From The Prey to Anime—Is COVID-19 Renewing U.S. Interest in Global Films?

Welcome to season 2! Today we’re talking about international film and television, and how the pandemic could be permanently changing peoples’ streaming habits in a way that benefits foreign artists. I’m joined once again by my friend Lauren McCrimmon, a frequent co-producer on this show, and in particular we wanted to talk about The Prey, the first Cambodian film to receive distribution on Netflix. 

The Prey, which has been described as Cambodia’s first action blockbuster, is directed by Jimmy Henderson, an Italian-born filmmaker formerly based in London. Henderson’s other work includes RUN!, Hanuman, The Forest Whisperers, and the award-winning Jailbreak, films that helped develop the action, horror, and martial arts genres for Cambodia’s growing film industry. While we don’t officially “review” The Prey with our conversation, and as a pulpy action film there’s not too much to analyze in the plot itself, we’ll still share our thoughts on it, and consider what Netflix’s promotion of it means for the future U.S. presence of films from lesser-known global markets. We’ll also look back on our country’s history of both embracing and ignoring foreign films, other international content we’ve been enjoying lately, and how anime may have been responsible for a generational shift in people’s willingness to watch subtitled content from other countries. This isn’t the heaviest episode we’ve ever done, but it was a fun one, and I hope it offers a look at how our new pandemic lifestyles may be influencing film and television in a way you hadn’t considered. 

Movies and TV mentioned in this episode:
The Prey
Shutter
#Alive
Would I Lie to You?