Online film screening followed by a discussion with the filmmakers

Debt Inc. is an investigative documentary examining the role of international and European financial institutions in Cambodia’s microfinance crisis.

Investigative journalist Claire Stam traces the human cost of Cambodia’s booming microfinance sector and the international money that helped fuel its expansion. With a loan portfolio equivalent to roughly 30% of the country’s GDP, the sector has been linked to widespread over-indebtedness, coerced land sales and other human rights abuses. More than 167,000 Cambodian households have sold land to repay microloans, alongside documented cases of food insecurity, child labour and debt-related suicides.

The film follows the financial chain from Cambodian borrowers to the institutions and investors backing the sector, combining stories from affected families with interviews with human rights representatives from FIAN Germany and OECD Watch, leading academics Dr. Frank Bliss and Dr. Milford Bateman, journalists Jack Brook and Gerhard Klas, and Oikocredit CEO Mirjam ’t Lam.

By bringing together the experiences of borrowers with the perspectives of those financing and scrutinising the system, Debt Inc. asks a central question: who is accountable when investments made in the name of development contribute to harm?

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Thomas Cristofoletti
Thomas Cristofoletti is an award-winning documentary director, cinematographer, and photographer based in Bangkok, Thailand. Originally from the Italian Alps, he has worked across Southeast Asia since 2012 and in more than 30 countries worldwide, directing and shooting medium- and long-form documentaries and visual stories for international broadcasters, media outlets, and development organisations.

His work focuses on human-centred stories at the intersection of climate change, development, and human rights, with a particular interest in investigative and environmental storytelling. He has a long-standing connection to the Mekong region, where much of his work has explored the social and environmental consequences of rapid development.

Thomas has directed and shot documentaries for international broadcasters and media organisations including the BBC, Bloomberg, Deutsche Welle, Channel 4, Channel News Asia, and Mongabay. His photography and visual journalism have been published by The New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, and other international outlets, while his films and photography have supported projects and campaigns by organisations including USAID, WWF, UNEP, UNICEF, and the Obama Foundation.

 

Robin Narciso
Robin Narciso is an award-winning filmmaker based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Over the past decade, he has specialized in documentaries exploring humanitarian, development, and environmental issues.

In 2020, in collaboration with filmmaker Thomas Cristofoletti, he co-produced The Last Breath of the Tonle Sap, a documentary examining the impact of hydropower development and climate change on Cambodian fisherfolk. Originally published by the South China Morning Post, the film won the 2021 RWI Pacific Award at the Minikino Film Festival in Bali and has garnered more than half a million views across social media platforms.

In 2022, as part of the Refashion study, he wrote and directed The Haul and The Wedding Ring, two short fiction films exploring the impact of COVID-19 on Cambodia’s garment workers. These films were selected by the 2023 Cambodia International Film Festival and the 2023 Minikino Film Festival, with The Wedding Ring winning second place at the RWI Pacific Awards.

More recently, in 2024, Narciso co-directed Strangled with Thomas Cristofoletti, a documentary investigating the human cost of Cambodia’s microfinance crisis and the role of European investors. The film won the SIMA 2025 Lens to Action Jury Prize and was acquired for distribution by Deutsche Welle, reaching over 800,000 views on YouTube.

 

This event is part of the Perspective Asia Lecture Series.