In pictures: Cambodia's cash-strapped cyclo drivers treated to pedal-in movie

Cambodia's cyclo taxi drivers received a rare treat at the weekend

Published: January 27, 2021 11:41 Reuters and compiled by Balaram Menon, Senior Web Editor

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Tricycle drivers attend an outdoor movie screening held by a private organisation, where cash and food donation are distributed to help them get by amid a tourism slump caused by the COVID-19, in Phnom Penh. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Presented with a movie, meal, medicines and a $20 cash handout, Cambodia's cyclo taxi drivers received a rare treat at the weekend, and a brief distraction from hard times as the coronavirus takes a toll on tourism. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Hundreds of drivers who are struggling to make ends meet were seen sprawled out in their pedal-driven vehicles during the special screening on Saturday, when a makeshift movie theatre sprang up in a grassy yard in the capital Phnom Penh. Image Credit: REUTERS

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They were shown the new film "Fathers" by local director Huy Yaleng, about a cyclo driver's daily battle to support his family. Image Credit: REUTERS

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"I teared up. I remember how I had to do anything and everything to support my family," said Sun Sokhorm, 67, a cyclo driver for 34 years. Image Credit: REUTERS

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"The story felt like my own story." Cambodia's cyclo drivers have long been a popular choice for visitors keen to take in the sights and enjoy the buzz of Phnom Penh at a leisurely pace. Image Credit: REUTERS

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But the coronavirus pandemic's devastating impact on global travel has seen tourist numbers plummet, even though Cambodia has reported less than 500 cases, with no deaths. Image Credit: REUTERS

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A tricycle driver attends an outdoor movie screening. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Sokhorm earns about a third of what he made before the pandemic, sometimes as little as $3 a day. "There's not much left over, but I can survive," he said. Image Credit: REUTERS

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The movie was a hit among the drivers, one of which was 93, born just a few years before cyclos first appeared in the former French colony in 1936. Image Credit: REUTERS

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The pedal-in movie was the idea of student Taing Huang Hao, 20, who met Sokhorm last month and has helped organise fundraising on social media for cyclo drivers. In the latest round, he teamed up with the director Yaleng to raise $5,000 to distribute at the private screening. Image Credit: REUTERS

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"They can see themselves inside the hardships portrayed by the movie, so they don't feel like they are going through this by themselves," he said. "They are the storytellers of the city." Image Credit: REUTERS

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