Rock music has been able to avoid customs and immigration at borders all over the world to influence society in every corner of the earth, and this has never been more apparent than in director John Pirozzi’s documentary: Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll.

Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten tells the story of a vibrant pop/rock culture in Cambodia in the 60s and early 70s before the Khmer Rouge took over the country in 1975, beginning a brutal genocide where one-fourth of the population was killed, including nearly all of the capital city Phnom Penh’s prominent singers and musicians.

The film is composed primarily of found footage, mainly videos and photos of featured artists and bands, laced with interviews from artists, their family members and political figures from the time, which took over nine years for the production team to find and assemble. In addition, there’s another layer of footage composed of really great graphic work displaying various album covers from the different singers and artists.

That being said, Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten is not the traditional ‘rockumentary’ where a camera crew follows around a group of tattooed twenty-somethings and films a drunk, shirtless punk writhe around onstage in front of an audience of screaming girls. There are no drugs and there is no sex. There are no roadies, or tour buses or vomit-covered Dr. Martin’s. There is only music and the completely fresh and untold story of these incredible artists, many of whom unfortunately died for their art.

Yes, there’s some boring B-roll. Yes, some of the interviews can get a smidge long and overly detailed at times, but for a person interested in history, art, music or just someone who wants to sound pretentiously informed about extremely obscure Cambodian rock bands, the film is refreshing, interesting and almost mandatory to watch.

What’s truly unique about Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten is not the format or the presentation, but the subject matter. This film is one of the only sources of information regarding the flourishing culture in Phnom Penh during that time. In the film, the city is compared culturally to San Francisco in the 60s, yet it’s remarkably difficult to find any information about the topic, even on the internet. For that reason alone, Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten is not only a great film, it’s important. It’s important for music lovers and non music lovers alike to appreciate these Cambodian artists who influenced entire generations and yet remain virtually unknown around the world. In fact, not recognizing their significance and what they’ve done for music and art is allowing these culture wars to continue to influence today’s music.

Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten is showing at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival April 9-25.