Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, Julia Fox
Presence is a 2025 American horror film directed by Steven Soderbergh, running 82 minutes and shot entirely from the perspective of an unseen entity haunting a confined space aboard a luxury yacht. Starring Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, and Callina Liang, it delivers an intimate, claustrophobic supernatural thriller on the open sea.
What is Presence about?
Two ambitious young business partners accept a week-long yachting invitation from a wealthy potential investor, expecting sun-soaked networking and deal-making on the water. As the voyage unfolds, one partner named Jennifer begins experiencing vivid dreams that seem to spill across the boundary between sleep and waking life. The rest of the group slowly grows uneasy as they start to suspect Jennifer may have unknowingly carried something unseen aboard — something that watches, lingers, and refuses to be explained away. Soderbergh constructs the film entirely from the intruder's point of view, keeping the passenger on screen while the audience occupies the haunting presence itself.
Cast & crew
Director Steven Soderbergh — known for precise, formally adventurous filmmaking — turns the camera into the ghost here, a technique that shapes every performance. Lucy Liu brings quiet authority as the investor, while Chris Sullivan grounds the film in domestic tension. Callina Liang carries much of the emotional weight as Jennifer, and Julia Fox appears in a supporting role that adds further unease to the ensemble.
Context & significance
For Persian-speaking viewers in the diaspora, Presence offers the kind of atmospheric genre filmmaking that rewards close attention. The yacht setting strips away the usual horror clichés of haunted houses and suburban streets, replacing them with open water isolation that feels genuinely inescapable. The film's unconventional point-of-view structure gives it a puzzle quality appealing to viewers who enjoy horror that works on an intellectual as well as visceral level. It is available on K-Time with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, making it fully accessible whether you prefer to follow in your native language or in the original English.
Where & how to watch
Presence is available on K-Time now, with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles both included. Stream it on the web, on your TV, or on your phone — no VPN required, no geo-blocking, and you can cancel anytime. No extra download needed to start watching.