Becoming Human only screens on
- Wednesday 30 September at 6:30pm
- Saturday 3 October at 8:15pm
- Sunday 4 October at 6:00pm.
Reservations are required for all sessions. Limited seats available.
Set against the decaying walls of an abandoned cinema in Battambang awaiting demolition, Polen Ly’s acclaimed Cambodian drama follows Thida, a guardian spirit who has watched over the building since Cambodia’s golden age of film.
As developers prepare to tear down the structure, she faces a profound choice: accept the possibility of rebirth or remain a wandering ghost. Her quiet existence shifts when she encounters Hai, a young man visiting the ruins to photograph the space and reconnect with his own fading memories.
The reason this micro-budget masterpiece works so brilliantly is how it uses the supernatural not as a cheap genre trick, but as a poignant lens to examine a rapidly modernizing Cambodia. Anchored by delicate performances and stunning cinematography, it becomes a deeply moving elegy for lost physical spaces, cultural memory, and the ghosts we carry with us.
Selected as Cambodia’s official entry for the Academy Awards, this meditative festival favorite is a vital milestone for contemporary Khmer cinema.
Cambodia (Khmer with English subtitles)
99 mins
