Creator
Sothea Ines
Cambodian filmmaker whose feature Love 2 the Power of 4 and several short films have screened at the Cambodia Town Film Festival.
Sothea Ines is a Cambodian screenwriter, director and producer who co-directed the feature film Love 2 the Power of 4 with Deependra Gauchan.[1][2] Her debut short film, Rice, won Best Film at Tropfest Southeast Asia in 2014.[1]
Career
Ines has worked in the Cambodian film industry since 2011, and she began writing scripts in 2012.[3][4] She worked as a writer and director at BBC Media Action on the Cambodian television series Loy9 and Love9, and she founded ComeTogether Films in 2015.[2] Her other work includes television series, web series and commercials.[1] She has made her short films with savings from jobs she did for others.[4]
Ines has trained young filmmakers in partnership with the Department of Cinema and Cultural Diffusion of Cambodia's Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. She joined the LATC Global Film & TV Program in Los Angeles and attended the American Film Market.[1] In 2023 she was the editor of the Khmer version of Stories from the Heart. Its first volume, released on January 13, 2023, gathers scripts of award-winning Cambodian short films, among them Rice.[5] That February she spoke on a panel on cultural exchange and the power of film at the European Film Festival Cambodia.[6] As of 2025 she was a video production lecturer at the Department of Media and Communication (DMC) and a freelance filmmaker.[3]
Films
Rice (2014), which Ines wrote, directed and produced, is a seven-minute black-and-white silent film about life and death under the Khmer Rouge. It follows boys in a Khmer Rouge children's camp who steal rice to ease their starvation.[1][7][8] She made it from one part of a planned hour-long feature.[7] Rice was one of twelve finalists at the first Tropfest Southeast Asia, and it won Best Film there in Penang in 2014.[7][1] It was an official selection of the Cambodia Town Film Festival, which presented it again in May 2020.[8]
Love 2 the Power of 4 (2017) was her first feature. She co-wrote, co-directed and co-produced it with her mentor, Deependra Gauchan, and it had its U.S. premiere at the Cambodia Town Film Festival on September 16, 2017. At that time her next feature, Behind the Glass Door, was in pre-production.[2]
Her later films include Life. Love. Bliss. (2020), Khamao Rouge (2023) and Homecoming Waves (2025).[1] In 2022 she won the Cambodian National Short Film Festival Award for Life. Love. Bliss.[6] Homecoming Waves, a 24-minute film, screened in 2026 at the Cambodia Town Film Festival in "The Stories We Tell," a program of short narratives.[9] Her short films and two features have won awards in Cambodia and screened at international film festivals.[1]
Works
- Love 2 the Power of 4 (Film)
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Cinema Nomad, Cambodia (2026-08-30)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Cambodia Town Film Festival, CTFF 2017 Official Selection: LOVE 2 THE POWER OF 4 (archived)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Phnom Penh Post, Industry insiders establish short film making course (June 10, 2025)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Newsroom Cambodia, Filmmakers Yearn for Cambodia's Industry to Reach Its Potential (January 17, 2020)
- ↑ EAC News, First Book of Award-Winning Cambodian Short Film (January 17, 2023)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Cambodia Investment Review, The European Film Festival Cambodia aims to inspire local audiences and filmmakers (February 16, 2023)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Malay Mail, Six Malaysian filmmakers make it to Tropfest SEA finals (2014-01-07)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Cambodia Town Film Festival, CTFF Presents RICE and THE BADDEST PART (archived)
- ↑ Cambodia Town Film Festival, 2026 program book (PDF)