Episode 402: In The Seats With....Jake Wachtel and 'Karmalink'

We can't lie, we're a sucker for some thought provoking science fiction....On this episode we are traveling to the burgeoning film scene over in Cambodia to dive into the first ever science-fiction film to ever come out of the country.  It's time to talk about 'Karmalink'.In near-future  Phnom Penh, the rich and privileged are augmented with nanotech, and new skyscrapers crowd the skyline. In Tralop Bek, a tight-knit community threatened with forced eviction, 13-year-old Leng Heng is having vivid dreams of his past lives. He and his friends are convinced they are meant to find a buried Buddhist statue to save their homes, and they seek out help from a street-smart girl in the neighborhood, Srey Leak. Together they follow clues across town and into the past, uncovering a link with a genius neuroscientist on a quest for digital nirvana. As Leng Heng’s dreams converge on the present, his very sense of identity begins to unravel. When it becomes clear that the stakes are higher than they imagined, the two friends must decide how far they are willing to go to find their treasure and the truth. Conceived as a way to interrogate processes of neo-colonialism, and highlighting the alienating effects of technological progress, this film is a mind-bending tale of reincarnation, artificial consciousness, and the search for enlightenment.  We had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with Jake to discuss the origins of the story, the challenges of making a science fiction film as his first feature (in a foreign country) and so very much more....Karmalink comes to theatres in select US cities and on VOD in the US & Canada on Friday July 15th