Angelina Jolie’s Louis Vuitton campaign in Cambodia image revealed

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie strikes a pose in Cambodia for Louis Vuitton’s ‘Core Values’ campaign.

The full image of Angelina Jolie as the new face of Louis Vuitton’s Core Values campaign. Photo: Louis Vuitton/ Annie Leibovitz

So it IS true after all. After months of speculation that Angelina Jolie
was set to star as the new face of Louis Vuitton, images have finally
been revealed in
WWD
of the Hollywood actress in Vuitton’s latest ‘Core Values’ campaign.  

Bare foot and smoky-eyed, Jolie is pictured reclining on a wooden
boat in Cambodia – the country she fell in love with, and adopted her
son Maddox from, after filming of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider there in 2000.

By her side, her six-year-old monogrammed ‘Alto’ carryall bag; just
out of shot, four of her six children who came along to the set and had
to be ‘shooed’ away by photographer Annie Leibovitz.

Angelina Jolie collaborates on a jewellery line

“People are not used to seeing Angelina in this situation,” Vuitton’s
executive vice president, Pietro Beccari, told WWD. “I like the fact
that it’s a real moment. This travel message we give through personal
journeys is a fundamental one for the brand.”

Beccari declined to comment on rumours that Jolie was paid in the
region of $10 million for her time, but did disclose that she had
elected to donate a significant slice of her fee to a charity – most
likely the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which the couple founded to aid
community development and conservation in Cambodia.

Core Values celebrates Vuitton’s timeless classics in real situations
on ‘real’ people – meaning celebrities rather than models – and runs
alongside their seasonal ‘fashion’ campaigns.

The most recent campaign images feature U2 frontman Bono and his wife
Ali Hewson in Africa, where the couple have long campaigned for the
fight against extreme poverty, and actor Sean Connery photographed on a
beach near his home in the Bahamas.

Previous ‘faces’ of the campaign include Vuitton favourite Sofia
Coppola and her father Francis Ford Coppola sitting in the Buenos Aires
countryside, Rolling Stone Keith Richards in a hotel suite with a Louis
Vuitton guitar case, and former President of the Soviet Union, and Nobel
Peace Prize winner, Mikhail Gorbachev, in the back of a limo passing
the remaining part of the Berlin Wall.

The campaign is expected to run for at least 18 months and will also
feature a video interview with Jolie filmed on location later in the
month.

BY Belinda White

Telegraph.co.uk

Dengue Fever revives and revamps the sounds of Cambodia

Dengue Fever (from left: David Ralicke, Zac Holtzman, Senon Williams, Paul Smith, Chhom Nimol, Ethan Holtzman) builds its sound on Khmer pop and surf rock.

SAN FRANCISCO — Dengue Fever didn’t set out to earn the elusive title of Southern California’s quintessential 21st-century rock band, but with “Cannibal Courtship,’’ the sextet’s fifth album, released in April, it makes a convincing bid for the crown.

There are other strong contenders, mainly Ozomatli, Linkin Park, and System of a Down. Dengue Fever stands out through the sheer wondrous strangeness of its cultural synthesis, a Pacific Rim sound built upon vintage Khmer pop and surf rock. Launched in 2001 by brothers Ethan and Zac Holtzman, the group united around their mutual love of Cambodia’s ebullient psychedelic movement of the late 1960s and early ’70s, when the Southeast Asian nation boasted a giddily creative scene sparked by surf rock, soul, and garage-band hits broadcast by US Armed Forces Radio to troops in Vietnam.

Dengue Fever, which performs tonight at Brighton Music Hall, started out by reappropriating music that had already gotten the funhouse mirror treatment, interpreting anarchic anthems by pop stars such as Sinn Sisamouth, Pan Ron, and Ros Sereysothea.

“When we started the band, our idea was not to just play all these songs, it was to make new music based on old music,’’ said bassist Senon Williams while cooling off with a beer after an April performance at the Fillmore Auditorium. “At that time in LA there was a lot of shoe-gazer rock. The lead singer would never sing into the mike. He would sing next to it. We wanted to break out of the mold, do something a little bit more bold and fun.’’

Early on, some critics took to describing the band as an exercise in kitsch. But Dengue Fever embraced Khmer pop with no emotional distance. Indeed, the project didn’t come together until the guys discovered Chhom Nimol, a rising Cambodian pop star who decided to try her luck in the United States, while she was performing in karaoke clubs in Long Beach’s Little Phnom Penh district. Hailing from an esteemed musical family, she grew up hearing her parents sing traditional Khmer songs, while her older sister Chhom Chevin was one of the country’s biggest stars in the 1980s.

“When I was kid, my sister is the one who taught me how to sing and supported me all the time,’’ said Nimol, a diminutive figure given to bounding around the stage and spontaneously synchronizing steps with Williams, who towers over her. “I’m not good for traditional music, though. My sister was, but when I tried to sing, it was bad for me, too many notes and too many different keys.’’

With each album, Dengue Fever has increasingly sublimated the Khmer sound, so that on “Cannibal Courtship’’ (Fantasy/Concord) it’s but one stream flowing into an increasingly expansive stylistic palette. Last year the band played several dates in Asia with Seun Kuti and Egypt 80, and there’s an unmistakable Afrobeat groove on “Only a Friend,’’ one of the album’s standout tracks. 

Dengue Fever has also generated more original songs with English lyrics, a move pushed by Nimol.

“It’s hard, because there are a lot of words, but I’m enjoying it,’’ she said. “My teacher is Zac, though everybody in the band helps. I want to sing in English because I want to connect with the audience, so people can understand it and jump with us.’’

As Dengue Fever’s sound has diverged from its initial Cambodian sources, the band has forged increasingly deep ties to the nation, which is still struggling to overcome the legacy of the Khmer Rouge’s late 1970s genocide when Pol Pot’s regime wiped out about a fifth of the population, concentrating with particularly brutal efficiency on artists and professionals.

“If you were famous for playing this music, you were first to get a knock on the door,’’ Williams said. “Along with architects, professors, doctors, lawyers, artists, and politicians.’’

Returning to Cambodia in 2005 with Dengue Fever, Nimol found that audiences loved the band’s distinctive spin on the Khmer rock sound. Last year, the band orchestrated the release of “Electric Cambodia’’ (Minky Records), a CD featuring 14 vintage Cambodian rock tunes culled from the band’s precious stash of cassettes, including tracks by artists such as Pan Ron, Ros Sereysothea, and Dara Chom Chan (none of whom are known to have survived the genocide).

For filmmaker John Pirozzi, who captured Dengue Fever’s triumphant tour with his documentary “Sleepwalking Through the Mekong,’’ the band’s journey represents Khmer rock’s power to seize the imaginations of distant people. While Dengue Fever absorbs new influences, the band’s impact on Cambodia endures.

“When I first met the band, they didn’t necessarily know the history,’’ said Pirozzi, who’s finishing “Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll,’’ a documentary about the scene annihilated by the Khmer Rouge. “They assimilated the culture through the music. In Cambodia, young people know all the songs, because they hear it in their homes. But to have an American band arrive and play these hits, it made quite an impression.’’

By Andrew Gilbert

Globe Correspondent 

5 Reasons We ‘Hate’ Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie
barely devotes any time to her beauty regime. She recently said, “In my
life, I hardly brush my hair very often. I try to be as low-maintenance
as possible because of my kids, so I can just get up and get ready and
do things and not take too much time.”

So she hardly takes care of herself but looks so good.  That’s reason number one why we “hate” her!

Reason number two: Her boyfriend Brad Pitt is one of the sexiest guys in Hollywood. And the word on the street is the two are finally thinking about getting married.

Reason number three: She manages to raise six kids while simultaneously making films. She’s a super mom.

Reason number four: She’s a goodwill ambassador. She recently stuck
up for Libyan refugees and she donates both time and money to charitable
causes.

Reason number five: A world-famous Hindu temple has been named after
her. She is so beloved in Cambodia (where she adopted her first child
Maddox) that one religious site in Angkor has been renamed in her honor.

Do you “hate” Angelina as much as we do? Let us know in the comments.

Starpulse.com

Case Study: Films come to Cambodia

Infrastructure development lures projects

The biggest driver behind the expansion of Cambodia as a location has been the upgrading of filming facilities. For the first time, lighting, grip, equipment and crew are available — and are expanding shoot by shoot.

“The number of foreign projects in the country has multiplied by four over the last two years and demand is constantly rising.” says Cedric Eloy, CEO of the Cambodia Film Commission.

In the past two years, Cambodia has hosted features, docus and skeins from France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Australia, the U.S., India and Singapore.The biggest project by far was “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” the third in the franchise, which shot at the Angkor Wat temple complex.

The commission has been working to train Cambodians and enable more Hollywood and other foreign projects in the country, and focusing on providing the kind of crew that a production expects to source locally.

Cambodia now provides assistants for all departments and even some key crew people in a few areas. There is also an improved understanding of the benefits that foreign productions can bring.

“Cambodia offers a very authentic Asia that is now accessible as the production sector becomes more organized,” says Eloy. “The CFC guides productions and the Ministry of Culture facilitates film permits and customs paperwork.”

Casting has also improved, and Cambodia can offer good secondary roles.

Variety 

The battle against dengue fever in Cambodia

This is always a worrying time of year for Cambodian health
officials, as cases of dengue fever normally spike in June and July.
However, this year officials at the National Dengue Control Programme
(NDCP) are especially concerned.

They have already seen a high number of reported cases in the first
two months of 2011, when dengue should be fairly dormant. Alarm is also
being raised by the number of patients suffering from dengue hemorrhagic
fever (around two-thirds, compared to half in 2010). Major outbreaks of
dengue fever strike Cambodia every 3 to 5 years and in interviews given
to IRIN, specialists at the NDCP are saying the pattern of cases is
looking similar to 2007, when the last large epidemic hospitalised
around 40,000 people, with over 10,000 in one week.

Cambodia normally takes measures each year to try and reduce cases of
dengue during what’s known as the ‘nightmare season’. However, this
year there could be problems in the implementation of these programmes.
An annual grant which normally makes up three-fifths of the NDCP’s
budget is yet to arrive from the Asian Development Bank. And since
Cambodia’s health services were decentralised three years ago, there is
uncertainty over what control measures are being taken in certain areas
and whether provinces have begun distribution of the chemical used to
kill mosquito larvae.

Recent research from Peru (where a dengue outbreak killed 14 people
earlier this year) questions whether this is the most effective
technique for controlling the spread of dengue fever. Researchers found
that mosquitoes choose to lay their eggs in water which is already
heavily infested with those of other mosquitoes. Therefore using
larvicides to kill eggs or removing them, may simply spur mosquitoes to
find other sites. Instead, the creation of ‘egg-sinks’ treated with
growth regulators to limit the emergence of adults may be a better way
to control mosquito numbers, though the scientists warn that individual
countries may need to adopt different controlling strategies.

In recent years, the NDCP has tried alternative methods in Cambodia
for preventing dengue, such as introducing guppy fish (which eat
mosquito larvae) in water storage containers. These trial projects have
been ongoing for 7 years and have prevented serious outbreaks of dengue.
But though this kind of scheme only costs around 1 dollar per household
to maintain, up-front investment is needed to put the necessary
infrastructure in place. Wider adoption is therefore prevented by the
short-term nature of many aid grants.

According to a spokesperson at the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Cambodia,
there is currently no alarm within the organisation over reported cases
of dengue fever in 2011. However, he admitted that the situation could
change.

Debbie Sath – Coming Up [of a Cambodian-El Salvadorean girl]

From the June, 2011 issue of Import Tuner

By Luke Munnell

Photography by Steve Bitanga

Via Khmerization

Debbie
Sath is many things. Typical is not one of them. Australian born from
Cambodian and El Salvadorian parents, and a banker by day, it’s Debbie’s
flawless physique and refreshingly natural presence that she’s fast
becoming known for the world over. But what you might not suspect having
never met her is that beneath her beauty is a down-to-earth, laid back
chick who’s as comfortable with jokes and crass language (sexy) as she
is in front of the camera (sexier still). The best part: we may be getting her full time. If only she can break the news to her parents.

2NR:
I read on your Facebook that you’ve been on the road now for quite a
while, and our shoot is your last gig before you hop a 15hr flight back
home. What else have you been up to?

DS: So much! I was up in Toronto for a while before coming down to SoCal, hanging out with my cousin
and doing a shoot for Heaven and Hell magazine. I was in Miami before
that, then just kicked back at some resorts in South America for a while
on holiday.

Did you have fun?

Oh
yes! Well . . . other than getting food poisoning the other day. That
was awful. But I love it here. I always go back home talking about how I
want to move to the States after I’ve been here.

So you like it here?

I wanna move here!! I love Australia, but you all have it made in California.

As long as you don’t plan to buy a house, pay for gas, or get a job. But Aus has a little bit of everything, too, right?

Yes,
good dining and nightlife in Melbourne, good sightseeing in Sydney. We
have Mount Buller for skiing and snowboarding, Surfers Paradise in
Queensland, lots of bungee jumping, hiking, extreme sports . . .

And what are you into most?

Of
those? Nothing. laughs I’ve gone canoeing, but I really hated it. I
hate water; it makes me think I’m going to die. I’m glad I did it,
though. I’ll stick to the clubs in Melbourne!

Word? Melbourne is the spot?

Oh yes. Hot clubs, hot Asian girls . . . they’re all just terrible dancers. You Americans have us beat there. laughs

Yeah, but you’ve been in a dance crew for years, right? You’re bound to be a little more critical than most . . .

Yes, but the chicks out here are just bad. laughs They try, and they have fun, so I guess that’s all that counts, right?

You’re talking to a gearhead white boy from the East Coast not the biggest dance authority.

laughs

Where else is hot? You’re always on the go, right?

I
go to Malaysia and Cambodia a lot to visit the fam. I have a cousin in
Francethat’s an awesome place. We can fly to most of Asia for $250 out
of Avalon airport in Melbourne on Jetstarkind of like JetBlue here.

So Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbanethey’re all on the east coast of Aus. What happens on the other 9/10ths of the continent?

Nothing. laughs It’s pretty much all kangaroos and open land until Perth on the west coast.

But with photo radar.

Yes!
I hate those damned things. I actually got two fines on the way home
from the airport after dropping Steve (Bitanga) off the last time he
came down here. I had no idea I was even speeding until I got them in
the mail. Like $400 each.

It’s bad over there for a car owner, huh?

Terrible.
I think in Cali you have what’s called a referee station, where the
cops send you if they think your car is illegally modified? Well, over
there they can just take your car and auction it off if they want to.

Damn. And you guys have some pretty badass cars over there, too, huh?

Yeah. Skylines in Aus are like Civics here.

What are you driving these days?

laughs A Holden Barina. I wanted a Silvia, but I got stuck with that. I always wanted a Nissan Micra convertible. They’re so cute, but I’ve only ever seen them in England.

Angelina travels to Cambodia in the name of Louis Vuitton

As a natural beauty Angelina Jolie is widely known for her pouty lips
and sultry eyes. She is an Academy Award winner, a mother, a wife, a UN
High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador, and now it is
confirmed that she will be the new face for Louis Vuitton.

The campaign will be shot in Cambodia by the internationally acclaimed photographer, Annie Leibovitz. Leibovitz has shot a slew of celebrities, from the George W. Bush Cabinet to a nude Vanity Fair cover of Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley. 

Angelina reportedly banked $10 million for the campaign, which is
rumored to be her largest endorsement yet. She will be joining other
celebrities, such as Madonna and Jennifer Lopez, who have also represented the designer.  

The location of the shoot is in Siem Reap, Cambodia, a country
Angelina is more than familiar with being the birth place of her adopted
son, Maddox. In 2001, prior to the adoption Angelina donned the Laura
Croft gear for her part in the film, Laura Croft: Tomb Raider, filmed in Angkor Wat.


Following her adoption of Maddox in 2002, 2003 saw the inception of
the Maddox Jolie-Foundation, which has since been changed to Maddox Jolie-Pitt foundation.


The foundation is committed to creating peace and stability in
communities by working with impoverished rural villagers and local
governments. It aims to help alleviate food shortages and increase basic
necessities, such as healthcare and education.


Currently, the program is working on the Samlout 2012 project. It’s priority is to achieve economic grown and reduce enviornmental destruction in the rural Cambodia Samlout district. 


Since then, Angelina has returned to Cambodia on many occasions for
business and pleasure. She is so beloved there that it was said that a
temple was named after her.


In 2010, Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, told WENN news that Ta Prohm, a Hindu religious temple has been unofficially renamed the “Angelina Jolie Temple.” 


Cambodia being such an important part of Angelina’s philanthropic endeavors and personal life makes for an interesting setting.


The campaign’s debut is slated for this summer.

Art and Design

Jolie spotted in Siem Reap

International superstar Angelina Jolie was spotted at Siem Reap airport
yesterday after an advertisement shoot for luxury brand Luis Vuitton
reportedly finished.

Photo by: Michael Sloan Angelina Jolie arrives by helicopter at Siem Reap International Airport following a day trip to Battambang province yesterday.

Accompanied by her children, including
adopted Cambodian-born son Maddox, Jolie was seen exiting a helicopter
late in the afternoon.

A small number of tourists watched on –
before security guards brought out screens to shield the family – as the
group was whisked away in a mini-van and two four-wheeled drives,
complete with darkened windows.

The drivers were wearing uniforms of Siem Reap’s exclusive Amansara hotel.

A well-placed source said Jolie had flown from Siem Reap to Battambang province in the morning and returned later that day.

In
2003, the mega-star founded an NGO called the Maddox Jolie-Pitt
Foundation, which operates out of Battambang province. It tackles
conservation, education and infrastructure projects in the area.

Yesterday, the foundation’s human resources manager said he could not comment on Jolie as he had been on leave.

The
star of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is thought to have arrived in Cambodia
on Saturday for filming after a production team scouted out potential
locations.

An advert was shot on the banks of a Siem Reap river
while an interview for Louis Vuitton was also filmed, said a source
close to the shoot who wished to remain anonymous.

Khmer Mekong Films provided the back-up production for the shoot.

The
filming was yesterday hailed as a boon for the Kingdom’s film
production sector by Cedric Eloy, chief economic officer of the
Cambodian Film Commission. “This shows that Cambodia is a safe place to
shoot movies,” he said. “In some quarters it still has the image of a
place with violence, but projects like this will help to change the
image.

“We’ve had six feature films shot in Cambodia in the last
six months, and the film industry is opening Cambodia up to the world,”
he added.

 

Phnom Penh Post

Angelina Jolie on way to Siem Reap

Hollywood megastar Angelina Jolie is set to return to the Kingdom today
to shoot an advertising campaign for fashion label Louis Vuitton in Siem
Reap, but those connected with the visit have remained tight lipped
about her agenda.

Angelina Jolie visits Somali refugees at Shousha Camp at Ras Djir, 8 kilometres from the Tunis-Libyan border, earlier this month. Photo by: Reuters

Jolie has strong ties to the Kingdom through
her adopted Cambodian child Maddox, philanthropic enterprises and
leading role in the 2001 action movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which was
partially shot in Cambodia.

She has been a regular visitor to Cambodia and is believed to have last graced its shores in 2006.

Chief
economic officer of the Cambodian Film Commission, Cedric Eloy,
yesterday confirmed his organisation will shoot the label’s advert with
the star in Siem Reap but said giving any other details would make a
rushed situation even more hectic. Jolie, he said, would set foot in
Cambodia today.

“Actually her schedule is really managed by her team, so it’s independent from the production that surrounds it,” he said.

Internationally
renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz was scheduled to shoot Jolie,
according to comments made by information minister Khieu Khanarith
reported by the Cambodian news website DAP News.

But Eloy yesterday denied this was the case.

In
2003, Jolie established the Maddox Jolie-Foundation, later renamed the
Maddox Jolie-Pitt foundation, which was established to tackle
environmental degradation in Battambang’s Samlot district.

The
organisation has since spread its wings to tackle broader conservation
issues, education and infrastructure projects in Battambang province as
well as rural development United Nation millennium goals, according to
its website. Staff at the Maddox Jolie-Pitt foundation yesterday said
they were unaware that the famous founder of their organisation was
coming to visit the Kingdom.

“Our colleagues have not been
informed by Ms Jolie or Brad Pitt so I think it is just a story,” said
Narith, a general resources manager at the foundation who declined to
give his full name.

Louis Vuitton staff members were unable to reply to questions by the time The Post went to press.

In
September last year, producer Thomas Magyar announced he was hoping to
secure Jolie for a US$70 million production to be filmed in Cambodia,
tentatively titled The Great Khmer Empire. Eloy said today’s shoot had
nothing to do with that project.

Jolie’s first major encounter
with the Kingdom was back in 2001 when she acrobatically darted around
the temples of Angkor Wat in the 2001 action movie Lara Croft: Tomb
Raider.

The movie was a box office smash-hit, though critics
were less enthused by the high paced adventures of the voluptuous
heroine, adopted from a popular video game.

Her relationship
with Cambodia became more intimate in 2002 when she and then husband,
Billy Bob Thornton, adopted a Cambodian boy they named Maddox.

Jolie’s
union with Maddox then attracted the eye of criminal investigators
pursuing Lauryn Galindo, the facilitator of the adoption who eventually
pleaded guilty to charges related to her misrepresentation of the status
of orphans in 2004.

Phnom Penh Post

Canton woman dances with Cambodian dance troupe

Submitted photo. Chris Brown, at rear, danced April 18 with Cambodian dance group The Children of Bassac at The Watkinson School, in Hartford.

HARTFORD — Watkinson School teacher Chris Brown, of Canton, danced with
members of the Cambodian dance troupe The Children of Bassac in its
premiere performance in Connecticut, April 17 and 18. The group, an
emerging traditional Cambodian Dance group that has been supported by
Cambodian Living Arts since 2003, gave a sold-out performance to the
public April 17, and Brown danced with them in a performance just for
the students and staff of Watkinson April 18. The tour featured ten
highly-talented young Cambodian dancers who perform a combination of
ancient, classical and lively folk dances.

While in Hartford,
the dancers stayed with Watkinson families. All funds raised benefited
Cambodian Living Arts and its important work of restoring Cambodia’s
folk arts following their decimation by the Khmer Rouge.

Watkinson
School, in Hartford, has many ties to Cambodia and the Cambodian Living
Arts. Charley Todd, former Head of School at Watkinson for 28 years, is
now Chair of the Leadership Council for the Cambodian Living Arts and
moved to Cambodia to help the cause. In each of the last six years,
Watkinson students have traveled on three-week-long service learning
trips to Cambodia, where they work with a village that is built around
a living arts master teacher. Over the years, students have built
strong relationships, and follow the villagers about what work is
needed and doable by students each year. Watkinson students raise money
by being hired to do odd jobs each spring, selling goods they import
from Cambodia, and other activites. In past visits, they have built a
community center and latrines, planted fruit trees, installed water
filters, established a women’s health committee and health/nutrition
classes for them at a local hospital, bought instruments that are hand
made in the village, and supplied them with medicines, bicycles, and
sewing machines.

Members of the Global Studies program at
Watkinson School will depart for their next trip to Cambodia in summer
of 2011 and hope that the event will bring awareness to the greater
Hartford community.

The Canton News