REAL GIRLS shares moments of glory, pain and indecision. It tells stories of strong women who have an unbreakable desire to live a just life in a respectful society being simply what they are – women.

Watch our 3-minute video teaser here, filmed between January and March, 2018.

REAL GIRLS‘ protagonists are transgender women from Cambodia who desire to live as women and to be respected. They proudly and courageously fight inequality, prejudice and violence with their intelligence, beauty and sense of justice. To change perception about themselves and fellow members in the LGBTIQ community, they decided to create a short film to raise awareness and to voice their protest. The documentary REAL GIRLS (90 min) shows how the five different protagonists, a star stylist, a cabaret manager and two prostitutes go about making their film and how they chose to present the subject of being a transgender woman in society. A touching documentary about modern heroines of our time, made for the LGBTIQ community and all those who believe in a more just world.

REAL GIRLS is a documentary which educates, inspires and calls to action.

REAL GIRLS follows the scripting, filming and development of a reality-based short film created by our protagonists which will implicate all five transgender women in filmed dialogue, interaction and discussion. We use the development and working process of the girls for covering our topics in REAL GIRLS. The documentary will educate by clearing common misconceptions by covering basic topics, such as, what is a transgender, how do they feel, how they should be addressed or treated, but also going without hesitation into topics regarding physical aspects or details of their love and relationship life.

The documentary inspires by displaying the women’s great spirit and portraying them as social activists who are brave and astonishing. They exhibit their courage every day dressing-up and making themselves look pretty before going out, even though they know that they have a chance of being harassed, hurt and molested.

How the film develops depends very much on the women themselves and their reactions during the work-process as they have such a rich variation of experiences, education, expectations, hopes and fears. REAL GIRLS will show the development of our characters during production of their fiction film and share their thoughts, fun, and fights.

Who are the REAL GIRLS?

A great dancer and manager of a 40-person cabaret show in Phnom Penh. Mong is smart, very sharp and has a good sense for business and humour. She presently tries to market her cabaret show and dreams of opening her own bar- with a dance show that is performed by transgender people only.

A 36-year-old timeless beauty who ran-away from her village at the age of 15 to live her own life and to be herself – a woman. She works in a beauty salon and when night falls, she changes her dress to work as a prostitute. Dating serveral men each week, she continues to financially support her family – that almost killed her. Sophea proves that wild hearts can’t be broken and holds on to the idea of the big love she will find one day.

She started working in a bar at 13 and now proudly performs her profession as a prostitute. This 18-year-old girl has not only a lot of life-experience but a wisdom that is far beyond her age. She speaks with an open joy about her sexuality and body and bursts with pride to be a transgender. She saves to study design in Thailand.

A succesful makeup artist who earns the average monthly salary before lunch but still maintains her modesty and simple charm. She has nothing more to prove, having made her way up from being an orphan to a fashion-pioneer. Nakeo styles famous pop-stars like Laura Mam, lives in a small flat and is frugal to save money for her wedding.