CTFF 2025 Official Selection: Chasing Cambodia
CHASING CAMBODIA
Running Time: 56m 50s
A film by Adelicia Company
Presented by VPM
Directors: Ben Saunders and Kyle Jonas
Producer: Joey Schihl
Executive Producers: Steve Humble and Mason Mills
Synopsis:
Growing up in the South, Johnny grappled with ignoring his Asian heritage to fit in with his predominantly white peers. Over the years, he found a passion for cycling and became an elite rider in the local Richmond circuit. In 2021, at 35 years old, Johnny welcomed his first child, Julian, into the world. Becoming a father ignited a desire to explore his Cambodian American identity and better understand his family’s roots.
That same year, Johnny was given an extraordinary opportunity to join the Cambodian National Cycling Team and compete in the Southeast Asian Games which took place in May of 2022 in Vietnam. This would open the door to possibly racing in the future in Cambodia, the country that almost took Johnny’s life before it ever was.
Q&A with Filmmakers after the screening!
Get Tickets: CLICK HERE
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2025. 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM @ Art Theatre of Long Beach
Directors’ Statement
We said from the beginning that Chasing Cambodia is not a cycling film. Cycling just happened to be Johnny’s door to redefining his Cambodian American identity as an adult. His passion for riding provided an apt metaphor for traversing geography like we traverse our inner selves when we’re chasing the desire to know ourselves in deeper ways. From fast-paced races to the sighs of heavy conversations, this is a film that breathes.
Chasing Cambodia delves into the value of cultural representation (in sports, culture, food, etc.), the complex nature of hybrid identities, and the evolution of culture as it is passed from one generation to the next. Johnny’s own journey not only parallels that of many other Cambodian Americans, but poses universal questions that people across cultures wrestle with in their own time and place: What stories, experiences, and customs have I inherited? And what will I pass on?
We’ve been friends with Johnny for more than a decade, so it made sense for us to be the ones to make this film with him. Though being filmmakers who are white, we felt it was important to make sure the film was infused with as much Khmer influence as we could resource. Music is a major way Johnny has connected with Khmer culture, so we licensed tracks from a Cambodian music label in order to meld traditional Khmer sounds with modern pop and hip-hop. We also worked with a Cambodian American graphic designer to make sure the title translation and fonts were not only accurate, but also reflected lettering from traditional script styles commonly seen throughout Cambodia. This process not only felt socially responsible, but we also had a lot of fun exploring the nuances of hybridity as not being one thing or another – it’s a spectrum of intentional plurality that’s constantly evolving.
Yes, we traveled to Vietnam. Yes, we traveled to Cambodia. But a significant part of Johnny’s journey took place in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia where he bonded with other Khmer-icans who are asking similar questions and reflecting on their shared experiences of hybrid identity within their own unique contexts.
Our greatest hope for this film, like with any piece of art, is for the audience to find themselves in the story – as people with their own varied identities, who are part of their own generational trajectories – and to walk away saying, “Ah! Yes. Me too.”
We certainly did.