Swimming to Cambodia
E345208
Swimming to Cambodia is a 1987 film directed by Jonathan Demme that captures Spalding Gray’s acclaimed monologue blending personal storytelling with reflections on the making of The Killing Fields and the Cambodian genocide.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Swimming to Cambodia canonical | 3 |
| Swimming to Cambodia (film) | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3283002 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Swimming to Cambodia Context triple: [Jonathan Demme, notableWork, Swimming to Cambodia]
-
A.
Cambodia: Year One
Cambodia: Year One is a documentary film that continues the story of Cambodia’s devastation and recovery following the Khmer Rouge era.
-
B.
Alas, I Cannot Swim
"Alas, I Cannot Swim" is the critically acclaimed 2008 debut studio album by English folk singer-songwriter Laura Marling, noted for its intimate, lyrically rich acoustic songs.
-
C.
Sink or Swim
"Sink or Swim" is the 2007 debut studio album by American rock band The Gaslight Anthem, blending punk energy with heartland rock influences.
-
D.
Return to the Water
"Return to the Water" is an episode of the nature documentary series "The Life of Mammals" that explores how certain mammal species have adapted to life in aquatic environments.
-
E.
Mon Khmer
Mon Khmer is a major branch of the Austroasiatic language family, encompassing numerous languages spoken primarily in mainland Southeast Asia.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Swimming to Cambodia Target entity description: Swimming to Cambodia is a 1987 film directed by Jonathan Demme that captures Spalding Gray’s acclaimed monologue blending personal storytelling with reflections on the making of The Killing Fields and the Cambodian genocide.
-
A.
Cambodia: Year One
Cambodia: Year One is a documentary film that continues the story of Cambodia’s devastation and recovery following the Khmer Rouge era.
-
B.
Alas, I Cannot Swim
"Alas, I Cannot Swim" is the critically acclaimed 2008 debut studio album by English folk singer-songwriter Laura Marling, noted for its intimate, lyrically rich acoustic songs.
-
C.
Sink or Swim
"Sink or Swim" is the 2007 debut studio album by American rock band The Gaslight Anthem, blending punk energy with heartland rock influences.
-
D.
Return to the Water
"Return to the Water" is an episode of the nature documentary series "The Life of Mammals" that explores how certain mammal species have adapted to life in aquatic environments.
-
E.
Mon Khmer
Mon Khmer is a major branch of the Austroasiatic language family, encompassing numerous languages spoken primarily in mainland Southeast Asia.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
concert film
ⓘ
film ⓘ monologue film ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
Cambodian genocide
ⓘ
surface form:
Cambodian genocide under the Khmer Rouge
The Killing Fields ⓘ
surface form:
The Killing Fields (1984 film)
|
| basedOn | Spalding Gray’s stage monologue "Swimming to Cambodia" ⓘ |
| cinematographyBy | John Bailey ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| director | Jonathan Demme ⓘ |
| distributor |
Cinecom Entertainment Group
ⓘ
surface form:
Cinecom Pictures
|
| editedBy | Carol Littleton ⓘ |
| featuresCharacter |
Spalding Gray
ⓘ
surface form:
Spalding Gray (as himself)
|
| follows | Spalding Gray’s stage performances of "Swimming to Cambodia" ⓘ |
| genre |
comedy-drama film
ⓘ
documentary film ⓘ |
| hasFormat | feature film adaptation of a one-man show ⓘ |
| hasNarrativeForm | first-person monologue ⓘ |
| hasPerformanceStyle |
spoken-word storytelling
ⓘ
stand-alone monologue on stage ⓘ |
| hasTheme |
U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia
ⓘ
memory and trauma ⓘ the ethics of witnessing atrocity ⓘ the intersection of art and politics ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| medium | feature-length film recording of a live monologue ⓘ |
| musicBy | Laurie Anderson ⓘ |
| notableFor |
Spalding Gray’s extended monologue performance
ⓘ
blend of autobiographical narrative and political commentary ⓘ minimalist staging focused on a single performer ⓘ |
| partOf | Spalding Gray’s body of monologue films ⓘ |
| portrays |
Gray’s travels to Southeast Asia
ⓘ
Spalding Gray’s experiences acting in "The Killing Fields" ⓘ the impact of the Khmer Rouge regime ⓘ |
| primaryLocationOfProduction |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| producer |
Jonathan Demme
ⓘ
Renee Shafransky ⓘ
surface form:
Renée Shafransky
|
| publicationDate | 1987 ⓘ |
| releaseDecade | 1980s American independent cinema ⓘ |
| releaseType | theatrical film ⓘ |
| runtime | approximately 85 minutes ⓘ |
| setting | a small performance space with a table, chair, and map backdrop ⓘ |
| starring | Spalding Gray ⓘ |
| subject |
Cambodian genocide
ⓘ
Cambodian history ⓘ personal storytelling ⓘ the making of the film "The Killing Fields" ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Swimming to Cambodia Description of subject: Swimming to Cambodia is a 1987 film directed by Jonathan Demme that captures Spalding Gray’s acclaimed monologue blending personal storytelling with reflections on the making of The Killing Fields and the Cambodian genocide.
Referenced by (4)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Swimming to Cambodia (film)