Film

Twenty-year-old Samnang and two friends live in the White Building, a landmark tenement in Phnom Penh that welcomed many artists and performers upon their post-Khmer Rouge return. In this fast-changing Cambodian city, the three young men practice dance routines, dreaming of television talent contests while their parents lead a more traditional lifestyle. Soon, the White Building is to be demolished, and the stable environment Samnang has always called home is on shaky ground. Recalling slow-cinema titans like Tsai Ming-liang, this striking debut by Kavich—whose own family was evicted from the White Building in 2017—won the Venice Film Festivals’ Horizon section’s award for Best Actor (Piseth Chhun).