Loot: A Story of Crime and Redemption

Loot: A Story of Crime and Redemption is a 2025 documentary by Don Millar about the looting of Cambodian temples and the trade in their antiquities. It follows stolen objects from temple ruins in Cambodia to museums in London and New York, and Cambodia's work to bring them home.

Film details
Director	Don Millar
Format	Feature
Film type	Documentary
Original language	English; Khmer
Running time	87 minutes
Screened at	Cambodia Town Film Festival
Subjects	Film & Moving Image

Synopsis

The film looks at the illicit trade that grew after the Khmer Rouge rose to power in the 1970s. During the civil war, a criminal network used child soldiers to raid temples in jungles full of landmines. The objects, which the film calls "blood antiquities," went to the homes of billionaires and to Western museums.

Former looters tell the story in their own words. One of them, known as "Blue Tiger," is a former child soldier who now works to bring artifacts home. He recounts taking a statue of the Hindu war god Skanda riding a peacock from Prasat Krachap, a temple at Koh Ker. The film shows how little the looters were paid, the risks they faced and their later hardship, set against the prices the objects later reached. Millar has said he wanted to present the former looters with dignity and let them tell their own stories.

Their testimony runs alongside the work of Cambodian investigators and an American detective who unraveled a network stretching from Southeast Asia to the Western art world. The film centers on British antiquities dealer Douglas Latchford. The U.S. Homeland Security investigation Operation Indochina Peninsula Plunder ended in his indictment. The film also shows returns to Cambodia, including pieces that arrived from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in July 2024.

Production and credits

The film builds on the Pandora Papers reporting about Latchford, which linked many Cambodian relics to him and to institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Don Millar, Ponita Keo, Makara Ouch and Ramesh Reddy wrote the film. Keo was also art director and Ouch story editor. Cole Northey produced it for New Theory Pictures of Canada. Peter CS Lee was director of photography, Nick Ogden the editor, and David Bertok composed the music. Christopher Gaze voices Douglas Latchford. Brad Gordon, J.P. Labbat, Thanaren Than, Malia Politzer and Blue Tiger appear as themselves. The film is in English and Khmer and runs 87 minutes.

Release and reception

The film had its world premiere on March 15, 2025, at the International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) in Montreal. Later that month it screened at the Cambodia International Film Festival in Phnom Penh. In June 2025 it played at the Bali International Film Festival and Doc Edge in New Zealand, and Jambika Docs acquired its sales rights. In July 2025 the Center for Khmer Studies showed it with the Bophana Center. It later had its German premiere at Doxumentale.

The film was an official selection of the 2025 Cambodia Town Film Festival in Long Beach, California. It screened on September 14, 2025, at the Art Theatre of Long Beach, followed by a question-and-answer session with the filmmakers moderated by Dr. Christine Su. It won the festival's award for Best Documentary Film.

References

Sources

• Loot, official site