Set up in 2006 by filmmaker Rithy Panh, the Bophana Center collects, restores and screens audiovisual material from across Cambodian history — from royal court newsreels and Khmer Rouge propaganda to the music and films lost when intellectuals were systematically targeted in the 1970s. The centre is named after a young woman tortured and killed at S-21.
The reading room is open free to anyone, with thousands of digitised films and photographs accessible at the listening posts. Regular evening screenings (usually free) show documentaries, restored Sangkum-era musicals, and contemporary Cambodian work that you will not find streaming anywhere. Genuinely one of the most rewarding small institutions in the city.