The Nightseekers

Five young brothers drive the streets of Phnom Penh each night in search of venues to perform their break-dancing routine to earn something to support their family.

In his new film, Kavich Neang re-examines the traces of a vanished place and community through rare footage: archives shot in 2014 of a family living in the White Building – a huge modernist building in the centre of Phnom Penh that embodied a collective way of life. Demolished in 2017 as part of a major modernisation project, the White Building was already at the heart of Kavich Neang’s eponymous 2021 feature film. In The Nightseekers, Neang centres a household and its members, focusing in particular on five brothers. With his camera on his shoulder, he follows them around their cramped apartment, then through the streets of the Cambodian capital in their tuk tuk. Between football matches and snack breaks, the characters roam the city day and night, performing breakdancing routines and collecting money both to continue their education and simply to survive. Filming alone, cinéma vérité style, the director navigates two modes: both immersing himself in their private lives, and taking on the role of audience when they perform at parties. A complex family dynamic emerges gradually, while in the background we see a portrait of a city in the midst of transformation, caught between the remnants of rural life and fierce urbanisation. Elliptical in its narrative, the film captures the energy of Cambodian youth and the small stories of a family facing social, economic and urban change. The film offers a glimpse into a world in the making.

Nepheli Gambade