Working as Director of Photography on a CNA Insider Documentary About the Funan Techo Canal

At the end of last year I was brought in as director of photography on a 46-minute documentary for CNA Insider, the long-form current affairs strand of Channel NewsAsia. The film, Cambodia’s Mega Canal Has Vietnam Worried: What Does It Mean for the Mekong?, examines the Funan Techo Canal, a 180km waterway that will connect the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand, and the regional tensions it has stirred, particularly with Vietnam. It was produced by Loy Kheng Wee and executive produced by Daniel Heng, both of whom were in the field with me throughout the shoot. Daniel is an experienced hand with a deep knowledge of Southeast Asia and the Insight series.

It was a five-day shoot across multiple locations in Cambodia: Phnom Penh, the groundbreaking site of where the canal will be built, Battambang, and the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port. Over the course of the week we filmed more than ten interviews, and during interviews I operated two cameras to give the editor a choice of angles.

46-minute CNA Insider documentary on the Funan Techo Canal, Cambodia, director of photography: George Jefferies

The Technical Setup

It was a multicam shoot. During interviews, I worked with a Sony FX6 and Sony A7S III, with the FX6 as the wider master and the A7S III as the closer camera. I also mounted the A7S III on a gimbal, giving different shooting options at all points and allowing me to move quickly and efficiently between handheld, gimbal, and tripod as each situation required. Sound was recorded both on a boom mic and a concealed lav mic, which gave us clean options in post regardless of the environment.

Drone work was also part of the brief. The local fixer obtained the necessary permissions to fly in Phnom Penh, and I flew the DJI Air 3 across several locations: the Mekong River, the Cambodian-Japanese friendship bridge crossing the Tonle Sap, rice paddies and a rice processing facility in Battambang, the Koh Pich area of Phnom Penh, and the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port where cargo boats currently make the journey down the Mekong through Vietnam. That footage was particularly relevant to the story, as those are the boats that would eventually use the canal rather than the Vietnamese route.

Interviews and Locations

The range of interview subjects gave the film its shape. In Phnom Penh we filmed with Chea Thyrith, spokesperson for the CPP, along with a range of experts offering analysis of the canal’s economic and geopolitical implications. At the groundbreaking site we spoke with a number of local residents living in the path of the canal. They knew little about what relocation would mean for them, as compensation, timing, and next steps were all still unclear, largely because the project itself had yet to move beyond its early stages. At the Port Authority building we interviewed a representative about the commercial case for the canal. In Battambang, we filmed with a rice factory owner who currently exports through Cambodia having previously relied on Vietnamese ports, and shot in the rice paddies where the crop is grown.

Lighting and operating across that many locations over five days, with two cameras, is a logistical undertaking. Each location brings its own challenges: ambient light direction, background management, the fast pace at which a documentary crew moves. Getting consistent, broadcast-quality results across all of them is the job.

The Story Itself

The Funan Techo Canal is a project that raises significant questions. Cambodia argues the canal will reduce its reliance on Vietnamese ports, through which roughly a third of its global cargo currently passes. Vietnam, meanwhile, is concerned about the canal’s potential to divert water flows from the Mekong Delta, a river system already under pressure from upstream dams and climate change. There are also questions about whether the waterway could serve Chinese military purposes, though experts note it will not be deep enough to accommodate naval vessels.

When we were shooting, there was genuine uncertainty about the project’s timeline and funding. People we spoke to were largely supportive of the idea, but specifics were hard to come by. Since filming, a financing deal between Cambodia and China has been finalised, which gives the project more concrete footing, though whether it meets its 2028 completion target remains to be seen.

Working with the Production Team

It was good to work alongside Daniel Heng, whose knowledge of the region showed throughout the shoot. I also worked with producer Loy Kheng Wee, for whom this was her first shoot in the field as a producer. I hope it was a useful experience and that she has gone on to make many more interesting documentaries.

CNA Insider has been one of the more consistent commissioners of serious, long-form journalism in Southeast Asia. Working on a documentary of this scale and complexity, covering a story with genuine regional significance, was a good addition to the slate.

Working on something similar? Drop me a line, I’d be happy to discuss how I can help.

Working as a Video Journalist for CNA Insider: The Thailand–Cambodia Border Crisis

It isn’t every day that a shoot gets cancelled on a Saturday and replaced with something more significant by Monday. That’s what happened in early July when I was engaged as a video journalist and camera operator for CNA Insider’s Behind The Thailand–Cambodia Feud That Could Topple The Thai Government.

The original assignment was a shoot on the Funan Techno Canal. When the Thailand–Cambodia border dispute escalated and the border closed, the episode producer called to say that they had enough material to focus entirely on the border story and the political fallout from the leaked phone call between Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Cambodia’s elder statesman Hun Sen. The canal documentary was put on hold — it became an entirely separate episode, which I shot a couple of months later. Rather than wait to be reassigned or stand down, I proposed that the border story would be significantly stronger with footage and perspective from the Cambodian side. A piece focused solely on Thai political implications would only tell half the story. She agreed, and over the weekend we developed the editorial approach together. By Monday we had a clear angle and a shooting plan. By Tuesday I was at the Poipet border crossing with my camera.

CNA Insider’s documentary on the Thailand–Cambodia border dispute, filmed on location in Poipet and Phnom Penh

Identifying the Story, Then Telling It

The editorial contribution on this shoot went beyond operating the camera. Identifying that the Cambodian perspective was missing, making the case for it, shaping who we needed to speak to and what the footage needed to establish — that groundwork happened before a single frame was shot. It’s the kind of work that sits at the heart of what a video journalist does, and it’s what made the difference between a one-sided political explainer and a genuinely balanced documentary.

Before heading to Poipet on the Tuesday, I sat down in Phnom Penh with Virak Ou, head of the Future Forum think tank, for a wide-ranging on-camera interview about the historical and political context of the dispute. Getting a credible, English-speaking Cambodian analyst on record gave the episode the intellectual anchor it needed from the Cambodian side. I handled the full production setup for the interview: a multicam shoot using the Sony FX6 as the primary camera and the Sony A7S III on a secondary angle, with lighting, a boom mic, and a lavalier. Two clean angles gave the editor flexibility in a long-form format.

Getting There Fast Mattered

Timing on this story was critical. When I arrived at Poipet, workers were still being allowed to cross from Thailand into Cambodia, and there were people waiting at the border hoping to get through. A couple of days later, the authorities stopped people from waiting at the crossing altogether. The human story I filmed would have been considerably harder to tell even 48 hours later.

Being based in Phnom Penh, able to move quickly, and ready to operate independently across both the editorial and technical sides of a shoot meant we didn’t miss that window. Fast-turnaround, self-sufficient field journalism in complex or fast-moving situations is something I’ve done across a number of assignments in Cambodia and the wider region — you can see more examples in my work for the EU Delegation and on the Tonle Sap.

Filming the Human Cost at Poipet

The Poipet border crossing is one of the busiest land crossings in Southeast Asia. Thousands of Cambodian workers cross daily into Thailand where they work in markets, restaurants, and construction. The border closure immediately took away their work on the other side.

We interviewed workers who had just returned from Thailand and were trying to make sense of what came next. I also identified and filmed a hotel owner in Poipet whose business was impacted by the border closure. With cross-border visitors gone and trade frozen, she described the situation as serious — accounting for around 70 to 80 percent of her income — and spoke plainly about what starting over would mean for her and her children.

On the ground, the border guards and police were professional and friendly, and people were being treated with respect on both sides. But there was an underlying worry that was hard to miss. These were people who had built their working lives around this crossing, and overnight that had been taken away. You felt it in the conversations, in the groups of workers sitting and waiting, not entirely sure what to do next.

One of the most quietly telling details we filmed were the children. While workers were blocked and trade had stopped, the authorities were still allowing children to cross the border to attend school on the other side. Watching kids pass through a checkpoint closed to adults captured something about the human cost of the dispute that no commentary could.

A Cambodian Perspective on the Dispute

Virak Ou was direct about how Cambodia reads its position in the region. “Cambodia has been the victim of two larger, more successful neighbors,” he said. “On the east we have Vietnam, on the west we have Thailand. Cambodia still feels that we have been looked down upon as a backward [country] and we are going to stand up if we feel we are being attacked.”

He was equally measured about the risks of escalation. “It’s important to isolate these issues,” he said. “We need to ensure that we keep it at the political level, as a country to country issue to be resolved through diplomatic means. No benefits to ratchet up the tensions… when it affects the workers and the people from both sides.”

What the Episode Covers

The 46-minute documentary, which has now been viewed over 750,000 times on YouTube, focuses primarily on the Thai political crisis triggered by the leaked call. Prime Minister Paetongtarn’s deferential tone toward Hun Sen and her apparent disparagement of a senior Thai military commander created a firestorm of public anger, with tens of thousands taking to the streets in Bangkok demanding her resignation. The Constitutional Court subsequently suspended her from her duties while investigating the matter.

The footage from Cambodia provides the grounding for what the border dispute actually means on the ground, beyond the political theatre in Bangkok. It gives the episode balance and a human dimension that would have been missing from a story reported entirely from the Thai side — which was the whole point of proposing it.

A Strong Piece of Work, Turned Around Fast

CNA Insider is one of Asia’s most-watched current affairs programmes, and the Insight format allows for the depth that straight news rarely affords. Working across the editorial and camera roles on this one — proposing the angle, planning the shoots, conducting the Poipet filming, and delivering the Phnom Penh interview — was exactly the kind of independent, story-led video journalism I find most satisfying.

The contract was signed on the Monday. Filming was wrapped and the footage ready for delivery within three days. For this kind of assignment — reactive, location-based, editorially led — that turnaround reflects what’s possible when you have someone already on the ground who knows the territory and can work independently from day one.

CNA were happy with both the footage and the approach. The episode is well worth watching in full for anyone following the current situation in Thailand. You can find it on the CNA Insider YouTube channel.

Working on something in Cambodia or Southeast Asia that needs an experienced video journalist on the ground? Drop me a line — I’d be happy to discuss how I can help.