LAST NIGHT I SAW YOU SMILING

Nearly 500 families living in Cambodia’s iconic White Building reflect on their memories and the building’s history as they pack up their lives on the eve of its planned destruction to make way for redevelopment.

Director Kavich Neang, who grew up in the Phnom Penh building, documents residents who recall a vivid portrait of the White Building’s 54-year existence. From its construction during the New Khmer Architecture Movement, to when artists and civil servants who lived there during decades of cultural flux and rapid urban development, the housing block was an architectural landmark before its decline into poverty.

With the demolition in sight and residents scrambling to find housing and save belongings most dear to them, tensions and emotions run high. As Neang captures the crumbling foundations of the once solid structure, what lies ahead for the families who called the White Building home? — Brian Ray

Co-presented by: Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), SFFilm