These are our ten recommended short films from the Cambodia International Film Festival which is taking place from June 25 – 30, 2024 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

A Summer’s End Poem by Lam Can-zhao – China | 2024 – 15 minutes

Shortly before the end of the summer holidays, a country boy spends his savings on his dream of a city hairstyle – with surprising results. A story about bidding farewell to childhood and the poetic end of a summer. (CambodiaIFF 2024)

Trailer:

A Tale Of The Final Year by Mehdi Jabinshenas – Iran | 2023 – 38 minutes

It’s my mother’s last year as an elementary school teacher. Classes have moved online due to the pandemic. Her students used to always be top performers, but they’re now falling behind because she can’t see them face to face. The principal and the students want her to send in videos of herself, but she has a secret that keeps her from being able to do so. (CambodiaIFF 2024)

Trailer:

Chin-Liu-Tao by Asio Liu Chihsiung – Taiwan | 2023 – 8 minutes

“The refugee camps will be demolished next month. Have you ever been there?”

The film title “Chin-Liu-Tao”金六刀）suggests “somewhere unknown in Indochina.” Three dreams appeared in foreign places, unveiling the unknown past of two Indochinese refugee camps (1977~1988) in the Taiwan Strait.

In the dreams, people with umbrellas had all left, broken umbrellas were abandoned in the wilds, and the rain was about to stop. After decades of being unknown and deserted, the broken umbrellas were taken away by the northeast monsoon winds in the Pacific Ocean. (CambodiaIFF 2024)

Golden Dragon by Chhit Boren – Cambodia | 2023 – 17 minutes

When Vicheka wakes up in a hospital in the coastal town of Sihanoukville, he tries to piece together the reason for his visit. Overwhelmed by his dreams, memories and the rapidly urbanising landscape of his birthplace, a conversation with a local nurse helps him to begin navigating this pivotal moment in his life. Boren Chhith’s debut film simultaneously explores a traumatic past and captures the ever-changing reality of modern day Cambodia.

Happy Ending by Élodie Yung – United States | 2023 – 16 minutes

A Cambodian woman, carrying a tragic secret, comes to America to work in an illicit massage parlor in hopes of making a better life for her family. (CambodiaIFF 2024)

Lǎo Lao Lǎo Le by Julie Zhu – New Zealand | 2023 – 15 minutes

When a young boy is left home alone with his increasingly unwell grandmother, he is forced to come to terms with her deterioration. (CambodiaIFF 2024)

Road To Harvard by Danny Chong Ka Yung – Malaysia | 2023 – 15 minutes

When something threatens to derail a mother’s long term plan of getting her 10 year-old son to be admitted into Harvard University, she will do whatever necessary to course correct the trajectory, no matter the consequences. (CambodiaIFF 2024)

Salty Blue by Masashi Sogawa – Japan | 2023 – 17 minutes

Mitsuki secretly likes her friend Umi. At a party, they end up at a bathhouse where Umi talks about love, unaware of Mitsuki’s feelings. As autumn arrives, their friendship is tested by hidden emotions. (CambodiaIFF 2024)

Trailer:

The Door Knocker by Pilot Sok, Sana Oungty – Cambodia | 2023 – 4 minutes

Rina is a woman who is leaving her hometown to study and work to support her family but unfortunately she got raped by her neighbor who is a drunken man, she still keeps in her mind and never tell someone about this. One day while she was very depressed and asleep Rina heard the sound of knocking on the door and she tried to be strong to face the situation. (CambodiaIFF 2024)

The Magic Violet Rabbit by Kotoko Nakamura – Japan | 2023 – 13 minutes

To escape from his dull life, a man wishes to become a wizard. He wants to be a “real” wizard, not a “fake” one. (CambodiaIFF 2024)

Trailer:

For more information, please visit: https://cambodiaiff.com/