Open City Documentary Festival

7 – 13 September 2022
in London

Last Night I Saw You Smiling + Q&A

Location Regent Street Cinema, Director Kavich Neang, Country Cambodia, France, Duration 77, Previous Festivals & Awards Locarno International Film Festival 2019, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2019 (Winner: NETPAC Award), Jeonju International Film Festival 2019 (Winner: Special Jury Prize), Cinéma du Réel 2019 & more, Date Event has passed

The White Building in Phnom Penh, a large municipal apartment block originally built in 1963, emptied by the Khmer Rouge, and subsequently the centre of a thriving artistic community, has been sold to Japanese developers and is scheduled for demolition. Filmmaker Kavich Neang—himself born and raised in the building—returns to interview fellow residents as they pack up their belongings and prepare for eviction. Neang interweaves their reflections and reminiscences with the turbulent national history to which the building has borne witness—the original tenants having been evacuated during the Cambodian genocide of the 1970s—invoking the ghosts of the past that still reside within the building’s walls.

In partnership with Day for Night

UK Premiere

Followed by a Q&A with producer Daniel Mattes

Read an essay on Last Night I Saw You Smiling by May Adadol Ingawanij