Skip to main content
Further and Further Away film image, director Polen Ly

Further and Further Away

Chhngai Dach Alai / ឆ្ងាយដាច់អាល័យ

Canadian Premiere

A young Bunong woman and her older brother spend one last day in their rural Cambodian village before a move to the city in search of a more prosperous life. This is an almost documentary-like look at two very different people: he is an unsympathetic realist whereas she is connected to nature and spirituality. It’s a relaxed and languid observational drama about the distances—both metaphorical and literal—that exist within our lives, our surroundings, and how we view our ancestry. The beautiful scenery, the landscapes of solitude, and an overall feeling of despair and hope combined are evoked with very little dialogue. The film is reminiscent of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria, unspooling information through beautiful camerawork and an intricate but unadorned sound design.

 

Community Partner

Director
Cast

Bopha Oul, Phanny Loem

Credits
Country of Origin

Cambodia

Year

2022

Language

In Bunong and Khmer with English subtitles

Film Contact
24 min

Featured in:

Mumu film image

International Shorts: Family Ties

The bonds of family form the basis of this program of short films. Bonds with history and responsibility—sometimes close, sometimes strained—now and for the future.

 

MORE INFO

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

No Other Land

Dir. Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor
96 min

Deemed by many critics one of the essential films of 2024, a multiple festival award winner and Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, No Other Land is a reminder that mass expulsion is by no means a new reality for Palestinians.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Way, My Way

Dir. Bill Bennett
93 min

All manner of pilgrims flock to France and Spain to walk the 800 km Camino de Santiago. One such is Bill, a stroppy sexagenarian Australian filmmaker who's determined to do the Camino with minimal prep, a dickey leg, and no firm idea why.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
Heart of Gold
Heart of Gold film image; woman crouching by a burning miniature house

Heart of Gold

Dir. Patricia Gruben
80 min

Writer-director Patricia Gruben explores the history of an American deserter in 1969 who escapes to BC and finds shelter with a Russian dissident community.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Resident Orca

Dir. Sarah Sharkey Pearce & Simon Schneider
97 min

Captured in Puget Sound in 1970, killer whale Lolita spent the next half century in a cramped tank in Seaquarium, Miami. The film follows a coalition of Lummi elders, animal lovers and philanthropists on a rescue mission to return her to the ocean.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Misericordia

Dir. Alain Guiraudie
103 min

Edgy, eccentric, and unapologetically queer, this film goes from drama to comedy without putting a foot wrong. Sex and murder are the subjects, and writer-director Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake) mines them for suspense and outrageous laughs.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Stand

Dir. Christopher Auchter
95 min

This rousing doc explores a 1985 dispute over logging in the Haida Gwaii. Taking us from canny retrospective commentary to the thick of the action, director Chris Auchter employs animation and a wealth of archival footage to riveting effect.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Producer

Sophea Kim, Daniel Mattes, Davy Chou

Screenwriter

Polen Ly

Cinematography

Polen Ly

Editor

Kavich Neang

Director

Polen Ly headshot, Further and Further Away director

Polen Ly

Polen Ly paused his studies in medicine to pursue his filmmaking path in 2012. He has directed several shorts and documentaries which explore social issues related to the environment and human rights, including LGBT+ and Indigenous experiences. His short film Colourful Knots (2015) won first prize at Tropfest South East Asia in Malaysia. In 2018, Ly joined the Asian Film Academy in Busan, Korea. His documentary short, Side by Side (2021), was selected in the Open Doors section at Locarno Film Festival. Ly is now in early production on his first full-length documentary, The Tongue of Water.