Bunchhoeun's most well-known work of literature, The Fate of Tat Marina, published in 2000, is a loosely fictionalised account of his niece Tat Marina’s affair with Svay Sitha,[3] an undersecretary of state at the Council of Ministers, and the subsequent acid attack that left her suffering ghastly wounds.
As Bunchhoeun saw Marina’s story as an opportunity to speak out, he received death threats, fled to Thailand after 2000, and later sought an asylum in Norway in 2005.
His father liked reading and collecting newspapers especially Extrème-ORIENT, which was published in Prey Nokor, present-day Ho Chi Minh City.
Bunchhoeun continued to do odd jobs as a construction worker, a street vendor, and others to make a living while writing his novels.
Five months into the regime, his and his wife were almost executed by the Khmer Rouge cadres who found his 16 movie films he hid inside his pillow.
His only wish to have his urn placed near Sangkae River where he sat and wrote his novels in his younger years was granted by the mayor of Battambang.
[10] The mayor was quoted as saying that Bunchhoeun's memorial statue may also be constructed by the Battambang authorities provided that the residents supported such a move.