TFL Films & Series
White Building
Samnang faces the demolition of his lifelong home in Phnom Penh coupled with pressures from family, friends, and neighbours, which all arise and intersect at this moment of sudden change.
Main info
Title: White Building
Year: 2021
Directed by: Kavich Neang
Premiere & awards: Venice Film Festival 2021, Orizzonti, Best Actor to Piseth Chhun
Produced by: Anti-Archive (Cambodia), Apsara Films (France) - co-delegate producers
In co-production with: Xstream Pictures (China), Kongchak Pictures (Cambodia)
Countries: Cambodia, France, China, Qatar
20-year-old Samnang and two of his friends live in the White Building, a landmark tenement in Phnom Penh. In this fast-changing city, the three boys practice their dance routine dreaming of television talent contests while their parents lead a more traditional lifestyle. But the White Building is to be demolished. Samnang observes his father unsuccessfully attempting to bring together his divided neighbors on the government’s compensation offers for residents to move out, and he must face his best friend’s departure from Cambodia. Samnang finds that the stable environment he has always called home is on shaky ground.
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