Shooting Producer on the Song Saa Collective’s Regenerative Tourism Film, Koh Rong Archipelago, Cambodia

Song Saa Private Island from the drone

In June I worked as shooting producer on a short film about the Song Saa Collective in Cambodia’s Koh Rong Archipelago. Regenerative Tourism is part of Pacific Asia: Tourism with Purpose, a digital series that the UK production company Content With Purpose produces for the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).

The film looks at how Song Saa Private Island, a resort off the Cambodian coast, funds the marine conservation and community work of the Song Saa Foundation. I was on the job with Vicheka, my long-term assistant, who has worked with me on a lot of shoots.

A change of plan on Thursday evening

The shoot came together at short notice. One of the people due to be featured had returned to their home country for family reasons, so I had a call with Content With Purpose and Melita Koulmandas, the founder of the Song Saa Collective, on the Thursday evening to work out what to do. Morokot Long, the Song Saa Foundation’s marine conservation and community engagement officer, agreed to step in. A holiday was coming up and she was due to travel back to her hometown, so we had to film before she left.

We made the final decision that evening. I packed the kit that night, started prep at 5.45 the next morning, and Vicheka and I were in a taxi out of Phnom Penh at 6am. At the coast we took Song Saa’s speedboat out to the island, and we filmed on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 June.

Arriving at Song Saa Private Island

I arrived slightly discombobulated, convinced I’d lost an hour somewhere. Song Saa runs on Hong Kong time, an hour ahead of the rest of Cambodia, so the island’s clocks and mine weren’t aligned.

Working with Content With Purpose

Content With Purpose specialises in ethical production. To keep the carbon footprint of its shoots down, it hires local crews rather than flying people in, which is how the job came to me in Phnom Penh. The production manager was Amy Allport.

Three interviews, two cameras

Content With Purpose wanted a two-camera interview setup, and I ran the interviews myself. The Sony A7 IV was A camera, with the A7S III on the second angle. I lit with a Zhiyun Molus X100 and recorded sound from a Sennheiser MKH 416 on a boom and a Sennheiser G4 radio mic, both going into the Sony XLR-K3M adapter, belt and braces.

The two-camera setup for Sideth Chun’s interview at the Discovery Centre.

Melita Koulmandas, Song Saa Collective

Melita Koulmandas is the founder and CEO of the Song Saa Collective. We interviewed her in one of the island’s villas, a stilt house looking out over the sea.

“I first found myself out here 20 years ago, in 2006,” she says. “When I first arrived, you could see what on the surface appeared to be this incredible, stunning, pristine environment was very rapidly in decline. Fish stocks had been pushed close to collapse. It was becoming more and more challenging for these fishing communities to provide for their families.”

She started working with the local community and the fisheries, and the house reef around Song Saa became, in her words, “the starting point for Cambodia’s first marine reserve.” The Song Saa reserve was the first marine reserve to be registered in Cambodia.

The two islands of Song Saa and the house reef between them

“Within 18 months we saw the fish stocks start to come back,” she says. “We saw baby barracudas, we saw spotted stingrays, and I was able to witness regeneration happening in real time.”

Interviewing Melita Koulmandas in one of the villas on Song Saa Private Island.

Morokot Long, Song Saa Foundation

Morokot’s interview was shot on the beach in the late afternoon, with the sea as a backdrop. She runs the foundation’s seagrass surveys, which she describes as “very detailed, metre by metre.”

Setting up Morokot Long's interview on the beach as the sun sets.

“Seagrass bed is one of the most important marine habitats,” she says. “It sustains a lot of life. It acts as a nursery ground for the juvenile fish, protects our coastline from waves and erosion. It also acts as a carbon sink.”

Morokot Long on the beach, with the second camera on the left.

Sideth Chun, Song Saa Foundation

Sideth Chun is the foundation’s community liaison officer, and we filmed his interview at the Discovery Centre. Morokot told us he’d recently qualified as a scuba diver. “When the local community takes this as their ownership, people like to protect what they care about and what they love,” Morokot says.

Sideth runs workshops on coral species for children in the community and takes them swimming. “They see the coral growing and they’re really interested,” he says. “They said they want to be like the part of the marine science and take care of their own marine environment.”

Interviewing Sideth Chun at the Discovery Centre.

On the water and in the air

Between interviews, we went out on the foundation’s boat with Morokot, Sideth and the dive team as they kitted up. I used the A7S III on the gimbal for the moving shots on the boats.

Filming the dive team as they kit up.

I shot the aerial footage on the DJI Air 3, covering the island, its boardwalk and the house reef. I’ve written more about flying drones in Cambodia and the permissions involved.

Flying the Air 3 from the deck on Song Saa Private Island.

Tourism that pays for conservation

Six years after Melita first arrived, she designed and built Song Saa Private Island to support the conservation work, alongside an international not-for-profit foundation.

“The resort commercial business became the engine,” she says. “It provided infrastructure for the conservation work, provides housing for the marine scientists and the team to live in. It brings awareness to this area through media and PR. And then through guest donations, grants, fundraising through the foundation, we’re able to conduct data-driven research.”

It’s the same link between visitors and conservation that I saw on the Tonle Sap, where protected bird sanctuaries bring income to communities through eco-tourism. Melita summarises this perfectly at the end of the film: “Tourism has to move from extraction to contribution.”

Staying on the island

It’s not often I get to stay somewhere like Song Saa, and I think Vicheka enjoyed it even more than I did. We didn’t have time to make much use of the island’s facilities, but we did eat at the restaurant. My highlight was an Asian-style confit duck salad with green mango, where the acidity of the mango cut through the saltiness of the duck.

The overwater villas on Song Saa Private Island.

Handover and release

At the end of the shoot, I uploaded all the footage to Content With Purpose’s Drive for the edit. Pacific Asia: Tourism with Purpose was previewed at PATA Travel Mart 2026 and launched in Bangkok on 8 September 2026. The films are free to watch on Content With Purpose’s site, alongside partners including the Hawai’i Tourism Authority and Travelife.

Thanks to Melita, Sideth and the Song Saa team, and to Morokot for stepping in at short notice. If you’re after a shooting producer for a travel or conservation story, I’ve also produced, directed and shot segments for the BBC Travel Show. You can see more of my work as an NGO videographer in Cambodia.

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

Director of Photography on Condé Nast Traveler's Where the Chefs Eat in Phnom Penh

I was director of photography on Condé Nast Traveler's Where the Chefs Eat episode in Phnom Penh, which has now passed a million views on YouTube. A Pro Chef's Favorite Places to Eat in Phnom Penh, Cambodia follows Rotanak Ros, better known as Chef Nak, to three of the places she eats in the Cambodian capital. They are a Khmer restaurant on Street 360, a modern Khmer tasting menu at the Old Market and a grilled seafood spot on Samdech Monireth Boulevard.

Condé Nast Traveler's Where the Chefs Eat with Chef Nak in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Director of photography: George Jefferies

How the job came together

I was hired locally through Bophay OukChan of Cambodia Film Fixers, who was the fixer on the shoot. I've written about working with Bophay before, in my post on flying drones in Cambodia. The production came through Mbrella Films, Joshua Dixon's production company in Bangkok.

The episode was directed by Preshita Saha, a director at Condé Nast who oversees the shoots for the series. We met her at the hotel on the morning of the shoot and were filming within half an hour.

The crew was small. I was director of photography and operated A camera. Kongkea Vann was B camera, and Sokha Hun recorded sound. I'd worked with Sokha before on Loot, the feature documentary about Douglas Latchford and the theft and return of looted Khmer artefacts to Cambodia. On Loot I filmed the master interview with Thanaren Than, a former cultural heritage investigator, and the return of 14 artefacts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It was my first time working with Kongkea, but I'd seen his work at this year's Cambodia International Film Festival. He was director of photography on Fresh as Daisy, Socheata Van's short about two young women from conservative families in the same Phnom Penh neighbourhood, which screened in the festival's Cambodia in Short programme. He's a Cambodian filmmaker and cinematographer, and he co-directed and shot the short film Sound of the Night with Chanrado Sok. That film was nominated for the Pardino d'oro at the Locarno Film Festival.

Setting up two cameras to match

We shot handheld on two Sony FX6s, and the job began with a technical preparation meeting the day before the shoot to match the two cameras. As director of photography, I was responsible for lining them up so the footage would cut together in the edit. Both were set to S-Log3 in S-Gamut3.Cine with a 180-degree shutter, recording internally in XAVC-I. File names were set up to differentiate Cam A from Cam B.

Each camera carried a Deity TC-1 timecode unit, and we checked that both were syncing with the Sound Devices MixPre-10 that Sokha was recording into. Each camera was also fitted with an Atomos Ninja V as a monitor, which gave us the option of recording ProRes RAW. The footage was being uploaded straight to the production's cloud storage, though, and the file sizes would have been massive and taken a long time to upload.

At the start of each scene, we shot an X-Rite ColorChecker Passport on both cameras so the colourist could match them. That was followed by a slate app on my phone with a short description, so the editors knew which scene they were looking at.

We both shot on the Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS, using Cinesaddles. The whole episode was shot in under eight hours at locations across the city, so although we had more lenses in the bag, there wasn't time to change them. The built-in stabilisation helps when you're shooting at that pace. The zoom range also covers you in a small kitchen, where you need to get as wide as you can, and lets you punch in for a close-up at the 105mm end, as long as you can hold it steady.

Matching the series style

Before the shoot, Kongkea and I watched earlier episodes of Where the Chefs Eat together to study the framing and shooting style, so our footage would match the rest of the series. There was no gimbal and no drone. Everything was handheld.

I assigned Kongkea the close-ups of the food being prepared and served. That left me free to stay with Chef Nak and get the meat and bones of each scene, picking off food shots wherever I could. We worked with the available light throughout and made everything look as good as we could.

Three restaurants

The first stop was Meatophum, on Street 360 near Tuol Sleng. Chef Nak talked with the owner, Meas Phanida, and worked through a mixed banana blossom salad, fried fish with seasonal pickles, Khmer beef sour soup and mango sticky rice.

Where to Get the Best Cambodian Food in Phnom Penh, filmed at Meatophum for Condé Nast Traveler

Next was Pi Sa, at the Old Market, which serves a modern Khmer tasting menu. The episode closes by naming Pi Sa as a 2026 Condé Nast Traveler Hot List restaurant winner. I'd definitely go back for the tasting menu, and for the quality of the food, it's good value.

Inside Pi Sa, Phnom Penh, filmed for Condé Nast Traveler

The last stop was 123 Grilled Seafood on Samdech Monireth Boulevard, past the Olympic Stadium. This was street food at night, so we worked with the light that was there and positioned Chef Nak where it fell best. If friends and I fancied seafood, it's where I'd take them.

Grilled seafood at 123 Grilled Seafood, Phnom Penh, filmed for Condé Nast Traveler

Working with Chef Nak again

I first met Chef Nak when I was working as camera assistant and drone operator on CNN's Nomad with Carlton McCoy. We filmed with her at a floating village on the Tonle Sap, near Siem Reap.

In this episode of Where the Chefs Eat, she describes how the capital's food comes together. "Something amazing about food culture in Phnom Penh is that it is a hub," she says. "When people come, they bring their own traditions from where they grew up and that makes the whole thing quite diverse."

Handover

At the end of the shoot, I uploaded the footage directly to the production's cloud storage, wrote up camera notes and went through everything with the team. The morning after we wrapped, we were on the road to Siem Reap to film an episode of Ask a Local for Condé Nast Traveler, so I carried on uploading from the road. I'll cover that shoot in a separate post.

A million views

The episode has now passed a million views on Condé Nast Traveler's YouTube channel, and three shorts cut from it have been published alongside it.

You can see more of my work as a director of photography in Cambodia, including the CNA Insider documentary on the Funan Techo Canal, where I also ran a two-camera setup.

Got a shoot coming up in Cambodia or Southeast Asia? Feel free to get in touch.

Flying Drones in Cambodia: Permissions, Experience and What You Need to Know

Drone showreel, aerial videography across Cambodia

I've been working as a drone operator in Cambodia since shortly after DJI launched the original Phantom in 2013. Since then I've flown the Phantom 2, 3, 4 and 4 Pro, the Mavic Pro, Mavic Pro 2, Mini 3 Pro, and now the DJI Air 3. I've used drones on productions ranging from NGO field work and corporate videos to broadcast documentary and feature film. The progress in that time has been remarkable, with the introduction of dual lenses, omnidirectional obstacle sensing, extended battery life, and stabilisation that makes aerial footage possible in conditions where earlier models simply couldn't fly.

This post covers the two locations where you'll definitely be asked for permission, Phnom Penh and the Angkor Archaeological Park, along with some notes on indoor flying, drone photography, and some highlights of my drone flying in Cambodia.

Flying in Phnom Penh

For television and documentary productions, the permissions process in Phnom Penh is a two-stage process. You apply first to the Ministry of Information, which processes the permit. You then take that letter to City Hall, where they countersign and confirm that you have approval to fly within the capital. If you're making a feature film, the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts is the relevant authority.

When I was flying for CNN's Nomad with Carlton McCoy, the local fixer gave me a copy of the permission letter, which was a good idea. Every time I took off, a security guard arrived and asked to see the permission. You will be asked to show your paperwork when openly flying in central Phnom Penh, so make sure you have it.

People have been detained for flying in restricted areas, and some incidents are well known in the production community here. For professional work in Phnom Penh, obtaining permission before you fly is not optional.

At the time of writing, there is a blanket ban on drone flights across Cambodia as a result of the Thailand-Cambodia border situation. Permissions are still being granted for the right projects, but this is worth factoring into your planning if you're scheduling a drone shoot in the near future.

Flying at the Angkor Archaeological Park

Angkor operates through the Apsara Authority, the body responsible for managing the archaeological park. You apply in writing and the process typically takes between two weeks and a month. The Apsara Authority will confirm whether permission is granted and advise on the fee, which is set case by case rather than at a fixed rate.

I've been lucky enough to fly my drone at the temples twice. The first was for Taste of Cambodia, a travel series for the Cambodia Ministry of Tourism produced with Hanuman Films, where I had a three-day permit covering Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm, the temple featured in Tomb Raider. The second was for CNN's Nomad with Carlton McCoy, shooting at Angkor Wat.

I was up before sunrise on the first two mornings of the Taste of Cambodia shoot at Angkor Wat, waiting for light that never came through the cloud. On the third morning it had rained overnight and, as the sun rose, mist lifted from the stone path leading up to the temple and the surrounding jungle. The footage from that morning made up for the earlier disappointments, and it's the kind of image that's only available if you have the right permissions and the patience to wait for the conditions to arrive.

Indoor Drone Work

Part of the drone work I do has been flying inside buildings, which is a different discipline from outdoor flying and one that demands a drone with reliable obstacle sensing.

For a corporate film for Endo Lighting, I flew inside AEON 3 Mall in Phnom Penh to capture their lighting installation. Flying up through the full height of the central atrium and along the skywalk, a key part of the design they wanted to show, gave the client footage that couldn't have been achieved any other way. You can see the video here.

For a video produced with Pixel Peers for the ILO's Better Factories project, I flew inside a garment factory in Kandal Province on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, documenting the manufacturing environment as part of their Better Factories programme.

I also flew inside Cambodia Zulite Stone's quartz manufacturing facility for a corporate film delivered for exhibition at a trade show in New York. The DJI Air 3's omnidirectional obstacle sensing makes it well suited to indoor work of this kind.

On a number of shoots, drone photography has been delivered alongside the video. The Air 3 and many other DJI drones make switching between modes straightforward. You press the left-hand shoulder button and it switches between photography and video. Once the settings for both are configured, it's easy to switch at the click of a button, and then another click either takes a photo or starts recording. Stills and video can be captured in the same session without significantly disrupting the shooting workflow. Both Endo Lighting and Cambodia Zulite Stone received drone photography deliverables alongside their films. Drone stills are something I can offer alongside videography on most shoots.

Flying Across Cambodia

Across Cambodia as well as Phnom Penh and Angkor, I've flown for a wide range of productions. Locations include Kampot and Kep on the coast, the highlands of Mondulkiri, Kratie, Stung Treng, Battambang and Kandal Province. Outside the capital and the archaeological park, enforcement is lighter and I've never been stopped when flying recreationally, though technically a local authority approval from the relevant sangkat is required alongside the Ministry of Information permit for professional productions.

Productions involving significant drone work include a 46-minute documentary for CNA Insider on the Funan Techo Canal, where I flew over the Mekong River, Battambang's rice paddies and the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port, and the Taste of Cambodia series for the Ministry of Tourism. For the CNN shoot I flew Central Market, Wat Phnom, Vattanac Tower, the CBD and the Angkor temples. For Wild Frontiers, one of the UK's leading adventure travel companies, I flew across India, Ukraine and Moldova. You can see a selection of that aerial work in my drone reel for Khreativa.

Cambodia as a Production Destination

The Cambodia Tourism Board recently launched a Location Scouting Programme designed to support international film, television, documentary and commercial productions. The programme covers up to five days of on-ground expenses during location scouting, including accommodation, local transport, fixer or guide services, and entry fees for national parks and heritage sites. Flights are not covered, but it's an encouraging development that reflects a genuine effort by the Cambodian government to attract international productions to the country.

Kit

My current drone is the DJI Air 3, with 28mm and 70mm lenses and omnidirectional obstacle sensing, suitable for both indoor and outdoor work. Additional drones are available to hire for productions requiring different specifications. Full production kit, including lighting, sound and grip, is available alongside drone services.

You can see more of my drone work on the drone operator page, and further examples across the corporateand documentary portfolio pages.

If you have questions about flying drones in Cambodia, whether for a production you're planning or just to understand the permissions process, feel free to get in touch. Based in Phnom Penh and available for assignments across Southeast Asia.

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.