PHNOM PENH: The new feature film from Diep Sovandara, titled ‘Single Dad,’ premiered earlier this month as part of the 11th Cambodia International Film Festival (CIFF), and will finally hit theatres this week on Thursday, 21 July.

The premiere, held on 2 July at Major Cineplex, Aeon 1, was buzzing with stars, celebrities and prominent members of the film industry, who were all specially invited for the red-carpet event.

The stars of the film all briefly went up on stage to share a few words. Tep Rindaro, who plays the father in the film, highlighted how this movie portrays a warm relationship between father and son.

"Usually, we Cambodians, fathers and children aren’t close together," he said. "However, this movie shows a close relationship that is quite warm. The father sacrificed everything for the son.”

The film’s lead actress, Heng Chantha, is a former beauty queen and winner of Miss Grand Cambodia 2016. Speaking with the press, she said that what she liked most about this film is the focus on the relationship between the father and son, and the reflection of present societal pressures.

“What I like about the movie is many things, because this movie focuses on the father who has sacrificed everything because he loves his son very much," she said. "Searching for a wife for his son and pretty much doing everything for his son to get a wife. It emphasizes present society. Both men and women stay single longer, parents get worried and want them to have a husband or wife. . . . the father does a lot [to try and help him]."

Singer Ting Tong was invited as the special MC for the premiere event, and also shared a few words about how he hopes audiences will continue to support local artists and local Cambodian cinema.

"The confidence of our artists is when they sing, we have a listener, when we perform, we have audiences to support us, that is the crux of an artist's motivation," he said. "Besides working to make a profit, we need support from audiences. For Khmer movies, [support] is always going up and down, what we receive is never stable. I would like to ask everyone to buy tickets for our Khmer movies, not just movies from LD Productions, but all production companies. This shows our patriotism, especially to our arts and culture.”

Excitement for the film was palpable among all invited guests, especially since ‘Single Dad’ is completely locally made, with a Cambodian director, writer, production company and cast. Premiering as a part of the 11th CIFF, which triumphantly returned after a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus, made it all the more special.

Producer Leak Lyda, the Chairman of LD Entertainment, the company that produced ‘Single Dad,’ said he is hopeful for the support this film will receive after seeing the great response and participation in the film festival.

"This premiere is different from previous movies because we are doing it with CIFF, the Cambodia International Film Festival, where Single Dad is being screened," he said. "We saw that there were a lot of people who came [to the festival], so we hope that we will receive a lot of support, because we saw the reactions posted on social media in 3-4 hours even reached up to 500-600 thousand [impressions], so I have confidence for this film.”

Leak Lyda also said he is less concerned about receiving only positive feedback, but would rather see people actively discuss and interact with each other about the film so that they can get an idea of the real audience response.

“I would like to ask all the people who watch this movie to give the real value to our producers, such as participating in commenting or reacting to this movie by posting it on their social media accounts, saying whether this movie is good or not. If this movie is good, mention the good points and if the movie is not good, the audience can comment about the lacking parts, then we can receive the real rating from critics, comments, as well as encouragements, which is the real value that we are looking for.”

‘Single Dad’ is the latest comedy film from LD Entertainment. Directed by Diep Sovandara, it tells the story of a single 30-year-old man who is still living with his parents, and centers on a father-son relationship, which seems to be a little broken when the son refuses to find a girlfriend. The father then takes matters into his own hands to help his son find a girl by becoming his seduction teacher.

‘Single Dad’ will begin screening in theaters all across the country from Thursday, 21 July.