THE SENTRY
Some kills aren't so routine.
Oscar® Qualifying
Best International Film — Show Me Shorts 2025
Some kills aren't so routine.
A cheeky dismantling of spy tropes and a love letter to Cambodia, THE SENTRY follows a Western agent who thinks he's about to make another routine kill—until a local guard refuses to remain a footnote.
A genre-bending tale about the extraordinary lives we're trained to overlook.
From the director of Buddhist sci-fi feature Karmalink (Venice Critics' Week), THE SENTRY blends 70s nostalgia, action-comedy, and a sharp jab at neocolonial narratives.
It's a rare filmmaker who can make a short film feel as rich and resonant as a full-length feature. But Wachtel does just that, thanks to his meticulous craftsmanship and ethical imagination.
An elegant deconstruction of the spy genre that brings both flair and depth, The Sentry proves that even a short film can carry global weight and local soul.
The Sentry flips the action genre on its head, presenting viewers with a film that blends a series of genres, begs viewers to ask important questions, and eventually becomes fully immersed in a world that is both wildly different and eerily similar to ours.
Mixed with the usual karate-style knock-'em sock-em scene comes a comedy short with a serious theme buried beneath the laughs.
"Genre bending of the very best kind. Brilliantly written, acted and set against the jaw-dropping landscape of Cambodia."
"Surprising, silly, fun, and a bit heartbreaking."
"So great! Saw this at SXSW. Beautiful scenery of Cambodia, a memorable story I'm thinking about days later."
"This is the funnest short I've ever seen! Genre-mashup joy, a love letter to Cambodia and heart brimming with creativity."
"Perfect concept with fantastic execution and a really great heart to it… one that will be remembered."
"Morphs from action thriller to buddy comedy to tenderhearted drama in the most satisfying way."
"One of my fav shorts from this year."
"PLEASE MAKE THIS A FEATURE PLEASE"
Photography by Karl Erik Brøndbo
Now in Development
When a suave superspy's latest routine kill comes back as a ghost demanding he deliver money to the man's dying wife, the unlikely pair embarks on a road trip across Cambodia that forces both to confront what they've been running from.
Script: Complete · Proof of Concept: 55+ festival selections, 11 awards including Oscar®-qualifying
Genre: Metaphysical Road Trip / Odd-Couple Comedy / A Dash of Spy Swagger
The Sentry opens as a stylish 1970s-inflected spy pastiche — Blackwood, our aging Bond type, dispatches henchmen with quips and panache. In most spy movies, the body count is background noise. Here, one of those bodies gets back up, and the genre starts to unravel. What follows is a careening journey full of detours: roadside karaoke, ancient temples, a backroad healer, and the ghost's memories — which Blackwood can enter, inhabit, witness firsthand. Think the memory landscapes of Eternal Sunshine, rendered with Gondry's handmade, in-camera inventiveness.
The film moves through spy thriller, ghost story, buddy comedy, metaphysical fantasia — but underneath all the fun, it's asking real questions about guilt, grief, and what redemption even looks like.
Somewhere in the Venn diagram of Bong Joon-ho, the Daniels, and George Saunders. High concept, proudly earnest, and deeply humanistic. Wild tonal swings that stay grounded because they're rooted in character.
When I was teaching film in Cambodia, I took my students to see Coco. They understood it immediately — not because they'd learned about Día de los Muertos, but because they have Pchum Ben: a festival where families wake before dawn to feed their ancestors' spirits. The cosmology mapped perfectly. Same goes for The Sentry. The story's metaphysics and moral architecture are universal dressed in specific clothes.
Producing partners who can help package and finance — people who want to get in the trenches and bring the resources to move this forward. I'm not precious; I want collaborators who'll challenge me and elevate the material. The goal: something fresh, hilarious, sublime, and heartfelt.