Cambodia & Cinema: Becoming Human, Polen Ly's first feature film, heads to Venice

Cambodian cinema is set to write a new chapter in its history at the Venice Film Festival. Italian company Lights On has acquired the global rights to Becoming Human, the debut feature film by Polen Ly, a young filmmaker who has already attracted attention for the poetic grace of her short films.

Polen Ly made his debut at the Berlinale in 2022 with Further and Further Away, a film that earned him international recognition and several awards. With this first feature film, he confirms his desire to give Khmer cinema a unique voice, rooted in local culture and open to universal questions

A supernatural tale set in the ruins of a cinema

Becoming Human takes place in Battambang, in the heart of an old cinema threatened with demolition. The spirit of the place, Thida, a benevolent ghost, watches over this abandoned building until the day when an encounter changes her destiny. Torn between the temptation to leave for another life and the desire to stay with Hai, a man of flesh and blood, Thida embodies the metaphor of a country itself in transition, torn between memory and modernity.

The film showcases Savorn Serak, a 15-year-old ballet dancer making her screen debut, and Piseth Chhun, winner of the 2021 Best Actor Award in the Horizons section at Venice for White Building.

A project supported by the Biennale College-Cinema

Becoming Human is the first Cambodian film to benefit from the Biennale College-Cinema, the Venice Biennale's prestigious programme for identifying and supporting emerging talent. Selected during its 13th edition, the project received €200,000 in funding and took shape between October 2024 and August 2025.

Confirmation of a unique voice

For Polen Ly, this renewed partnership with Lights On represents much more than a commercial collaboration:

‘Working with them again is like setting off on a new journey to share the hidden stories of my country with the world,’ says the filmmaker.

For his part, Flavio Armone, founder of Lights On, praises a director ‘capable of navigating between the visible and invisible worlds, devoting himself to cinema with a deeply human touch.’

With Becoming Human, Cambodian cinema confirms its place on the international map. And in Venice, all eyes will be on Polen Ly, the young filmmaker who, by re-enchanting the ghosts of the past, is sketching out the future of a new generation of filmmakers.

An international creative team

Behind the camera, production is led by Daniel Mattes from the Cambodian company Anti-Archive, alongside leading figures of the new Khmer cinema such as Davy Chou, Kavich Neang and Danech San.

 The co-production also brings together Minri Media (Singapore), Kongchak Pictures (Cambodia), Camescoop (Belgium) and Momo Film Co. (Singapore). The cinematography is by Son Doan, editing by Kavich Neang, the soundtrack by Vincent Villa, and the music by French composers Jean-Charles Bastion and Pierre Édouard Dumora.