{"id":595639,"date":"2026-08-25T15:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T15:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/595639\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T15:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T15:44:08","slug":"cambodia-picks-polen-lys-becoming-human-for-oscars-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/595639\/","title":{"rendered":"Cambodia Picks Polen Ly’s ‘Becoming Human’ for Oscars Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Cambodia<\/a> Oscar Selection Committee (COSC) has selected \u201cBecoming Human<\/a>,\u201d directed by Polen Ly<\/a>, as the country\u2019s official submission for the international feature film category at the 99th Academy Awards.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film follows Thida, the spirit guardian of an aging cinema slated for demolition, as she weighs the choice of rebirth against her existence as a ghost. Her bond with Hai, a living man she meets along the way, pushes her to confront both her spiritual fate and a country in the midst of sweeping social change.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBecoming Human\u201d is Ly\u2019s debut feature. He previously made the short film \u201cFurther and Further Away\u201d in 2022 and the documentary \u201cUntil the Orchid Blooms,\u201d which premiered at IDFA in 2024 and won the grand prize at the Taiwan International Documentary Festival in 2026. The cast is led by 15-year-old newcomer and dance student Savorn Serak alongside Piseth Chhun, who won the Venice Horizons award for best actor in 2021 for his role in Kavich Neang\u2019s \u201cWhite Building.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDaniel Mattes produced the film through his Cambodia-based banner Anti-Archive. Singapore\u2019s Minri Media came aboard as executive producer, with fellow backers Kongchak Pictures, based in Cambodia, and Singapore\u2019s Momo Film Co rounding out the associate producer team. Lights On is handling world sales. Son Doan, cinematographer on Truong Minh Quy\u2019s \u201cViet and Nam,\u201d shot the film, and Kavich Neang, director of \u201cWhite Building,\u201d edited it. Post-production sound work and score recording were completed at a Phnom Penh facility, Kongchak Studio. The film was developed as part of the Biennale College Cinema initiative\u2019s 13th edition, a program run by La Biennale di Venezia with backing from the Italian Ministry of Culture\u2019s General Directorate Cinema, along with additional support from Chanel.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBecoming Human\u201d premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2025 and has since screened at Busan, BFI London, Taipei Golden Horse, Seattle and Shanghai. It won the audience award and the top prize, the Golden Hanoman, at the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival in Indonesia, and Chhun picked up a lead-acting honor at Rome\u2019s Asian Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\n\tLy called the selection \u201cboth an honor and an inspiring representation of local independent cinema,\u201d adding, \u201cthe film even though was made on a micro-budget, our small, but loving and skillful crew shaped a healthy environment, which for me was an important force behind the craft of this film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCOSC founder Mariam Arthur pointed to a wider field than usual this year, saying there are typically only one or two eligible films. \u201cNotable this year were films such as \u2018Far Away, Close to You\u2019 by Mony Kann Darung; \u2018Banh\u2019 by Bou Panha; \u2018The Old Man\u2019 by Chap Somchanrith; and \u2018Me and My Brother\u2019 by Kou Darachan,\u201d Arthur said, calling it \u201ca huge step forward that Khmer filmmakers are willing to invest in drama and romance genres.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCambodia has submitted films for the International Feature Film category since 1994. Rithy Panh\u2019s \u201cThe Missing Picture\u201d earned the country\u2019s only nomination in 2013, and Davy Chou\u2019s \u201cReturn to Seoul\u201d reached the shortlist in 2022.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBecoming Human\u201d opens in Cambodian cinemas nationwide on Aug. 27. The 99th Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled for March 14, 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cambodia Oscar Selection Committee (COSC) has selected \u201cBecoming Human,\u201d directed by Polen Ly, as the country\u2019s official…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[269365,25098,146,85,46,3220,269366],"class_list":["post-595639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-becoming-human","tag-cambodia","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-oscars","tag-polen-ly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}