What is this about?

SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT tells an unusual and moving love story. After finishing school Benjamin, a young German, goes on a long journey through Asia. In Phnom Penh he meets the Cambodian girl Sreykeo and instantly falls in love with her. It is only after their first night together that he discovers she works as a bargirl. Nevertheless he enjoys the time he spends with her in this mysterious country torn between modernity and belief in ancient spirits. Back in Germany he realizes that he wants to fight for his love and has to take responsibility for it. Against all odds he tries the impossible: To remain together with Sreykeo for always.

SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT is a story written by life: In February 2006, Benjamin Prüfer published an autobiographical account in a magazine. The overwhelming number of reactions by readers caused him to write the autobiographical novel “Same same but different”. Director Detlev Buck knew that this was the material he had been looking for as soon as he had read the manuscript.
“Ever since film school I had wanted to make a film that not only touches on the subject of love but deals with nothing else. But no love story offered itself. Now with the true story of Benjamin and Sreykeo finally the moment had come to make the film”, says Buck.