Last Night I Saw You Smiling
A FILM BY Kavich Neang
POST-PRODUCTION GRANT - FALL 2018
One decade after Cambodia’s independence and amid a movement of New Khmer Architecture, the Municipal Apartments, also known as the White Building, were constructed. The housing block bore witness to a tremendous series of events: the young nation’s Golden Age; a traumatic breakdown under a radical regime; decades of cultural revival centered within its walls; and, the rapid pace of capitalist development that ultimately led to its demise. Upon learning that the residing families of the White Building have agreed to vacate the building for a condo development, director Kavich Neang, who was raised inside its walls, films the final days of the historic modernist structure amid its demolition. He documents the departure of his own family and other long-time neighbors as they move out from the greying white building, and bid farewell to the place they long called home. Only memory remains.