The Clearing is a 2025 Mongabay documentary by filmmakers Andy Ball and Marta Kasztelan about young Cambodian activists fighting for environmental and social justice. It centers around a group of activists with the civil society group Mother Nature Cambodia, which successfully stopped destructive projects including a major dam and the mining of sand from coastal estuaries.
Another such project is in Botum Sakor National Park, once Cambodia’s largest national park. “Eighty percent of the park has been handed to private companies,” Ly Chandaravuth, a Mother Nature Cambodia activist, says in the documentary while flying a drone over a deforested area. “We’re filming a video to urge the government to stop giving land concessions inside the national park to corporations. Thousands of families have been evicted because they need to build an airport and casinos.”
Such outspoken activism has drawn the attention of Cambodia’s authoritarian government. Dozens of activists have been arrested over the years and 11 have been jailed. The documentary follows the plight of Chandaravuth, who was arrested in June 2021 then released on bail, as well as four other activists. All five were awaiting trial for their work.
During this time, the activists won the 2023 Right Livelihood award “[f]or their fearless and engaging activism to preserve Cambodia’s natural environment in the context of a highly restricted democratic space.”
Three of the activists traveled to Stockholm to accept the award with the specter of prison hanging over them upon their return. “We face [jail] again for up to 15 years if the court finds us guilty. And we’re sure that the court will find us guilty,” Sun Ratha, a Mother Nature Cambodia activist, told officials in Sweden. Ratha and Chandaravuth had already each served five months in jail for their activism, she said.
In July 2024, 10 Mother Nature Cambodia activists, including Ratha and Chandaravuth, were sentenced to six to eight years in prison for insulting the king and plotting against the government.
In December 2025, a Cambodian appeals court denied a bail request for five of the activists, UCA News reported. It’s the third time they’ve been denied such a request in the year since they were been imprisoned.
Impact
The film was screened by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand in September 2025, which was followed by a panel discussion with Andy Ball, Mongabay reporter Gerry Flynn and Mother Nature Cambodia activist Lisa Mean. It was shown again in early November for the International Civil Society Week in Bangkok, and then it was featured by an Amnesty International Write for Rights campaign, which generated letters focused on freeing the five imprisoned Mother Nature Cambodia activists.
Two film festivals in the United States also took strong interest in the film. First, the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City, CA, made plans to screen the documentary for a live audience at the popular annual event in late February 2026.
Then the American Conservation Film Festival (ACFF) plans to show it on March 14 during its venerable event in Shepherdstown, WV, which has been held annually for over 25 years. The ACFF jury has also announced the documentary as the winner of its Green Spark Award, which recognizes films that illuminate conservation heroes, showcase pathways to sustainability, or inspire the next generation.
In reaction, filmmaker Marta Kasztelan told Mongabay, “We are delighted to learn that the spirit of Daravuth and his colleagues has moved and reached a new audience. I’m sure that Mother Nature activists will be excited to hear about the Green Spark Award,” she said.
“At a time when environmental and human rights activists face threats to their lives and freedom globally, their stories must be shared widely and not forgotten; this award will certainly help with that.”
Her partner in producing the project, filmmaker Andy Ball, had this to say:
“The Green Spark Award will shine a spotlight on the five Mother Nature Cambodia activists who remain behind bars for exposing state-sanctioned environmental abuses. By bringing this film to new audiences, we hope their relentless efforts to protect and showcase Cambodia’s environment will inspire the next generation of environmental defenders.”
Watch the full film here.
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Banner image: Still image from the film, The Clearing.