Dir: Sao Sopheak
Curated by Future Shorts

After almost 30 years of civil war and the genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia is still one of the poorest countries in the world. Traditional values and customs such as arranged marriages are upheld. Same-sex sexual activity is legal when it involves non-commercial acts between consenting adults in private. While traditional cultural mores tend to be tolerant in this area, even expressly providing support for people of an intermediate or third gender, LGBT rights legislation has not yet been enacted by the ruling government.

The short documentary, Two Girls Against the Rain, by Cambodian female filmmaker Sao Sopheak is the first locally produced documentary, which gives a voice to members of the lesbian community.

It’s a true story about two women struggling hard for their love. Soth Yun (57) and Sem Eang (58) met during the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, where more than two million people died. Soth and Sem survived. Today the couple lives in a village in Takeo province in southern Cambodia, approximately 40 kilometers away from the capital Phnom Penh. They do not have children of their own, but have raised several nieces and nephew. Theirs has been a long fight against stigmatization by fellow villagers and their family. And the fight continues – now for the right to marry legally.