At another point, the members of the theatre troupe forage for food in the theatre itself, harvesting bats from the ceiling of the theatre halls and frying the winged mammals in a wok. Cast Bopha Chheng Than Nan Doeun Peng Phan Hoeun Ieng Rotha Kèv Sok Ly Pok Dy Rama Production Rithy Panh had co-written the script for The Burnt Theatre, which he then adapted during the shooting of the film to incorporate actual experiences of the performers, blending fact and fiction in a docudrama style. "The idea at the heart of this film is to gather a group of actors around a project that exemplifies the reality Cambodian people live in: something inside us – dignity, identity – is rotting to shreds. To recover our memory after the tragedy of genocide," the director wrote in a synopsis for the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. "We are in the process of losing our memory. Cambodia is a land of broken dreams. There is no more theatre, no more playhouses." The film is an urging by the director to restore Cambodia's lost cultural heritage. In comments prepared for the Tokyo Filmex in 2005, Panh wrote: "When it comes to reconstruction, we must restore our identity first and have some space of cultural expression to do so. In Cambodia, we say: 'When culture vanishes, the nation collapses.' How can we build our country if culture remains confined to survival when transmission of memory's so much at stake? Culture should be a priority because it is so instrumental in healing our wounds, overcoming traumas and building democracy. The situation of the burnt theatre serves as a symbol of Cambodia's situation, just as of many other developing countries'. Are we to reduce culture to its folklore dimension? And yet… To break away with 'culture of survival', and overcome stupor of trauma, we need a link, we need continuity. Artists embody such a link. Through creations, they can avoid breaking up with our past, they can restore dignity of memory." Release The Burnt Theatre premiered at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival as an official selection in the out-of-competition main programme. The film was also screened at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, São Paulo International Film Festival, Tokyo Filmex (in competition), the 2006 Bangkok International Film Festival, the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, and the Singapore International Film Festival. It has also been