Creator

Huy Yaleng

Cambodian director, producer and actor whose films The Witch and Fathers screened at the Cambodia Town Film Festival.

Huy Yaleng (ហ៊ុយ យ៉ាឡេង) is a Cambodian filmmaker who works as a director, screenwriter, producer and actor, known for horror films and for the drama Fathers.[1][2] He runs Kakthachey Film Production, and his films have been shown in Thailand, Laos, Brunei, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, France and the United States.[3][4]

Early life and training

Huy Yaleng is from Banteay Meanchey province, and he spent part of his childhood in a refugee camp on the Cambodia-Thailand border.[5][3] After finishing high school in 1998, he came to Phnom Penh, where he performed traditional martial arts, including long stick fighting, and acted with a theater company. On his teacher's recommendation he entered the Royal University of Fine Arts in 2000 and studied video production.[5][6][3]

Career

Accounts of his early career differ. Voice of America dates his start to Cambodia's first cinema revival in the early 1990s.[7] The Cambodia Town Film Festival says he began as an assistant director at Angkor Wat Production and in 2002 directed films for CamPro Films, including the horror hit Banana Ghost.[1] ASEAN Digest says he took small acting roles before he became a producer and director in 2003.[3] He began directing under the guidance of Mao Ayuth, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Information, with the films Neang Poun and Promise (Sanya).[5][6] His horror films Ghost Bought a House and Ghost on the Banana Tree were hits in Cambodia and were dubbed into Thai for release in Thailand.[3][5] He also acted in Heng Tola's The Haunted House (2005).[8][2]

As cinemas closed and reopened as pubs and restaurants, Huy Yaleng moved to television.[7] He recalled joining Bayon TV around 2005, and the Cambodia Town Film Festival gives his years as a television show producer as 2008 to 2013.[5][1] He founded his own production company in 2011.[3] He returned to film around 2012, as the Cambodian film industry began to recover, and he directed the feature Dead Preung in 2014.[6][1][2] PuPrum Entertainment has supported local distribution of his work.[2]

He wrote, directed and starred in the psychological thriller Vikalcharet (also spelled Vikaljarek), released on December 2, 2016. He played Sopheap, a Phnom Penh building site worker who suffers psychotic episodes and bullying at work, after which the bullies begin to die.[8][2] The film drew attention in China, where it received the Screening Award.[1] He took the lead role himself because no suitable actor was available and the production could not afford to hire one.[5] In 2017 he took part in the ASEAN International Film Festival and Awards.[5] That December he said the industry had recovered but was still not strong enough to make a profit, that his thriller Psychotic had not earned back its cost, and that he would give up filmmaking if his next feature failed.[7]

That next feature, The Witch (2018), was inspired by Cambodian traditional beliefs, with locations and dress drawn from the remote provinces. He wrote, directed and played the lead, Raj, and filming took about a month.[2][9] It was recognized by the Cambodia International Film Festival and the Cambodia Town Film Festival, where it screened in 2018.[1] It was also screened in Thailand, Laos and France, at a Cambodian film festival in Long Beach, California, and at a special screening in Seria, Brunei.[6][9] He followed it with the horror film The Torment of Ghost (2019), in which he played Sovann.[2]

Fathers

Fathers (2020) was his first drama after a run of horror films. It tells the story of a Phnom Penh cyclo driver dealing with fatherhood, poverty and social division in a modern Cambodian family.[5][1] He wrote it with a colleague, basing the story on a cyclo driver he met near Wat Ounalom in the Phsar Chas area.[6][3] He also played the lead, Kun, alongside Kong Sophy, Mean Sonyta and Chy Chhenhlin. To prepare, he spent about two weeks tanning his skin and learned how cyclo drivers live and ride.[2][3][5]

The film opened in Cambodian theaters on January 30, 2020, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic cut short its run.[3][5] Cambodia's Oscar Selection Committee chose it as the country's entry for Best International Feature Film at the 2021 Academy Awards, and it had its U.S. premiere at the Cambodia Town Film Festival in 2021.[1]

Later work

In 2022 Huy Yaleng urged the ministries responsible for culture, education, commerce and information to work together to promote Cambodian films abroad, pointing to South Korea's support for its film and music industries. He said COVID-19 had set the industry back, and his film COVID-19 Life Crisis was due in theaters.[4] He wrote, directed and acted in Ghost Possession (2023).[2] In 2020 he said he hoped to make a historical film about King Jayavarman VII in 2025.[5]

Works


  • Neang Poun and Promise (Sanya), early films[5]
  • Banana Ghost (2002)[1]
  • Ghost Bought a House and Ghost on the Banana Tree[3]
  • The Haunted House (2005), actor[2]
  • Mao Svet (Stingy Person)[8]
  • Dead Preung (2014)[1]
  • Vikalcharet (2016)
  • The Witch (2018)
  • The Torment of Ghost (2019)
  • Fathers (2020)
  • Ghost Possession (2023)[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Cambodia Town Film Festival, CTFF 2021 Official Selection: FATHERS (U.S. Premiere) (August 30, 2021) (archived)
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 IMDb, Huy Yaleng
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 ASEAN Digest, Cambodia director Yaleng returns with thought-provoking local film Fathers (January 21, 2020)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Cambodianess, Film Maker Pleads for Industry Help (April 23, 2022)
  5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 Japan Foundation, Phnom Penh Liaison Office, A passionate man who vowed to devote his life to the movie (November 27, 2020)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Japan Foundation, Phnom Penh Liaison Office, Khmer-language interview with Huy Yaleng (2021)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Voice of America, Cambodia Filmmakers Face 'Taxing' Times (December 29, 2017)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Huy Yaleng, Wikipedia
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Borneo Bulletin (via RSSing), Cambodian film screening draws film and art activists (2021)
Retrieved from "https://dev.khmerconnection.com/w/index.php?title=Huy_Yaleng&oldid=7519"
This page was last edited on 26 September 2026, at 23:39.