The Diamond Moon Festival is here at last! Plus: photo exhibitions, film festivals, stand up comedy, craft beer and more. It’s all happening this weekend.

Friday

What’s On the Menu

Thank God It’s Friday indeed, at Kingdom Taproom’s monthly TGIF event! Get all-you-can-drink delicious craft beer for $8, or $13 including a burger from Stokeye’s Meat Shop. Plus, Premo Sounds is on the decks (7pm-11pm, Kingdom Breweries, National Rd 5)

What’s On Screen

The Phnom Penh International Film Festival continues today with a selection of short films from around the world (4pm) followed by Bulgarian feature film 24 Hours (6.45pm) and Portuguese feature film Black Heart, about a couple whose marriage disintegrates as they struggle to build a home on the island of Pico (8pm @ Flicks 1, St 95)

What’s On Stage

Live Music

Old lakeside gets new life breathed into it all day and well into the evening, as Aok Sokunkanha, Chhorn Sovannareach, Tep Boprek, Bross La, Seav and DJ Mailly join together for a massive performance at Art’s Container Market (from 2pm, St R1, Boeng Kak).

Meanwhile, Cambodian Space Project help new venue Villa Grange to launch in style, playing an awesome gig at their opening night pool party (7pm-11.30pm, St 244).

For something a little more laid back, jazz pianist Freddie Wilkins plays American blues and boogie-woogie at Farm to Table (6.30pm-8.30pm, St 360),  

Or you can catch Motown covers duo Mirasol Aguila and Stan Paleco at Botanico (7pm-9pm, Botanico, St 29)

Comedy

Stand up comedian Brian Aylward won last year’s Canadian Comedy Awards – and now he’s back in Phnom Penh for a rib-tickling show, supported by local favourite Sam Thomas and Dylan Moore, creator of the South African radio show Funny Business. More details here. (7.30pm-10.30pm, Department of Performing Arts, St 173)

What’s On Late

DJ Remix kicks off the weekend at Show Box tonight, with an electro dance set fuelled by $2.50 espresso martinis (from 7.30pm, St 330), and in BKK1,12ME and El Moreno spin sexy Latin rhythms at Duplex. There’s a BBQ, too (from 8pm, St 278). Across the road at Tusk, DJ Moudy, Yes Peace and Wez-T are warming up the crowd for tomorrow’s epic Diamond Mood Festival (9pm-2am, St 278).

Meanwhile in Tuol Tom Poung, DJ Amro gets the party started at Alchemy (8pm-12am, St 123).

And at Pontoon, international star Trentino (winner of the USA Red Bull Championship & Lollapallooza Artist 2015) graces the decks (9pm-4am, St 51. Entry $8 including 1 drink). If it’s anything like his performance at Red Bull, expect some spellbinding showmanship…

Saturday

What’s On Stage

Live Music

It’s the event we’ve all been waiting for: the Diamond Moon Festival kicks off at 2pm today! The incredible lineup features sets from Hypnotic Fist Technique, Kampot Playboys, Phnom Skor, Romea, Lisha, 12ME, Tiny Toones, Miss Sarawan, Complicated Business, Vartey Ganiva, WW &DJ and Bagua, plus live painting by five leading urban artists. All proceeds support the excellent work of the Cambodian Children’s Fund. (3.30pm-2am, Koh Pich / Diamond Island; Tickets $7).

Can’t make the festival? Head to Neverland Artspace, where two supremely talented members of the Chinabot collective, Lafidki and Pisitakun play the Phnom Penh leg of their 2017 Europe & Asia Tour. The pair’s work seeks to interrogate Asian art and culture through sound, with intriguing results. There will also be live projections by JokJok. (8pm-9.30pm, Neverland Artspace, St 172z2 (Opposite St 380), off Norodom Boulevard).

Alternatively, check out gigs from Chi Town at FCC Rooftop (7pm-10pm, Sisowath Quay) and Lisa Conception at Botanico (7pm-9pm, St 29)

Or be transported by piano virtuoso Poom Promachat’s rendition of Chopin’s Op 25 at the InterContinental Hotel (7pm-9pm, Mao Tse Toung Boulevard; $12).

Poetry Slam

Have a story of your own you need to tell? It’s poetry open mic at A Nook for Rhyme Crooks, where you’re invited to step onstage to deliver your own rhymes, songs, monologues, or whatever take spoken word works for you (8pm-11pm, St 9, Tonle Bassac).

What’s On Screen

Another great selection of films from around the globe at the Phnom Penh International Film Festival today.

First, there’s Mirr, a Swiss-Cambodian documentary about a farmer in Mondulkiri forced off his land to make way for a rubber plantation (12pm), then Around the World in 80 Anthems, following a young girl’s attempt to sing the US national anthem in 80 countries, to raise money for orphaned children (1.30pm), a feature film from Cambodia called We Need Our Friends, about a teenage boy who realises the value of friendship after losing the last of his family (3pm), Mudras, the tale of a Burmese-born American man’s journey through Myanmar, accompanied by a dancer with a shocking secret (7pm) and, finally, Blood Road, a documentary following an American woman’s journey by bicycle into the Laos jungle to find the final resting place of her father, air force pilot shot down during the Vietnam War (8.30pm).

What’s On Show

At META House, you can catch the insightful and important Rainbow Families photography exhibition, the outcome of a huge study of LGBTQI relationships in Cambodia by the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Project. Couples were interviewed on their experiences of love, family and community; these photos, taken as part of that research, highlight many of the political, social and legal issues facing LGBTIQ Cambodians in the Kingdom today. (9am-6pm @ META House, Sothearos Boulevard, Tonle Bassac)

Or head to the Institut Français du Cambodge, where there’s an interactive live drawing performance from graphic artist Nicolas Wild, ahead of the opening of his new exhibition, The Re(Building) of Phnom Penh (2.30pm, St 184; Exhibition opens at 4pm).

What’s On the Agenda?

At TEDxISPP today, 17 speakers from many different Phnom Penh schools put forward their vision of a hopeful future (1pm-5pm, ISPP, Hun Neang Boulevard)

What’s On Late

Max Mason plays a feel-good, dare-you-not-to-dance set at Duplex tonight, joined by Toke and Ma Lo (9pm-2am, St 278, BKK1), while at META House, filmmaker-and-DJ Sao Sopheak plays 1960s Khmer rock classics (9pm-2am, Sothearos Boulevard, Tonle Bassac).   

And finally, it’s the end of an era at MadHouse, which throws its last all-night rave tonight… at least, for now, as the club is said to be moving to a new venue soon. For tonight, dance your little socks off until well beyond dawn as DJ Moudy and Disc Joshi play us out (11pm-7am / whenever, St 172).

Sunday

What’s On the Menu

Still just about functioning? Unwind with some furry friends at Farm to Table’s monthly Doggy Day. Bring your own pup (there’s water and treats available for them!) along for lunch, or just pop along to play with someone else’s dog (4pm-6pm, St 360).

What’s On Screen

It’s the final day of the Phnom Penh International Film Festival! The fest concludes with We Need Our Friends (12.30pm – see Saturday’s listings), Mudras Calling (1.45pm – see Saturday’s listings), Mirr (3.30pm – see Saturday’s listings), Around the World in 80 Anthems (5pm – see Saturday’s listings), Until They’re Gone, a documentary about the ongoing attempts to clear Cambodia of landmines, and the heroic deminers working to get the job done (6.30pm), and A Divorce Before Marriage, following British rock band I Like Trains, whose promising career abruptly unravelled a decade ago (8pm).

What’s On Show

Head over to META House for the Rainbow Families photography exhibition (Sothearos Boulevard) or the Institut Français du Cambodge for Nicolas Wild’s Re(building) Phnom Penh exhibition (St 184), both continuing today.

What’s On Stage

Phnom Penh is well and truly winding down tonight – but you can see the incredible Freddie “Fingers” Wilkins rocking the piano at Botanico Beer & Wine Garden (7pm-9pm, St 29)

That’s all from us this weekend! Play safe, kids – and don’t forget to sign up to our mailing list to have this guide delivered straight to your inbox, every Friday.