin Veret. More info on rezcreative.com and rezphotography.co

Special thanks to Evgeniya Chuprova and Moussa Kahn.

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Phnom Penh, Cambodia

In early 2016, I had the chance to go to Phnom Penh, Cambodia in order to film the day to day work at Riverkids. Their goal is to help families in great difficulties to get by. This trip was an opportunity to discover people from different social classes and learn about the cultural practices of the country.

The sun is quickly rising above the city as it is late and in a hurry; it has already been an hour that tuk-tuks, bikes and cars are dancing in the streets, waking up Phnom Penh. The groaning engines and horns have replaced the sounds of the civil war that destroyed everything two decades ago. Cambodia is trying to rebuild itself and heal, slowly, like an orphan; its elderly all killed during the riots, leaving behind a young generation facing the big challenge of reconstruction alone. The country is now developing across many sectors, from infrastructure to the living conditions of its people; while some of them spend money on big cars and high end casinos, many families struggle living at and under the poverty line. That situation encourages child abuse, child trafficking, alcohol, drug addiction and domestic violence. Many NGOs have settled there and work every day to build a better tomorrow for the underprivileged.

The main problem remains education, the lack of which targets women first and foremost. Cambodia has a lot of illiterate and unskilled mothers who become completely dependent on their family and especially their husbands in a country where family has right over law. ‘My husband used drugs and was sometimes very aggressive towards me. He hit me with a belt and it was so severe that I bled a lot. I went to complain at the district leader’s office but they said since it is a family problem, they couldn’t help.’ emotionally admits Srey*, a 35 years-old woman who has to live in a poor community with her husband and two children. Earning between 10 to 15 thousand riel (around 2.5-3.60 USD) a month she sometimes has to beg for money or food in order to provide. She lives in a small place amongst one the many poor communities in Phnom Penh where comfort has been banned from entering. The smell of old wood, the noise from outside, the proximity with neighbours, the garbage thrown below the installation through a small hole, the nightly violence and drug abuses did not prevent Srey from cleaning the floor of her place, taking care of an improvised kitchen where one could barely cook something other than rice seasoned with soy or fish sauce. She is not an isolated case. And this lack of means has created a vicious circle as Chanda* reports: ‘My children don’t go to school regularly. Maybe 2 or 3 times a week. They want to study but we just can’t afford to pay fully for that. We don’t make ends meet.’ Going to school means buying uniforms as it is the rule here and each family must pay for them. This is an investment most families struggle with, but when they don’t have much to offer to their children in the now, they want to give them chance for their future: education is key so they can have a proper job and earn a living.

In a country where it is impossible to find a job without skills and proper ID, Kimhourt - a social worker who has been in charge in prisons and different associations over the past 20 years - admits ‘there is domestic violence as husbands are often the only ones who can generate an income. Women are not valued by their husbands, as they are considered as simple housewives who can only stay at home doing housework and taking care of the children. When they have a skill, they can make their own income and when they have their own income to support the family, they will gain more respect. They will be better off for their living condition, they will have value in their own community as well since they don’t have to rely on their husband.’ But how can an NGO achieve such a change? Well, sewing might be a first big step. It helps women learn how to produce outfits and uniforms for other NGOs and private schools. 

"We can not make enough money but we want our children to go to school"  -- Athit

When they can, some women do not hesitate to cumulate two jobs. Like Sokha*, a mother of two who provides for her entire family by herself. ‘My husband is currently unemployed and my second son who is six years old has to start school. In my family, I am the sole breadwinner and I have to pay for rent, food, water, electricity and my children’s school.’ Mentalities are changing and women are becoming the new foundation for many families’ future. In a community recently moved to allow a high-end hotel offering rooms with a view to rich tourists to be built, Athit* is living on his small boat with his wife and 3 children along with many other families. [MK2] They are left there, struggling to survive on fishing. Athit would like his wife to help ‘as a fish seller at the market’ because their children are sick and regularly in need of blood transfusions. This has a cost. They already lost one of their children because they couldn’t afford them. The situation is only getting more dramatic as living on a boat comes with other difficulties: ‘Once when we came back from the hospital, our boat was found sunk because of the wind. Our life is very difficult in too many ways to tell’ Admits Athit*. ‘We cannot make enough money but we want our children to go to school. We borrow money. We have to.’ These are troubled waters to sail on, far from the luxury and serenity of the advertisements for a new golf and spa complex that Phnom Penh is promoting a couple of kilometers from here. Cambodia’s government is betting on attracting banks and rich businessmen to elevate its economic level while its people are building their future on their women and education. Two different definitions of hope.

*Names have been changed to preserve anonymity.

Catch up the video documentary about Riverkids in Cambodia here : http://vimeo.com/165571969

All photos by Dimitri Gochgarian except the last one by Robin Veret. More info on rezcreative.com and rezphotography.co

Special thanks to Evgeniya Chuprova and Moussa Kahn.

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Shang-High

Photography by me :)

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Bagan, Myanmar

Photo by: Dimitri Gochgarian

Instagram : @chairdim

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Working on my first movie ever!

Through this post, i’ll describe you one of my greatest experience: producing a movie. Um… A short movie. Well, we all need to start somewhere at some point.

This story started in a plane. I was on my way to Tokyo, right after shipping Ubisoft's Far Cry 2. A co-worker who became a great friend of mine gave me a first draft of a script he was working on.

It was about a canadian soldier during WWI.

He told me: “i’d like to direct that, you should help me!” A simple “OK” brought me in the most complicated project i’ve ever worked on.

2 years. Since i said “OK”, it took us 2 years to end this project.

Back to Montreal, Canada, i started my work on Ubisoft's Splinter Cell Conviction but i knew that i needed something else to keep my mind busy. I always wanted to work on a movie. It was a childhood dream that i had, i think, the first time i saw E.T.

So Robin and I started to work on this project. Just the both of us. Two persons. We ended at thirty-five.

Let's start with the scope. One of the first decision we made was to decide to do something special. Tons of hand-made short movies look… hand-made and we didn’t want that. Working at Ubisoft would allow us to earn money we could invest into the production of the film. So we’ve decided to hire people from the movie industry. I spent days and nights doing phone calls and meetings to be sure we had the right team.

It was pretty hard at that time as i had no idea of what i was supposed to do and say. I remember looking into some dictionnary to find the title that would define what i was doing… and that was it, i suddenly became a producer. Youhou!

Once we locked the script (more or less…), we started gathering the team… Actors, DOP, AD, etc… Months after months we met all these people and got them into the WW1 mood. We did some research, went to museums, etc… in order to try to build the most respectful and impactful movie we could make.

Funny thing when we think about this movie is that there were millions of reasons that the movie would collapse.

First, we decided to shoot it outside… Day and Night. Taking into account the weather conditions in Quebec in October it was a crazy choice. The third day of the shooting, our trench got flooded. We had to stop everything, re-work the script overnight and do additional takes in a studio a couple of months later.

Then, we had to hire extra hands to build the massive trench. It was a 20m-long trench, a trench that cost us more then expected.

Shooting outside, especially during winter with the cold and the mudd, is hard conditions for the crew and we had too many scenes to shoot in 3 days and 1 night.

The location was far from the city so any unexpected extra needs for material made us lost hours of shooting.

Finally, working on a AAA video game and handling a shooting like that is a killer. I remember working at the office then heading to the shooting location, spending the night there, then heading back home at 7am, showering and heading back to work without sleeping, then finishing my day at the office, heading back to the set location, cleaning and wrapping everything and coming back home really late, taking a couple of hours of sleep and head back to the office. Um. You gotta love coffee!

But in the end… i can tell this is my best experience so far. The first day i discovered the final set was like being 8 again and going to Disneyland! Everything you’ve worked on and dreamt of for the last 10 months suddenly became alive. It was a crazy feelling.

We wanted to release the movie in Black and White but when we took a look at the rushes during the first day of shooting, we decided to keep the colors – even if the post-production would cost us more money: you’ve got to work for something anyway!

With the rushes in hand, we took some time off, heading back to Japan and i can tell you, there is no better feeling then going on holidays with this felling of having something precious in hands.

Post-production was an easy process comparing to the shooting. A friend of mine brillantly handled the foley and dubbing, we had the sound mixed for free by our friends at Wave Generation. Seppuku Paradigm wrote a kick ass score for the movie… It was such exciting times! As we did everything else ourselves, it took us 6 extra months to finalize the movie. After that, it was all about sending it to film festivals and wait.

What an experience! I hope you’ll get the chance to see our work (links below) but most importantly, if you’ve got the opportunity, to take part in a similar adventure!

Dimitri

More info on rezcreative.com