If you follow sci-fi and neo-noir then you’ve likely stumbled upon Yedidya Gorsetman’s latest, Empathy, Inc. The official trailer has already been out for a while now, host to some critical buzz from screening at Cinepocalypse last summer prior to Dark Star Pictures’ acquisition.
That advancement has since set in with a select theatrical release date set for September 13 prior to a September 24 release on VOD. Empathy Inc. stars Zack Robidas, Kathy Searle and Eric Berryman from a script by Mark Leider, and is produced by Gorsetman, Leidner and producer Josh Itzkowitz.
Hotshot venture capitalist Joel has a multimillion-dollar deal go up in smoke, and he and his actress wife Jessica are forced to move in with her parents and start from scratch. At the lowest and most desperate moment in his life, Joel meets old friend Nicolaus and his business partner Lester, who are seeking investors in a new technology known as XVR—Xtreme Virtual Reality—from their company Empathy, Inc., which is said to offer the most realistic and moving experiences for users by placing them in the lives of the less fortunate. Joel gets the startup its funds but soon discovers that the tech’s creators have far more sinister uses in store for their creation and that the reality it provides its customers isn’t virtual.