PHNOM PENH: Legend Cinema held the premiere screening of “Turning Red” at Chip Mong Noro Mall on International Women’s Day befitting the theme of the movie which follows a girl’s journey through puberty.

Meilin Lee, voiced by Rosalie Chiang, is a confident student who excels in every field but wakes up one day as a giant red panda. The movie discusses body dysmorphia, sexual feelings, and heightened emotions that teenagers go through during their puberty.

"It's taboo for whatever reason because people don't talk about it," director and co-writer Domee Shi told Reuters.

Her producer Lindsey Collins added, "It's like the self-fulfilling prophecy. I think the fact that this is so shocking to be the first film to really kind of talk about it is probably the very reason that we don't talk about it."

Sandra Oh voiced Ming, Meilin’s mother, believes that the film wouldn’t have come to fruition if there wasn’t a push for more female voices in the production team. She said "The fact that it exists and that's the primary focus is how you can feel that things have changed. And even in the way that things that might then be seemed taboo are normalized because you have an entire film on it, that's really speaking to the type of filmmaking that you can have from an all-female leadership."

This is the first movie that Walt Disney Pictures have decided to pull out from Russia due to the crisis in Ukraine.

“Turning Red” is available at the cinemas in Cambodia.