Lida, a career driven woman in her late 20s in the developing metropolis of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, sells modern and upscale real estate developments to the growing middle and upper class in contemporary Cambodia. Lida may be thriving as a top real estate agent, but in her personal life,her relationship with her photographer boyfriend is deteriorating. Unable to escape the trauma and prison of her interior monologue, she travels to the quiet beach town of Kep, Cambodia, with her close companions. While the growth and modernization of the city promote an urban and cultural erasure, Kep reveals treasures from Cambodia’s heritage. It is there that Lida discovers that the specters from the past haunt in sublime and beautiful ways.
From first time writer, director, and producer Steve Chen, and shot in a mere 16 days with a crew of 10 people, Dream Land is both an elegy and hope for Cambodian society today.
Steve Chen was born in 1981 in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. He received his Master of Architecture from Princeton University and worked for a number of internationally recognized design offices. While teaching architecture, he developed his first feature film Dream Land set in contemporary Cambodia. He operates Chen Office, a boutique, cross-disciplinary design and production house whose work spans across design, art, and cinema. With filmmakers Davy Chou and Kavich Neang he started Anti Archive, which produces films by the next generation of Cambodian filmmakers and facilitates independent directors shooting in Cambodia. He is currently based in Orange County, California.