Kampot, Cinema Meets History — Then Heads to Kep for a Grand Celebration

CIFF 360 — Kampot & Kep, May 13–17, 2026. The evening breeze drifted gently over the Kampot river as the first silhouettes began settling onto the beach, not far from the old colonial bridge. No darkened theatre, no cushioned seats — just the Cambodian sky, the murmur of the water, and a screen stretched out to face History.

It was here, in a setting of almost surreal beauty, that the CIFF 360 held its opening night. And to inaugurate this new cinematic gathering, the choice of film could not have been more deliberate: Meeting with Pol Pot, the latest work by Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh.

One Film, One Wound, One Nation

Rithy Panh needs no introduction. A survivor of the Khmer Rouge camps, the director behind The Missing Picture — awarded at Cannes in 2013 — he has spent three decades as the keeper of his people's memory through the lens of cinema. With Meeting with Pol Pot, he dives once again into the depths of a past that refuses to stop haunting Cambodia.

The film follows three Western journalists invited in 1978 to meet the Khmer Rouge leader deep in the jungle, at the very moment the regime was slaughtering its own people by the hundreds of thousands. A chilling portrait of state deception, of the West's wilful blindness, of how denial is manufactured.

A hundred souls under the stars

They arrived little by little, drawn like moths to a light they dared not fully approach. Expats, passing travelers, Kampot locals, a few curious young Cambodgians. Nearly a hundred people eventually took their places on the beach, some seated on mats, others standing in the gathering dusk, all eyes fixed on the screen.

No chatter, no distractions. The calm that settled from the first images said it all: this film leaves no one indifferent. It questions, it disturbs, it forces you to face what you'd sometimes prefer to forget.

More photographs here....

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Onward to Kep: Four Days of Cinematic Celebration

But Kampot was merely the opening act. The following day, CIFF 360 set sail for Kep — that small, melancholy coastal town, once the holiday retreat of the colonial and Khmer elite, now in the midst of a quiet cultural renaissance — for four days of a programme as ambitious as it is eclectic.

The Deck at The Wave on the seafront and the Kep Wellness Center form the festival's beating heart. Between them, a town slowly waking up, carried by a cultural scene driven in part by the Art for Kep project and the Knai Bang Chatt resort, whose gardens also host a number of events.

Thursday, May 14: A Royal Opening

What a date for an official opening night: May 14th, the birthday of His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni. The symbolism runs all the way through the programme. The afternoon opens with The Time to Cry (1971) by director Uong Kan Thouk, a pioneering figure from the golden age of Khmer cinema — those early seventies so brutally cut short by the Khmer Rouge.

In the evening, a film by the late King Norodom Sihanouk himself, La Joie de Vivre, inaugurates the open-air screen at The Deck at The Wave: a vibrant tribute to an era when Cambodian royalty was also a creative force. The opening reception continues with a live concert facing the sea. A beginning worthy of the setting.

Friday, May 15: Cinema and Nature, an Urgent Conversation

Friday confronts the questions that burn. The afternoon opens with Cambodia Southeast Asia: Safeguarding Life, a programme of short films devoted to mangroves, coral spawning and marine biodiversity across Southeast Asia, followed by a talk with Marine Conservation Cambodia. Cinema as a tool for ecological awareness — without preachiness, but with real force.

The evening belongs to Davy Chou and his cult documentary Golden Slumbers (2011), a film about Cambodia's lost cinema, screened outdoors with Canadian-Cambodian director Laurence Ly's short film Maybe in the Snow (2025) as a prelude. A journey into the memory of Cambodian filmmaking, under the stars of Kep — it's hard to imagine a more fitting setting.

Saturday, May 16: Something for Everyone

Saturday is arguably the festival's richest and most diverse day.

From 10am, children take over the Kep Wellness Center for Cartoons of the World: an animation programme from eleven countries — Luxembourg to Japan, the Philippines to Peru. A beautiful way to introduce the youngest audiences to cultural diversity through the moving image.

The afternoon rolls through short films on indigenous Cambodian and Southeast Asian cultures, before the evening's headline event: the world premiere of Far Away Close to You by Mony Darung (2026), hailed as one of the defining works of a new generation of Cambodian filmmakers, preceded by Sophea Kim's short Rest in Pieces. Two debut voices, two fresh perspectives on a Cambodia in motion.

As sunset falls, the Deck comes alive with a live band session and the screening of The Roots Remain by FONKi — a gift from Art for Kep.

Running in parallel, by invitation only, the Cambodia Film Forum takes place in the gardens of Knai Bang Chatt: a full day of collective reflection on the future of the national film industry, under the banner Cambodia Film Forward: Imagine, Connect, Create. Working groups, priority votes, drafting of a sectoral roadmap — the festival doubles here as a rare space for industry-building in the region.

Sunday, May 17: A Gentle Closing, Promises for Tomorrow

The final day opens once more with animations for children, before a morning devoted to Kep's architectural heritage: a guided tour of French colonial and modernist buildings, a photography exhibition by Walter Koditek, and a preview of what's coming next — the Kep Expo 2026 and the Kep International Art Festival scheduled for December.

After a networking lunch at The Strand at Knai Bang Chatt, a final selection of Cambodian short films brings the programme to a close. The closing ceremony — informal, warm, unhurried — offers a glimpse of the next edition. Like a promise.

A Festival, A Vision

What strikes you about CIFF 360 is its rare balance between cultural ambition and local rootedness. From Kampot to Kep, from a film of memory to a young director's world premiere, from children's cartoons to an industry forum, the festival maps out in five days a remarkable portrait of Cambodian cinema — in all its historical depth and contemporary vitality.

It makes no attempt to rival the world's great film events. Instead, it chooses to dig its own furrow: to make audiences think as much as dream, to involve local communities, and to build, stone by stone, a lasting infrastructure for Cambodian cinema.

In Kep, between the sea and the hills, the seventh art is catching its breath. And it is something to behold.

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CIFF 360 Programme — Kampot & Kep, May 13–17, 2026

All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise stated

Wednesday, May 13 — Kampot

Time	Programme
4:00 PM	Set-up & welcome
6:30 PM	Meeting with Pol Pot by Rithy Panh (2024, 112 min) — open-air screening, near the Old Bridge

Thursday, May 14 — Kep ★ Opening Night / King's Birthday

Time	Programme
2:30 PM	The Time to Cry by Uong Kan Thouk (1971, 96 min) — Kep Wellness Center
6:00 PM	Opening ceremony + La Joie de Vivre by H.M. Norodom Sihanouk (105 min) — The Deck @ The Wave, open air
7:35 PM	Opening reception & live music — The Deck

Friday, May 15 — Kep

Time	Programme
2:00 PM	Cambodia SE Asia: Safeguarding Life (short films) + talk with Marine Conservation Cambodia — Kep Wellness Center
4:00 PM	Cambodia in Shorts 1 + Q&A with filmmakers — Kep Wellness Center
7:00 PM	Maybe in the Snow by Laurence Ly (2025, 4 min) + Golden Slumbers by Davy Chou (2011, 96 min) — The Deck, open air, Q&A

Saturday, May 16 — Kep

Time	Programme
10:00 AM	Cartoons of the World (96 min, 11 countries) — children — Kep Wellness Center
10:00 AM–5:00 PM	Cambodia Film Forum (by invitation) — Knai Bang Chatt Garden
2:00 PM	Cambodia & SE Asia: Indigenous Life (short films) + talk by Bophana Center — Kep Wellness Center
5:30 PM	Sunset Band Session + Beneath the Surface by Vinay Bharadwaj (~35 min) — The Deck
6:30 PM	Rest in Pieces by Sophea Kim (2026, 20 min) + Far Away Close to You by Mony Darung (2026, 95 min) — The Deck, open air, Q&A

Sunday, May 17 — Kep ★ Closing Day

Time	Programme
10:00 AM	Cartoons of the World (106 min) — all ages — Kep Wellness Center
10:30 AM	Guided architectural heritage tour + Walter Koditek photo exhibition
12:00 PM	Networking lunch — The Strand, Knai Bang Chatt
2:00 PM	Cambodia in Shorts 2 + Q&A — Kep Wellness Center
3:30 PM	Closing ceremony & farewell drinks — The Deck