A film from Cambodia’s forest frontier

Defenders of the Spirit Forest is a film set in the rainforests of Cambodia. The Cardamom mountains are a remaining jewel of biodiversity in a country where forests are dwindling fast. Still home to rare species like the Siamese crocodile and Asian elephant, the forest here is under great pressure from people exploiting its natural resources.

This film explores the pressures from the perspective of the local indigenous people who have been custodians of the forest for generations. For them the forest and the creatures within it are part of a rich spiritual world that is respected and revered. Now their lives are under threat from a proposed hydro-electric dam which threatens to sweep away their land and the sacred forests on which they depend.