Creator

Kavich Neang

Kavich Neang is a Cambodian director whose documentary and fiction films centre on Phnom Penh's demolished White Building.

Kavich Neang is a Cambodian film director and writer whose documentary and fiction films center on Phnom Penh's White Building.[1][2] He co-founded the Phnom Penh production company Anti-Archive in 2014.[3]

Early career

Neang first came to filmmaking through Cambodian Living Arts.[4] He studied music and dance before turning to film, and he holds a degree in design from Limkokwing University.[5][6] He studied under the Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh, and he made his first short, A Scale Boy, in a documentary workshop that Panh led. The film follows a 14-year-old boy in Phnom Penh who earns money by weighing people.[7][6][5] The Graham Foundation dates the film to 2010; the Berwick festival lists it as a 2011 work.[6][5]

In 2013 Neang joined the Asian Film Academy of the Busan International Film Festival, and he directed the short Where I Go that year.[7][8][5] In 2014 he co-founded the Anti-Archive film collective with Davy Chou and Steve Chen.[7][3] That year he also appeared as the character Kavich in Chou's short Cambodia 2099.[5] In 2015 he directed two narrative shorts produced by Chou: Three Wheels, which premiered at the Busan festival and won the Youth Jury award at the Singapore festival, and Goodbye Phnom Penh, commissioned by the Asian Film Archive.[6] He took part in the Cannes Cinéfondation Residency in 2017 and 2018.[7][9] As of 2026, he had directed six short films since 2013.[3]

White Building films

Last Night I Saw You Smiling (2019), his first documentary feature, records the emptying of the White Building before its demolition.[6][2] It won the NETPAC Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, a Special Jury Prize at Jeonju, Best Image at Janela de Cinema, and two awards at Tokyo FilmEx.[7][8]

White Building (2021), his first fiction feature, follows a young man in Phnom Penh facing the demolition of the home where he has always lived. Neang wrote it with Daniel Mattes and was an associate producer.[1] He drew on his own years growing up in the White Building.[4] After the building was torn down, he shot the film in two other Phnom Penh apartment blocks, each with a lively community of its own.[2] The project won two awards at the Busan Asian Project Market in 2016.[6] It was produced by Anti-Archive and Apsara Films as a Cambodia, France, China and Qatar co-production, with Jia Zhangke among its co-producers.[1] The film had its world premiere in the Orizzonti competition at the 2021 Venice Film Festival, where it won the Orizzonti prize for best actor, and it was Cambodia's submission to the 94th Academy Awards.[1][3][10] Neang said he wanted to share the Venice selection with Cambodians, filmmakers and artists who face obstacles to making art.[2]

The Nightseekers (ពនេចរ, 2026) is a 25-minute film in Khmer. It draws on rare archival footage, shot in 2014, of a family living in the White Building, which was demolished in 2017. Five young brothers ride through Phnom Penh at night in their tuk tuk, performing break-dancing routines to earn money for their family and their schooling. Neang filmed alone, in a cinéma vérité style, and also edited the film. It was produced by Anti-Archive and screened in competition at Cinéma du Réel in 2026.[3]

Later work

In 2021 Neang was working on a film about traditional Cambodian parents who learn that their young daughter is pregnant outside marriage. He has said he remains drawn to family stories and to relationships between older and younger generations.[2] As of 2026, he was developing his next feature film.[3]

Recognition

For White Building:

  • Orizzonti prize for best actor, Venice Film Festival (2021)[3][4]
  • Honorary mention for cinematography, LEFFEST (2021)
  • New Hope Award, Malaysia International Film Festival (2022)
  • Best Director, Olympia Children's Film Festival (2022)
  • Best Director, Danang International Asian Film Festival (2023)[1]

Works


See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Anti-Archive, White Building
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Variety, Fresh Faces: Horizons Selection White Building Director Kavich Neang (September 6, 2021)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Cinéma du Réel, The Nightseekers (2026)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 M+, White Building (August 4, 2023)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, Anti-Archive Shorts (September 11, 2021)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Graham Foundation, Davy Chou & Kavich Neang, Last Night I Saw You Smiling
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Yale Office of Public Affairs & Communications, Kavich Neang (April 24, 2023)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Poynter Fellowship in Journalism, Kavich Neang (April 28, 2022)
  9. ↑ Trigon-Film, Kavich Neang
  10. ↑ White Building (film), Wikipedia
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This page was last edited on 26 September 2026, at 23:50.