The Japanese Film Festival in Cambodia, which runs until Tuesday, will bring a singular focus on Japanese cinema to the Kingdom for the first time. Organisers will screen 16 feature films over six days at Major Cinema in Aeon Mall and Legend Cinema at TK Avenue Mall. The film festival – organised by the Embassy of Japan in cooperation with the Japan Foundation – opened last night with a ceremony at Chaktomuk Theatre and a screening of the award-winning film Departures that was attended by the Minister of Culture. Held to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Japan-Cambodia Treaty of Amity, the festival represents the first standalone festival of Japanese cinema in Cambodia, though Japanese films have been screened as part of larger events before, according to festival organiser Lomorpich Rithy. “The rationale behind bringing this festival to Phnom Penh is to connect the people of Japan and Cambodia,” Rithy explained. She said that organisers hoped to promote Japanese culture in Cambodia, as well as to expose Cambodian film fans and filmmakers – especially from the younger generation – to a different cinema tradition.