Cambodia’s annual LGBT pride celebration will begin with a launch party on Sunday under the motto “I Am What I Am” at Phnom Penh’s Meta House, followed by nearly a week of documentary films starting Tuesday.
The event, which has been hosted by Meta House founder Nicolaus Mesterharm since 2008, celebrates the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
The 20 films showing this year include documentaries from Cambodian and international filmmakers and focus on LGBT issues in countries including Uganda, Russia and Indonesia.
The Cambodian films on show include “Karma,” a documentary about an HIV-positive transgender sex worker, and “Two Girls Against the Rain,” a story of a lesbian couple living in a rural village.
Mr. Mesterharm said there was still a gap for films tackling sexuality issues in a nuanced way in the country.
“Most young filmmakers choose the topic of transgender because possibly it’s the most colorful topic and it’s easy for the audience to guess,” he said. “There are two films about the lesbian community and then you have a set of documentaries about ladyboys and that’s where Cambodian documentary filmmaking at the moment ends.”
