Cambodia International Film Festival

The Cambodia International Film Festival is a festival of Cambodian and foreign films held in Phnom Penh. Its first edition was set for October 2010, and The Cambodia Daily described it in 2013 as in its fourth year. Its 15th edition opened in March 2026. The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts was named as its host in 2010 and presents the festival as its own work. The Cambodia Daily named the Cambodia Film Commission and the Bophana Center as its organizers in 2013 and 2015.

The projection desk at Chaktomuk Conference Hall in Phnom Penh during the festival's 11th edition, 2022. Photo: Vatbunchanthona, CC BY-SA 4.0

Organization details
Type	Arts and culture
Focus areas	A festival of Cambodian and foreign films in Phnom Penh.
City	Phnom Penh
Country	Cambodia
Founded	2010
Website	Website
Operating status	active

History

Screen Daily announced the first edition in August 2010, to run from October 20 to 24 in Phnom Penh with the ministry as host. It named the organizers as FX Entertainment, the Cambodia Film Commission, Kmy Films and the Association of Filmmakers of Cambodia, and said the first edition would focus on French and African cinema.

In 2013 the Cambodia Film Commission was headed by Cedric Eloy. VOA Khmer wrote that the fourth edition, that December, would show 69 films from 19 countries without charge, and it listed the Bophana Center among the sponsors. Its organizers wanted to show what Cambodian cinema had achieved after long years of war. The program was to include the Khmer-language premiere of Rithy Panh's The Missing Picture, which had won the top prize of the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes that May. It was also to hold the premiere of Sok Visal's Gems on the Run.

The sixth edition, in December 2015, was to show more than 50 films chosen from more than 700 entries. It was also to be the first to charge for tickets, at $1 a film or $5 for ten. Angelina Jolie had just been named president of the festival's honorary committee, and the program included Camp 32 and The Roots Remain. Eloy told The Cambodia Daily that the festival aimed to make Cambodia attractive and to connect the international film industry with Cambodia's own.

After two years of postponements during the pandemic, the 11th edition opened on June 28, 2022, at the Chaktomuk Conference Hall and ran until July 3, with a program of Australian cinema. VOD counted about 170 films, all free to watch, among them Kavich Neang's White Building.

In the ministry's account, the 14th edition, from March 21 to 29, 2025, showed 151 films free to the public. More than 16,000 people came in person and 243,000 watched online. Part of the program marked 50 years since the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975. The 15th edition opened at the Chaktomuk Conference Hall on March 24, 2026. The ministry wrote that it would show about 150 films from 40 countries, 60 of them Cambodian, free over six days. The ministry calls the festival the largest film event in Cambodia and in the region of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Dates and venues

The festival's dates have moved over the years: December in 2013 and 2015, June and July in 2022, and March in 2025 and 2026.

Recent editions have opened at the Chaktomuk Conference Hall, a building by Vann Molyvann. The films are shown in cinemas and halls around the city. In 2013 the planned venues were Legends Cinema, Platinum Cineplex, the French Institute, the Bophana Center and an outdoor screen on Koh Pich. The 2025 edition planned ten venues, and one of its panel discussions was held at the Royal University of Fine Arts.

References