- Institut français Cinema
- English / Khmer / French
- Free screenings
- From May 30th to June 4th
>> LIRE EN FRANÇAIS <<
Cambodia International Film Festival (CIFF) is there!
The Institut français is once again a partner venue for the Cambodia International Film Festival, which will take place from May 30th to June 4th! The famous Cambodian festival will bring together, for six consecutive days, thousands of young Cambodians as well as foreigners from all over the world around a program of more than 160 films from 26 countries. Check out the screenings scheduled at IFC below.
Fee: Free. Tickets will be available 1h before the screening of your choosing at the designated venue.
Le Bistrot is open every evening until the last screening, with its regular Cinema Menu.
Follow the Festival live on the CIFF Facebook page.
Wednesday, May 31st
at 10am
Cartoons of the World, by mutilples directors
70 minutes – /ENG
Countries: Korea, Cambodia, Switzerland, Norway, Iran, Malaysia, Taiwan, Canada and Spain.
The CIFF selection: Meet Cute by Shawn Patrick Tilling (2022), Papirola by Fabian Molinaro (2022), The Pillar of Strength by Ayie Ibrahim (2022), The Egret River by Wan-Ling Liu (2022), The Sprayer by Farnoosh Abedi (2022), A Guitar in the Bucket by Boyoung Kim (2021), The Queen of Foxes by Marina Rosset (2022), I’m Not Afraid by Marita Mayer (2022) and Daughter of Mother Nature by Laura et Andrew Mam (2020)
at 2pm
“Cambodia in Short 1” by various directors (2021-2022)
94 minutes – /ENG
Countries: Cambodia, USA
The CIFF selection for best shorts this year: A Cambodian Night’s Dream by Guillaume Suon (2022), Further and Further Away, by Polen Lyn (2022), The Haul, by Robin Narciso (2022), The Debt, by Robin Dudfield (2021), Swept Under, by Ethan Soo (2022).
at 4pm
“The Donut King” by Alice Gu (2020)
94 minutes – /ENG
Country: USA
Ted’s story is one of fate, love, survival, hard knocks, and redemption. It’s the rags to riches story of a refugee escaping Cambodia, arriving in America in 1975 and building an unlikely multi-million-dollar empire by baking America’s favorite pastry, the donut. Ted sponsored hundreds of visas for incoming refugees and helped them get on their feet, teaching them the ways of the donut business. By 1979, he was living the American Dream. But, in life, great rise can come with great falls.
at 6pm
“Year of the Rabbit” by Akira Morita (2021) & “Little by Little” by Samuel Díaz Fernández (2022) + Panel “Films with a message”
12 minutes – KH/ENG
Country: Cambodia
Year of the Rabbit follows trailblazing deaf tuk-tuk driver Kong Sovannaro as he navigates the chaotic streets of Phnom Penh to support his growing family. It’s an exploration of love; the different and similar ways it is expressed in the “hearing” and “deaf” communities; and across the network of support Sovannaro has created around himself.
Little by Little tells the fateful encounter in which childhood friends Chakriya and Panha reconnect. Together, they dream of bigger things in the big city: Phnom Penh. As they save for their future, Chakriya and Panha lean on each other and their deaf friend Kosal, proving that love and perseverance moves us through each season of life.
at 8pm
“The Anderson Platoon” by Pierre Schoendoerffer (1967)
60 minutes – FR/ENG
Country: France
The Anderson Platoon is a documentary by the French war cameraman and first Indochina War veteran Pierre Schoendoerffer about the Vietnam War, named after the leader of his platoon – Lieutenant Joseph B. Anderson.
Thursday, 1st June
at 10am
“1950’s Cambodia Independence”, ECPAD Archives
61 minutes – FR
Country: France
Short reports documenting the independence period: 1- Independence movement contest French presence in the region 2- The Independence of Cambodia.
at 11:20am
“Archives of Cambodia in the 50’s”, ECPAD Archives
35 minutes – FR
Country: France
Short document featuring Cambodia in 1953 and 1954 including: 1- Cambodian traditions 2- The Great Town 3- Images of Angkor 4- Phnom Penh 5- Phnom Penh Water Festival.
at 2pm
“Cambodia in Short 2” by various directors (2022-2023)
94 minutes – /ENG
Countries: Cambodia, USA, UK
The CIFF selection of the best shorts of the year: The Keyboard by Panhavon Vong (2022), The Colour, by Pisey Chann (2022), Skin Can Breathe, by Chheangkea Ieng (2022), Speed Dating, by Jean-Paul Ly (2022), Work Life, by Kevin Ung (2023), The Truth Untold, by Seng Pichreypov (2022)
at 4pm
“The Drummer-Crab” by Pierre Schoendoerffer (1977)
120 minutes – /ENG
Country: France
A dying mariner, full of regret, is looking for his longtime colleague somewhere on the high seas.
at 6:15pm
“The Prince and the Prophecy” by James Gerrand (1988)
79 minutes – /ENG
Country: Australia
To understand contemporary Cambodia, this film delves into the roots of its culture & conflicts: it looks back to the impact of colonization by France and the struggle for independence in Indochina after the Second World War, the fears and the response to the thrust of their Vietnamese neighbors. It explores the years of Prince Norodom Sihanouk’s rule, his juggle for peace, and traces Cambodia’s destruction during the war.
at 8pm
“The 317th Platoon” by Pierre Schoendoerffer (1964)
100 minutes – /ENG
Country: France
Near the end of the French-Indochinese War, a French platoon trapped behind enemy lines tries to reach safety.
Friday, June 2nd
at 10am
“Big Little Women” by Nadia Fares (2022)
86 minutes – /ENG
Country: Egypt
Three generations of women rebel against patriarchal prohibitions. In this cinematic letter, Swiss-Egyptian film director Nadia Fares pays tribute to her father as she recounts 75 years of women’s struggles both in Egypt, her father’s country, and in Switzerland, her mother’s country, where she grew up.
at 2pm
“Casablanca Beats” by Nabil Ayouch (2021)
101 minutes – /ENG
Countries: Morocco, France
Anas, a former rapper, takes up a teaching job in a cultural center in an underprivileged neighborhood in Casablanca, Morocco. Encouraged by their new teacher, the students will try to free themselves from the weight of traditions to live their passion and express themselves through the art of hip hop.
at 4pm
“Year of the Rabbit” by Akira Morita (2021) + “The Other Lives of Kattia” by Christophe Gargiulo (2023)
50 minutes – /ENG
Country: Cambodia
Year of the Rabbit : Year of the Rabbit follows trailblazing deaf tuk-tuk driver Kong Sovannaro as he navigates the chaotic streets of Phnom Penh to support his growing family. It’s an exploration of love; the different and similar ways it is expressed in the “hearing” and “deaf” communities; and across the network of support Sovannaro has created around himself.
The Other Lives of Kattia : The story of Kattia Huy, President of the NGO United for Cambodia Children’s,showing the early years of her life until today, dramas, other lives and the unwavering energy a Cambodian lady who was once little girl, thrown on the roads by the Khmer Rouge.
at 6pm
“Yes I’m Lucky” by Maylis Dartigue (2021)
74 minutes – /ENG
Country: France
Since reuniting with her biological family in Sri Lanka, Maylis Dartigue is creating her identity between her two countries, her two cultures. Through the tale of this initiatory journey, the filmmaker is realizing what her adoption story reveals of the North-South relations in our world.
at 8pm
“The Taste of Secrets” by Guillaume Suon (2020)
100 minutes – FR/ENG
Countries: Cambodia, France
A mother refuses to speak about her childhood during the Cambodian genocide. Upset by her silence, her two sons decide to follow Antoine, a grandson of Armenian genocide survivors, photographing the ghosts of his ancestors in the Middle East, from Turkey to Iraq.
Saturday, June 3rd
at 10am
“Les Yeux brûlés” by Laurent Roth (1986)
58 minutes – FR/ENG
Country: France
A young woman collects a military canteen addressed to her. Inside effects and pictures from a photojournalist disappeared in Dien Bien Phu on May 8th, 1954. Then starts a discussion between the young woman and Péraud’s formers colleagues, Raymond Depardon, Marc Flament, Pierre Schoendoerffer. Through the memories, stories and images of the twentieth century’s conflicts current issues arise about what makes the image of war.
at 11:30am
“Pierre Schoendoerffer, Men and Sorrow” by Laurent Roth (2018)
58 minutes – FR/ENG
Pays : France
Interviewed in 1986 by Mireille Perrier, the famous filmmaker Pierre Schoendoerffer spoke of his experiences in Indochina in Les Yeux Brûlés by Laurent Roth. Today, Roth allows us to hear the entirety of the sound rushes from this canonical interview, with images sometimes worked in slow motion.
at 2pm
“The Snake Girl Drops In” by Huoy Keng (1974)
90 minutes – FR/ENG
Country: Taiwan
Long falls in love with Onn Srey, a snake girl. Having lived in the cave since she was born, Onn Srey can only use body language for communication. Because of jealousy and ambition, Long’s godparents try to find ways to separate him from Onn Srey and Onn Srey is arrested for sacrifice ceremony…
at 4:20pm
“France is Our Mother Country” by Rithy Panh (2015)
75 minutes – /ENG
Countrie: France, Cambodia
A story of a failed encounter between two cultures, two sensitivities, two realms of imagination. An encounter which resulted in a colonization not exempt from brutality while it could have avoided wars, chaos and destruction. Primarily based on extracts of archive film shot mainly in Indochina in the early twentieth century until the fall of Dien Bien Phu, this film is a continuation of a cinematographic reflection about time and memory.
at 6pm
“The Empire of Mid-South” by Jacques Perrin & Eric Deroo (2011)
86 minutes – FR/ENG
Country: France
With never-before-seen archived footage from all over the world, accompanied by texts from Vietnamese, French and American literature, this documentary explores Vietnam’s fascinating yet painful history, from its colonization to the fall of Saigon. French documaker Jacques Perrin made a poignant, poetic found-footage feature on Vietnam’s long march toward independence.
at 8pm
“The Franc” (1994) + “The Little Girl Who Sold The Sun” (1999) by Djibril Diop Mambéty
90 minutes – /ENG
Countries: Senegal, France
The Franc : Marigo is a musician. Ever since his landlady confiscated his instrument to cover his rent, he tries to get it back. When his national lottery ticket, safely glued to his door, has the winning number, Marigo decides to carry the whole door to the lottery office
The Little Girl Who Sold The Sun: A young girl on crutches is determined to be a street vendor of “Le Soleil,” the national newspaper of Senegal, against the wishes of the other street boys. A tale of courage and hope directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty, one of the most powerful and poetic African filmmakers.
Sunday, June 4th
at 10am
“Casablanca Beats” by Nabil Ayouch (2021)
101 minutes – /ENG
Countries: Morocco, France
Anas, a former rapper, takes up a teaching job in a cultural center in an underprivileged neighborhood in Casablanca, Morocco. Encouraged by their new teacher, the students will try to free themselves from the weight of traditions to live their passion and express themselves through the art of hip hop.
at 2pm
“My Voice” by Flora Gomes (2002)
112 minutes – /ENG
Countries: Guinea Bissau, France
Vita’s family is convinced that any woman who sings, will die. In France Vita becomes an international star. She realizes that sooner or later her mother in Africa will learn of the news and be furious. To solve this dilemma Vita goes back to her village and stages her own death and rebirth
at 4pm
“The Money Order” by Ousmane Sembène (1968)
105 minutes – /ENG
Countries: Senegal, France
A money order from a relative in Paris throws the life of a Senegalese family man out of order. He deals with corruption, greed, problematic family members, the locals and the changing from his traditional way of living to a more modern one. Sembène’s first feature film shows his masterful use of humor and his affinity for subtle, moving stories. The Money Order opened the world’s eyes to Africa’s cinematic talent.
