“This movie has been a long time in the making. I started dreaming about it in 2015,” director Jake Wachtel told a packed audience after Wednesday evening’s Cambodian premiere of Karmalink - the first sci-fi film to be made in the Kingdom.
“Often sci-fi stories are placed in high-tech spots, like Tokyo or San Fransisco, but in Cambodia, I really felt this rapid rate of change and how society is embracing the future of technology. I was excited to try and make a sci-fi story that feels Cambodian.”
The result is Karmalink, which features a Cambodian cast and crew, and is a mind-bending tale of reincarnation, artificial consciousness, and the search for enlightenment. Set in near-future Phnom Penh, the film centres around 13-year-old Leng Heng and his street-smart friend, Srey Leak, who live in a tight-knit community in Tralok Bek that is under threat of eviction.
Constantly juxtaposing the economic and social disparity that is rife in the Cambodian capital - scenes position the train track community in the shadows of Phnom Penh’s rising skyscrapers - this is a world where the privileged and rich are augmented with nanotech.
Leng Heng, played by the late Leng Heng Prak, is plagued by wild dreams of past lives. Convinced he needs to find a buried Buddhist statue to save his community from eviction, the two friends embark on a journey across the city 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 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.
While American filmmaker, Jake, first came to Cambodia in 2010 as a backpacker, the seeds for the film were planted in 2014 when he was in Cambodia working with Filmmakers Without Borders, teaching a one-year filmmaking class to kids in Phnom Penh’s Tralok Bek. This was where he met the film’s main protagonists, Leng Heng and Srey Leak, played by Srey Leak Chhith.
“I fell deeply in love with Cambodia and this project emerged organically to celebrate its culture and people, and talk about changes in its society,” Jake said. “When I met Leng Heng and Srey Leak, the movie was just a dream and it’s been a crazy journey to get to where we are now.”
Karmalink, which was co-written by Jake and Christopher Larsen and co-produced by Sok Visal and Christopher Rompre, made its international premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2021, opening the Crtics’ Week section. It went on to tour the global international film circuit before being released in North America.
“We started shooting in 2019, so it’s been a very long process. Post-production took a long time and halfway through the pandemic hit,” Jake recalls. “This homecoming in Cambodia is its final stop. It’s so special for me to screen the movie here in Cambodia because I made it out of deep respect and love for Cambodia.
“This is a new genre of film for Cambodia and I hope I can help Cambodian audiences fall in love with sci-fi; the genre I love.”
Karmalink is slated for a one-week-long screening, which will be extended depending on its popularity.
