IN PRE-PRODUCTION
The Butterfly Effect examines how humanity’s accelerating embrace of artificial intelligence - fuelled by the drive for development and economic growth - is triggering profound, interconnected chain reactions across the Mekong River, Basin, and Delta.
WHY THIS STORY?
Shot in a raw, immersive vérité style, the feature follows an unhurried observational journey along the Mekong’s shores in Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. It traces the cascading “butterfly effect” in real time: from the hopeful dreams of idealistic young AI coders and visionary technologists who see the technology as a solution to regional challenges in agriculture, finance, and industry; through the frantic race by entrepreneurs and governments to build and power the vast data centres (including controversial new hydropower deals between Vietnam and Laos); to the lived realities of riverside communities already feeling the disruption - fishermen with collapsing catches, salt-ravaged Delta farmers abandoning paddies, families displaced by dams, and children migrating to urban fringes for AI-related jobs.
