Christopher Folkens spent nine years making Catalyst: seven hard men in one room, every reason to kill each other, and one who asks questions.
Sound Bites
- "Can we not see this? Can we not see how that is who we've become?"
- "What if our story is the lie?"
- "Which one of you is the worst of them all?"
- "Every moment of our lives is either choosing heaven or choosing hell based on what we choose. That's our choice."
- "That rage can calcify into cancer."
- "What if the story I've been telling myself is a lie all along?"
- "We're living to be right about the story we wrote."
- "Life has a tendency to continue giving us these lessons on a larger and larger scale until we freaking listen."
- "They wanted to call it Kill the Parasite."
- "Questions create choices and character is revealed through choices."
- "It's standing up for something instead of resisting what is."
Description
Christopher Folkens spent nine years getting his film Catalyst out into the world. Seven men are thrown into one room with every reason to hate each other, and told to kill the parasite. The scenes in that room were structured improvisation, some roles played by non-actors who came from that background.
Hamish found the film flicking through Amazon and was up at three in the morning thinking about it. They talk about the story you tell yourself, what being right costs, the title the distributor wanted instead, and why questions create choices.
What We Explore
- The story you've told yourself hundreds of times, and what if it's a lie
- Being right about the people we hate, and what it costs us and everyone around us
- Questions create choices: freedom or fear, every morning, at every choice point
Mentioned in This Episode
- Catalyst (2025) — Christopher's film, nine years from first day of shooting to release
- 12 Angry Men — Catalyst began as a modern reimagining of it; Christopher played the angry juror in the play at school
- Saw — the films where people are forced to kill; in Catalyst they want to
- Kill the Parasite — the title the distributor wanted instead of Catalyst
- The Asset — Christopher's short, an AI sci-fi thriller, premiering at the Beverly Hills Film Festival
- The Pulse nightclub shooting, Florida — the true story behind the feature he has just finished writing, told through two paramedics who defied orders to save lives
- Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. — the courage to do different
Connect with Christopher
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisfolkens/
Website, Mystic Films: https://www.mystic-films.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0NAAAoXTWeOHRGRKemzDPg
Vimeo, Mystic Films: https://vimeo.com/mysticfilms
Catalyst trailer: https://youtu.be/cgpZrc7Mx6Y
Catalyst (2025) on Apple TV: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/catalyst/umc.cmc.529abjfyyogvlqfit2qfxglg6
Catalyst (2025) on Plex: https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/movie/catalyst-2025
A little about Hamish Niven
For 25 years, I lived a life that looked successful from the outside. Inside it was falling apart, and I was throwing fuel on the fire — addiction, alcohol. I was on a steep path to self-destruct.
November 2018. I chose life, and had to change everything.
I built The 13th Room because nothing like that existed when I needed it.
The Brave Man Project — this podcast. It is about men, but not just for men. Men who broke under the weight of their own performance. Men who rebuilt and climbed so much higher.
The 13th Room is a space for the successful man who needs to change and knows it. 13 sessions, you and me. No fixing. Pure witnessing. Starts with a free 20-minute conversation.
Podcast website: https://thebravemanproject.com
Hamish's website: https://hamishniven.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBraveManProject
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamishniven/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hamish.niven
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hamishniven/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hamishniven
Worth ten minutes, a quiet room and a pen:
https://hamishniven.com/the-damage-report
More on this:
Waking Up — https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB_WteL8zy1KFp7I9WwQCTgyABavWOrVe
Before the Crash — https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEQxwG7RzDe8
