Last year, Ho Chi Minh City was recognized by UNESCO as a “city of film.” This might strike those who live here as puzzling—the city where the evening’s offerings are four domestic horror movies and The Devil Wears Prada 2? A more diverse cinema culture does exist—in art spaces, bars, unlisted venues, sometimes even the cineplex—but not with a mainstream presence such an honorific implies. But the recognition is not about the art form but, as the UNESCO representative put it at the ceremony, about “placing creativity at the center of sustainable development.” That is, a cultural industry measured by its numbers, such as the stated goal of 7 percent of the city’s GRDP by 2030. The same calculus prevails across the region—though for some of Vietnam’s neighbors, it’s not only a matter of priorities; there isn’t any money to begin with. So I was surprised to come across MARG1N magazine at a pop-up bookshop—an intricately designed, print publication celebrating cinema, run out of Phnom Penh.