Memories of the Beginning

Fin Boswell

Summary
Final work

Fin Boswell is a London-based documentary filmmaker and the founder of Rewound Films. Having previously studied Philosophy, Fin entered the filmmaking world as a way to synthesise philosophical ideas outside of academia, with the aim of making philosophical ideas more accessible through the visual medium. This has ranged from experimental video work to their most recent project which examines the Cambodian genocide through the experiences of ex-Khmer Rouge guards and soldiers. Fin’s work focuses on using historical narratives to explore abstract concepts which shed light on the present moment.

Fin Boswell is a London-based documentary filmmaker and the founder of Rewound Films. Havin...

CollegeLondon College of Communication
CourseMA Documentary Film
Graduation year2025

Memories of the Beginning was born out of the desire to respond to current global conditions. With multiple genocides taking place across the globe, at the end of 2024 I envisaged a project which would explore the temporal boundaries of mass killings; what defines their beginning? And where do we go afterwards? In my research my mind turned towards Cambodia, a country whose history I was familiar with both as a tourist and from studying its politics in my undergraduate degree, I realised that within months the 50th anniversary of the fall of Phnom Penh would pass, the point when its considered the genocide began.

While I initially leaned towards the latter, desiring to examine how life changes after genocides 'end', as I gathered materials further and searched the archives of the tribunal that started in 2009, I found out about M-13, a site which seemed, from 1971-1975, to be participating in a genocide that hadn't officially began yet. The reason for this was its commander: Kaing Guek Eav, alias: Duch. Duch became the infamous head of the notorious S-21 prison and is often considered an architect of the mass deaths in Cambodia, it was in fact his own 'success' in his novel torture methods at M-13 that lead to his promotion after the Khmer Rouge declared victory.

As production advanced I found myself talking to people with varied experienced in the genocide: victims, soldiers, and perpetrators, but M-13, where I filmed over the last two days of production, by sheer gravitas of content demanded the full attention of the film. The remarkable story of friendship and hope which took place here, it is my hope offers a positive message alongside it's warning that mass violence doesn't just appear from nowhere.

Final work

Memories of the Beginning (2025) Trailer

In 1973 13-year-old prison guard Chan Voeun became ensnared in the Khmer Rouge’s emerging system of torture and repression at the prison M-13. “This place is stuck in my heart” reflects Voeun as he explores this rural backwater island. Controlled for 5 years by infamous torturer Duch, M-13 became the blueprint of a now infamous system of tortuous repression. Memories of the Beginning guides the viewer through Voeun’s journey of compassion, capture, freedom, recapture and final freedom. Despite Voeun’s sparkly eyes and warm smile death was a close neighbour to him while at M-13, only saved by a childhood friend. What emerges through the testimony of this film is the power of friendship to overcome and subvert evil.

Synopsis

Memories of the Beginning is part eyewitness testimony part tale of the strength of the bonds of friendship. Throughout the film we follow 66-year-old Chan Voeun, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge’s killing fields whose bright eyes hide a deeply painful past. Through his first-hand account we learn how an act of compassion on his part led him on a journey that twice very nearly ended in his death.

From 1970 the Khmer Rouge began establishing a prison system to control its occupied populations through the final days of the Cambodian civil war. One man would emerge from this system to become one of the most infamous torturers of the 21st century- Kaing Guek Eav- most commonly known as Comrade Duch. Memories of the Beginning tells part of the story of the prison he ran from 1970-1975: M-13.

Through Chan Voeun’s testimony we learn both of Duch’s cruelty from the earliest times of the Khmer Rouge, and Voeun’s own remarkable story of survival against all odds. Having been introduced to him at home we follow Voeun back to the place he worked as a 13-year-old guard. Voeun tells us how after helping his nephew to escape the prison he found himself the prisoner, his life in the hands of the brutal Duch. Yet karma and fortune seem to favour Voeun, for his childhood friend, Khorn, is also a guard at this prison. Khorn, taking pity on his doomed friend helps him to escape from his capture the same night he is destined to be executed.

Despite making his escape Voeun finds himself back in Duch’s hands through a cruel twist of fate, testament to the terror the black-clad cadres of the Khmer Rouge could inspire even in this early stage, his mother forced his return to prison for fear of reprisal. Death hangs close to Voeun for a week while decisions are made regarding his fate, it is only his potential use as a future soldier that saves him this time and following a tense journey home, he is allowed to live.

Filmed on the site of M-13 exactly 50 years to the day after M-13 was finally closed, Memories of the Beginning contains vital eyewitness testimony of the murders and torture undertaken by Duch, acts that despite his charges for crimes against humanity, he maintained he only ordered others to undertake. The film’s warm colour palette as well as a focus on the beauty and fauna of an unexceptional landscape where these exceptionally brutal acts occurred elicit a message of hope, while the verite style informs it as both narrative film and pure document.

Throughout Memories of the Beginning, while we hear both Voeun and Khorn’s perspective on these events, what emerges is a bond that despite ten years of separation is deeply visible in a reunion which forms the denouement of the film. Despite a grizzly subject matter the film is a celebration of the power of friendship and compassion to subvert even the most heinous evil.