Sat Mar 5, 2022 – 2:30 pm | Irontek
California Dreaming
Directed by Sreylin Meas
Narrative Short
Cambodia | 16 min | 2019
Two women from different backgrounds encounter one another at an oceanfront resort and discover a hidden bond that ties them together, allowing them to escape from their realities.
Director Statement
I”m not to blame for the crimes the generation of my grandparents caused, but it is my duty to absolutely everything that this can never happen again. The story about the fictional character “Anna Friedrich” gives me the freedom to tell the story in a completely creative way that hopefully brings remembrance in film to to a new level. People sadly start to get tired, but we should be more awake than ever before.
Sreylin Meas
Director
MEAS Sreylin was born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in 1989 and has worked more than ten years in the Cambodian film industry. Since 2009, she has held in many roles behind the scenes: assistant director, production manager, line producer, location scouting, casting, and talent manager. She has worked on both film and television in both the local industry and for international productions shooting in Cambodia. She has worked with Anti-Archive as first assistant director for Dream Land (2015), as production manager for Turn Left Turn Right (2016), and as second assistant director and acting coach for Diamond Island (2016). She has also assisted on high-profile projects, including the Louis Vuitton campaign in Cambodia with Angelina Jolie and the scouting team for Kong: Skull Island. Other collaborators include producer Nicholas Simon from Indochina Productions, Lebanese producer Katia Saleh, French assistant director Marie de Busscher, Mexican assistant director Batan Silva, German cinematographer Martin Ruhe, Canal+, Arte TV, BBC, and the United Nations.
California Dreaming is MEAS Sreylin’s first film as a director, taking up the position under Anti-Archive’s crowdfunded “Echoes from Tomorrow” campaign to produce three films by three first-time Cambodian filmmakers.
