Summary: (http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/thumbnail-150x130.jpg)When director Zal Batmanglij's indie film The Sound of My Voice released in 2011 it earned him and Brit Marling, his collaborator and star of the film wide acclaim. Their first film was made on a shoe-strong budget. Batmanglij is back with his second film The Eas (http://www.foxsearchlight.com/theeast/)t, a suspense thriller that he co-wrote with Marling. The film got favorable review at this year's Sundance film festival. The East opens in the San Francisco bay area on June 7th, 2013 and stars stars Brit Marling, Alexander Skargard, Ellen Page and Patricia Clarkson. screenplay Batmangalij and Marling wrote the screenplay. His brother Rostam Batmanglij (https://twitter.com/matsoR) of Vampire Weekend (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_Weekend) composed a music track for the film. In The East we see the unfolding of an unusual story involving corporate America, an elite intelligence agency and a radical eco-hactivist group called the East. This radical group has targeted a handful of large,well-known corporations and are intent on unmasking their unethical and damaging business practices to the world. Think of The East as Wikileaks meets The Anonymous (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_events_associated_with_Anonymous). Marling works for an elite intelligence agency whose clients include the Who's Who of American business. Marling's task is to go undercover and infiltrate The East,and collect information on how they operate and report it to her office. But in the process of collecting that information and creating a profile of these radical activists, Marling undergoes a change herself. We caught up with Batmangalij in San Francisco when he came to attend the 56th San Francisco International Film Festival. In this interview he talks about the making of the film and the significance behind the title of the film. "The East is a thriller for now that explores the frustration that we all feel…," is how Batmanglij describes his film that raises interesting questions and the notion of accountability in a community. Photo credit: Myles Aronowitz and Fox Searchlight
