Cinema of Cambodia

Filmmaking in Cambodia
Other recent films include Tum Teav, a 16th and 18th century Cambodian folktale, and A Mother's Heart and Who Am I?, both by Pan Phuong Bopha, one of the first working female writer directors in Cambodia. Another notable female Cambodian director is Lida Chan, who specializes in films and documentaries about the Khmer Rouge, and achieved success in 2012 with the award winning Red Wedding. The creation of the Cambodia Film Commission in 2009 by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Film France, under the observation of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, offers new possibilities for filmmakers to explore Cambodia's numerous film worthy locations. However, the Cinema and Cultural Diffusion Department, the official office of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, remains the official first point of contact for foreign producers seeking permits and filming information in Cambodia. In middle of 2011, Phnom Penh started to see a major change in the cinema scene. Two major malls opened up cinema outlets offering international films in English with Khmer subtitles. Cambodia's first science fiction film Karmalink was released in 2023.

Cambodia's Angkor Wat was the location for the filming of 1965's Lord Jim, starring Peter O'Toole, but it was not until the early 21st century that foreign filmmakers made their return to the country. The best known depiction of Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge years, The Killing Fields (1984), starring the Cambodian actor Haing S. Ngor as journalist Dith Pran, was in fact made in neighboring Thailand. Since the reopening of Cambodia to international tourism, high profile directors such as Oliver Stone, Steven Spielberg and director/producer Brendan Moriarty have scouted Cambodia for locations. The 2001 action blockbuster Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was shot on location around Angkor, and its star, Angelina Jolie, became so enamored of the country that she adopted a Cambodian boy named Maddox and lived there for a time. Other films shot on location around Angkor include Wong Kar wai's In the Mood for Love (which also includes film footage of the 1966 visit of Charles de Gaulle to Phnom Penh) and Two Brothers by Jean Jacques Annaud in 2003. Matt Dillon's 2002 drama, City of Ghosts, was filmed in many locations around the country, including Phnom Penh and the Bokor Hill Station. Moriarty's war film The Road to Freedom was filmed entirely in Cambodia in the summer of 2009 and had limited release in cinemas in 2011. It tells the story of Sean and Dana, war photographers in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s. Since 2009, the Cambodia Film Commission has set up a training program to allow foreign productions to work with a local crew familiar with international standards. Since 2009 there has been a significant inflow of foreign productions filming in Cambodia. The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts has facilitated a number of projects from Europe, USA, Australia, Asia. The Kingdom now offers professional equipment within the country, and an increasing number of skilled Cambodian professionals for set construction, wardrobe, grips and lighting. In 2016, Angelina Jolie directed First They Killed My Father, adapted from Lung Ung's book's memory of the Khmer Rouge Era. The film produced by Netflix was shot entirely in Cambodia in collaboration with Rithy Panh. The film was submitted as the Cambodian submission for the 90th Academy Awards.

In recent years, horror films made on a low budget with weak special effects have become popular, especially with young audiences. A Cambodian horror film will generally feature a ghost story, old mythology and some form of revenge. Krasue is a popular subject. Films featuring ghost stories, mythology and blood rituals include Ghost Banana Tree and The Kantong Kiev Witch. Another horror film, The Haunted House, is loosely based on legend. Cambodian horror films focus on their characters' suffering and (unlike Korean horror or Japanese horror) feature extreme gory violence. Popular horror films such as The Weird Villa and Secret Well emphasize psychological terror. Heart Talk is another psychological thriller. Films about revenge, such as Villa Horror, Annoyed and Moheagita, often feature the dead returning to life to exact revenge on the living. Films about monsters include The Forest, Queen of Cobra and People eating Lizard. Cambodian monster films, like those from Hollywood, focus on teenagers. Some are similar to slasher films, involving a creature or a killer who stalks and graphically murders a series of mostly adolescent victims in a typically random, unprovoked fashion, killing many within a single night. The plot of the first slasher film for Cambodia screen, The Waterfall of Death has similarities to the murder thriller I Know What You Did Last Summer and Thai psychological thriller Scared. Despite the current taste for horror movies, Heng Tola believes a more serious trend is emerging, prompted in part by the resentment many Cambodians feel about its colonial past and toward powerful neighbors such as Thailand and Vietnam. The Third Khmer film festival, which took place in late 2007, banned the ghost films as a reaction to the glut of horror movies.

By the end of 2007, audience numbers had begun to decline, and theaters and film production companies began closing down. Only 13 theaters were still operating, compared to the 30 between 1965 and 1975. Critics blamed the decline on weak acting and directing, along with poor scripts and storylines. Poor enforcement of intellectual property in Cambodia also continues to impact the country's credibility in the local and international media trade. In 2009 the number of films released decreased from more than 60 in 2006 to less than 10, and most film directors turned to producing short films and television series rather than full movies as they had before. Many locally made films are simple and similar low budget horror and love stories. Many Cambodians prefer international films of better quality, especially as their tickets are usually cheaper than for domestic films. Yet many Cambodians would like to see domestic films if they could reach the standard of those produced during the industry's height.