Set in near-future Phnom Penh, Karmalink, the Cambodian sci-fi thriller directed by Jake Wachtel, will be released in the US theatrically in major cities and on VOD in the US and Canada on Friday, July 15.

The film an official selection of Venice Film Critics’ Week (Opening Night), Austin Film Festival, Glasgow Film Festival and many more, star Srey Leak Chhith, Leng Heng Prak, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Cindy Sirinya Bishop, Rous Mony and Sveng Socheata

Conceived as a way to interrogate processes of neo-colonialism, and highlight the alienating effects of technological progress, Jake Wachtel’s Karmalink is a mind-bending tale of reincarnation, artificial consciousness, and the search for enlightenment.

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.

Watch a trailer for Karmalink.