Filmmaker Guillaume SUON’s mother currently resides in France. A survivor of Cambodia’s genocide at the “killing fields,” she has always avoided talking about her childhood. Frustrated by his mother’s silence, SUON decides to follow Antoine, a photographer and a grandson of Armenian genocide survivors who photographs the ghosts of his ancestors in massacre sites in the Middle East. Using Antoine’s method, SUON attempts to discover traces of Cambodia’s past. The Taste of Secrets begins from very personal curiosity and connects with the colossal tragedy of genocide in Asia.
Yet even in the scene of history, SUON’s mother is unable to speak freely, and the dark memories buried in her silence do not reveal themselves in front of the camera. Under the intimate and considerate gaze where the desire to know is conflicted with the thoughtfulness to prevent his mother from reliving her painful past, the scars of tragic history gradually emerge. The Taste of Secrets is a documentary dedicated to the ghosts of the past. (KANG Sowon)