Young animator brings transgender story to DigiCon6 Asia competition

Colours – Por follows a rainbow coloured flip-flop called Por. The friendless Por confines himself to his home as he looks out the window to see other one coloured flipflops having fun. His only pleasure is putting on lipstick and long hair and looking in the mirror.

His mother, however, catches him and scalds him for dressing up as a woman.

What follows is Por’s efforts to hide his gender identity and fit in as he dips himself in blue paint and finds temporary joy in being accepted by other unicolour flip-flops.

But all this comes to an end when the rain washes off his paint, leaving him exposed and crying until his mother comes to comfort him.

“Just like in Colours – Por, at the beginning my parents, siblings and relatives could not accept my gender identity. They blamed me for how I identified.

“I used to try very hard to become what they wanted me to be, but I just could not do it. It’s not me. It’s not what I wanted for my life,” said the animator, who identifies as a woman.

“The aim of making this video is to empower the LGBTQ community. Some of them are still exploring. Some of them have not found their identity yet. They don’t know who they are. Hopefully, this animation will encourage them to be themselves. They should be proud of who they are and contribute to the country.”

Unlike most of the other candidates at Cambodia DigiCon6 who competed in groups, Senghuo completed her animation alone.

She spent six months creating Colours-Por from scratch. Everything from the concept, background, composing, editing, directing, storyboard and animation were done with the supervision of her seniors at Phare.

“I cannot say what I’m expectating from the upcoming internationa l competition in Hong Kong. For now, I’m quite content t hat t his short animation has gathered a lot of interest from t he public. My teachers at Phare gave this animation a high assessment, which gives me confidence and motivation to improve it f urt her”

Having won Cambodia DigiCon6 this year, she said her work has helped generate more interest in the social issues facing the LGBTQ community.

“Recently, my animation video was widely shared and discussed by the international animation community online. What attracted them is the story and its value in society. The LGBTQ community is very interested in this Colours-Por animation.

“I have personally gone through this life experience. I really want to share the feeling of being discriminated against and bullied. It felt suffering, but now I feel free and empowered,” Senghuo said.

Senghuo’s short animation Colours-Por can be viewed on Cambodia DigiCon 2016’s Facebook page (@Cambodiadigicon).