Bangkok Cinema Scene: Baby Arabia to premiere at Thai Short Film & Video Festival

Baby Arabia makes its world premiere at 6.30 on Wednesday, September 1, as part of the 14th Thai Short Film & Video Festival. The screening will be preceded by a mini-concert by the band, starting around 5.30, at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center.

It's the third documentary examining Islam in Thailand from the trio of filmmakers, Panu Aree, Kaweenipon Ketprasit and Kong Rithdee.

They previously did the 40-minute In Between in 2006, documenting the lives of four “moderate” Muslims in Bangkok. Next was 2008's feature The Convert, about a young Bangkok woman's conversion from Buddhism to Islam for marriage.

An 80-minute musical documentary, Baby Arabia examines how the band's infectiously rhythmic blend of Malay and Arab music is reconciled with the Muslim faith. The band's sprawling lineup includes accordion, guitars, keyboards, several singers and a battery of drums and percussion.

Here's more about the band in the synopsis:

The singer, a Thai woman robed in a sequined Malay dress, croons an Arabic number she’s heard as a child and learnt to sing by heart. Behind her, an accordionist pumps out haunting Middle-Eastern melodies to the tribal beat of the congas while a guitarist gently sends his instrument weeping.

The concert takes place at a rural mosque not so far from Bangkok, and the audience is made up of veiled women and stern-faced imams, Islamic devouts who allow themselves to be carried away by the tuneful waves and the humanising power of music.

Baby Arabia follows one of the oldest Thai-Muslim bands specialising in the subcultural genre of Arab-Malay music – the bouncy ethnic cross-pollination of Arabian melodies, Malay throbs, Thai luk-thung kicks, and a bit of Latin tempo.

We meet Geh, founder of the band who taught himself to play the accordion 35 year ago. Geh is joined by Umar, a former Koran teacher and now a guitarist with a knack for Egyptian numbers. Fronting their band is Jamilah, a husky-voiced, humble diva who teaches the Koran during the day and sings Arabic songs at night while wondering if the world of melody can be both faith-bound and joyously secular.

Baby Arabia plays cover versions of classical and contemporary Arab and Malay music (though the band members do not speak those languages) and they've been touring mosque fairs, circumcision rites and weddings at Muslim communities around Bangkok and the Central Region for three decades. Though some Islamic scholars question their brand of worldly merry-making, claiming that it's against the law of the religion, the humanising power of music and irresistible exuberance of their songs provide a definitive counter-argument.

You can watch a short clip of Jamilah posted by Panu on YouTube.

The documentary has been supported by the Pusan International Film Festival's Asian Cinema Fund and the Asian Network of Documentary, as well as the Culture Ministry's Strong Thailand fund.

The filmmakers say it's been selected for the upcoming Vancouver International Film Festival.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening August 26-September 1, 2010

14th Thai Short Film & Video Festival


The 14th Thai Short Film & Video Festival gets under way at 5 today with Phuket, a short by Wonderful Town director Aditya Assarat. The drama is about a vacationing South Korean actress (Lim Su-jeong from I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK and Sorry, I Love You) who desperately needs a break from fans and phone calls.

She gets a tour of the island from her hotel limo driver, played by veteran leading man Sorapong Chatree. Phuket will be screened in October as part of the Director's Screen Project, but this is the first time it's shown in Thailand. The opening package also features the Georgian conflict film Aprilis Suskhi by Tornike Bziava and the Oscar-winning animated short Logorama from France.

At 7 tonight there's the Animation Showcase in Tribute to Payut Ngaokrachang, the pioneering Thai animator who died in May. The progam features animated shorts from Japan, the U.K., Norway, Ireland and Spain and is highlighted by Payut's 20-minute short, A New Adventure of Hanuman (หนุมานเผชิญภัย (ครั้งใหม่)). From 1957, it's an anti-communist propaganda film Payut did while working for the U.S. Information Service, which has Hanuman the white monkey god fighting the Red menace.

Friday is another Thai premiere, Jakrawal Nilthamrong's Unreal Forest, a blend of experimental documentary and magical realism that was concocted when the filmmaker was commissioned by the International Film Festival Rotterdam to make a movie in Zambia. The movie project is also an art project, and a complementary multi-platform exhibition of Unreal Forest will take place from September 8 to 29 at the Numthong gallery's space on the fourth floor of the Bangkok Art and Culture Center.

For the rest of the Thai Short Film & Video Festival, there's a schedule and spreadsheet to help you navigate the weekend, which includes student films and documentaries in competition, Singaporean and Malaysian shorts, In the Realm of Conflict, Shorts for Kids, the best of the Clermont-Ferrand festival and a memorial tribute to film programmers Alexis Tioseco and Nika Bohinc by Filipino filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik, Each Film ... An Island?

The fest runs until September 5 (except Monday) at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center.

---

Also opening


The Expendables – Sylvester Stallone is back in action, but instead of the lone-wolf warrior he portrayed in Rambo, he has a lot of help from some other major action stars. Joining him in this story of a team of mercenaries who are betrayed on a mission in South America are Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crews and Gary Daniels. Wrestlers Randy Couture and Steve Austin add even more muscle to an aready hulking cast. Eric Roberts is their oily nemesis, and there are even cameos from Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Critical reception is somewhat negative, not that it matters, since The Expendables has been the No. 1 movie in North America for two weeks running. Rated 18+.


Piranha 3D – The water at a busy beach turns red when a tremor opens an undersea fissure that unleashes a school of hungry prehistoric flesh-eating fish. It's like Jaws, only the fish are smaller and more numerous. Directed by Alexandre Aja and written by Pete Goldfinger and
Josh Stolberg (Sorority Row), Piranha 3D is turning out to be the hit cult film of the summer, with a mostly positive critical consensus that has plenty of gore, guffaws and gratuitous nudity. A sequel is already being planned, maybe set in Thailand. In 3D. Rated 18+.


Centurion – Neil Marshall, the director of such cult films as Dog Soldiers and The Descent returns to the Scottish setting of his previous film Doomsday, and goes back to ancient times with this ultra-violent adventure tale of Rome's lost Ninth Legion. Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) stars as the leader of a small band of Roman soldiers, trapped behind enemy lines and beseiged by brutal Pict warriors in 117 AD Scotland. Their mission is to rescue a general (Dominic West), and they get help from a mute native female scout portrayed by Bond girl Olga Kurylenko. Critical reception is mixed, but the movie has been a hit at genre-film festivals and should please fans of Marshall's movies. It's at the Scala! Rated 20-.


Peepli Live – Produced by Aamir Khan, this heartfelt satire about farmers' suicides and the subsequent media and political response was the first Indian film in the World Cinema Competition at the Sundance Film Festival. Critical reception is overwhelmingly positive. In Hindi with English subtitles at Major Cineplex Central Rama III on Saturday 8 and Sunday at 4 and at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit (Ekamai) on Sunday at 7.30. Call (089) 488 2620 or visit www.BollywoodThai.com.


Ngao (เงา, Shadow) – Following the success of GTH's 2008 shorts-anthology Phobia (Si Phrang or "4 intersections") (and Phobia 2, (Ha Phrang, "5 intersections"), Sahamongkol Film International got in on the action with last year's Haunted Universities (Maha'lai Sayong Kwan) and Poj Arnon and Phranakorn offered Tai Hong (a.k.a. Still or more literally Die a Violent Death). Now comes 96 Film, with a set of bad-karma horror shorts in Ngao. It has four segments: Hun Suan (Partners) by Atsawin Thepkanlai is about a youthful prank gone wrong; Taeng (Abortion) by Theeratorn Chaowanayothin, about the consquences of a college romance; Dai Daeng (Red Yarn) by Eakasit Sompetch looks into the folly of disbelieving supersititions; and Mae (Mother), directed by Chanachai, is about a lingering evil spirit. Watch the trailer. Rated 18+.


Namtam Daeng (น้ำตาลแดง, Brown Sugar) – Prachya Pinkaew and Bandit Thongdee brought together six young filmmakers to make this collection of sweet "erotica" shorts. They insist it's "not pornography." Aided by the still fairly new movie-picture ratings system that replaced the censorship regime, Prachya says it's the first time a mainstream Thai movie will offer "a real erotic experience". Part 1, opening today, has three segments. Zart Tancharoen directs Raktongloon (รักต้องลุ้น) about teenage lovers. It stars Nathakhun Anumatchimpalee and Chittkhon Songchan. Panumat Deesatta directs Sopeni Bon Tiang (โสบนเตียง) about a pair of adult lovers, played by Prakasit Bosuwan and Patsawipit Son-akkarapa. And Kittiyaporn Klangsurin directs Prattana (ปรารถนา "desire"), which has a masseuse fantasizing about a guy who works in her building. It stars Warin Yarujnon and Lakkana Wattanawongsiri and includes a 10-minute masturbation scene by "Oom" Lakkana. The trailer is a YouTube. I don't know when Part 2 will be released. Rated 18+.

---

Also showing


FCCT-NETPAC Asian Film Festival – The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand's series of films awarded by the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema continues this week with Nang Nak, winner of the NETPAC Award at the 2000 International Film Festival Rotterdam. Directed by Nonzee Nimibutr from a script by Wisit Sasanatieng, Nang Nak was among the films of the "Thai New Wave" that signaled a resurgence of the Thai film industry as it sparked a new popularity for Thai films with domestic audiences and found a legion of fans and acclaim overseas. It's a reworking of the famous ghost story "Mae Nak of Phra Nakhon", about a woman who dies in childbirth while her husband is away and when he returns he is unaware that she is a ghost. Inthira Charoenpura and Winai Kraibutr star as Nak and Mak. Nonzee will be present for the screening along with actor Winai Kraibutr. It's courtesy of Cinemasia Co Ltd & NETPAC and supported by Siam Winery, which will supply Monsoon Valley Wines. The show time is at 8 tonight (August 26) at the FCCT. Admission is 150 baht for non-members.


Mundane History (เจ้านกกระจอก, Jao Nok Krajok) – Playing as part of Extra Virgin's Director's Screen Project, director Anocha Suwichakornpong's family drama is loaded with symbolism as it comments on Thai society as well as life, the universe, and, well, everything. The story is about a young man who's been paralyzed in an accident. He's the scion of a well-to-do Bangkok family. The dad is cold and distant, too busy with his work to care much. He hires a male nurse for his son. The two are ill at ease – the rich kid because he's bitter about having to waited on hand and foot, and the nurse because he comes from upcountry and is ill-equipped to deal with the way his new patient looks down on him. The film is made unique by a non-linear structure, which gives it a jagged, jazz-like feel that's enhanced further by an alternative-rock soundtrack by the bands Furniture and the Photo Sticker Machine. Mundane History has been winning lots of awards, most recently the Grand Prix at the Era New Horizons International Film Festival in Poland. It screens until Wednesday at SFX the Emporium, with nightly screenings at around 7 and additional Saturday and Sunday matinees at around 2. The showtimes are not fixed exactly, so check the SF website or Extra Virgin's calendar for the latest timings. Rated 20-.


Chulalongkorn University International Film Festival – Friday's show is Sin Nombre (Without Name), an epic dramatic thriller from award-winning director Cary Fukunaga, about a young Honduran woman (Paulina Gaytan) who joins her father and uncle on an odyssey to cross the gauntlet of the Latin American countryside en route to the United States. Along the way she crosses paths with a teenage Mexican gang member (Edgar M. Flores). On Monday, it's Samson and Delilah, set in the central Australian desert, where a young couple turn their backs on home and embark on a journey of survival. The show time is 5pm in the Boromrajakumari Building, Room 503 (seating capacity: 320). There's free parking next to Chulalongkorn University Auditorium. The movies are on DVD, all with the original soundtracks and English subtitles. Admission is free. Stay on afterward for a talk with film critics Kittisak Suvannapokhin, Nopamat Veohong and the Bangkok Post's Kong Rithdee. Call (02) 218 4802 or visit ChulaFilmFest.multiply.com.

The Adventure of Sudsakorn – The late animator Payut Ngaokrachang's seminal animated feature is based on an episode from Phra Aphai Mani, a 30,000-line epic poem by Sunthorn Phu, and depicts the fantastic adventures of the young son of a mermaid and a minstrel prince. It's screening at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, at 11am every Sunday until October 3. Call (02) 482 2013-14, ext 111.


Cabaret Balkan: Rarely Seen Films from the Balkans – The film series continues this week with a pair from Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic. First up is 1980's Special Therapy (Poseban tretman), a black comedy about a group of alcoholics forced into rehab. It was nominee for the Golden Globe and the Cannes Golden Palm and Milena Dravic won the best supporting actress award at Cannes for her role as Jelana. Next is Cabaret Balkan, set in 1920s Belgrade, where a tiny act of vandalism leads to a cycle of revenge and out-of-control violence. It won many film-festival awards, including the Fipresci Prize at the Venice film festival. The movies are at Thammasat University Tha Prachan, in the Pridi Banomyong Library's Rewat Buddhinun Room, U2 Floor. The shows start at 12.30. The movies are on DVD. Admission is free. You'll have to inform the library staff you're watching the movies and let them copy your ID. Call (02) 613 3529 or (02) 613 3530 or visit the DK Filmhouse blog for the complete lineup.

---

Take note

Zhang Ziyi's first romantic comedy, Sophie's Revenge, has snuck in and out of cinemas. It opened on one screen out at Major Cineplex Rangsit last week, but does not appear on the schedule today.

House on RCA has delayed its run of Millennium 3: The Girl Who Kicked a Hornets' Nest until October. For now, the first two Millennium movies, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire are playing. Both are excellent and deserve to be seen in the cinema.

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: 14th Thai Short Film and Video Festival, August 26-September 5

The schedule for the 14th Thai Short Film & Video Festival is done. There's even a spreadsheet, which will come in handy because there will be movies showing on two screens, in the fifth floor auditorium of the Bangkok Art and Culture Center and in the fourth-floor conference room. In past years, the screenings have been confined to one room.

The programmers give us a lot to look forward to and think about.

Among the special programs this year will be an Alexis Tioseco and Nika Bohinc Memorial Screening, in honor of the film-expert couple who were killed in their home by gunmen on September 1 of last year.

Filmmaker Kidlat Tahamik offers his Each Film ... An Island?, an unfinished new feature. Kidlat explains:

Each Film ... An Island? ... an isolated mass of sedimented sights/sounds?

A cineaste’s filmography ... an archipelago of edited films ... Can island explorers decipher the auteur’s DNA from the celluloid bedrock?

In 2004 my house burned with all the VHS masters of my Video8 shorts. I was resigned – impermanence is a fact of life. How many more islands will submerge with the global warming.

On 2008 on the wild impulse, I e-mailed the Tokyo Video Festival: Were winning award videos archived? Hooray! Even non-winning entries by my son were digitized since 1989(our analog decade)!

My fossilized videos-an uncharted atoll of my filmless films. Let’s go island-hoping! Let’s see of re-incarnated analog Hi-8 images merged with HD open up a whole new road-film diary.

(Director's statement, YIDFF)

Please feel free to screen my unfinished film. Anyway all my films are unfinished is a way – because they might still be included in a future film. It is a compilation of excerpts for my past films and videos. So it is like a short film festival in itself.

I hope this version of the film will be a proper tribute to Alexis if you believe so. I am honored.

That's in addition to the S-Express Philippines program, which Alexis curated up through last year. This year, in tribute to Alexis, Francis "Oggs" Cruz, Dodo Dayao and Richard Bolisay have put together a program of shorts "that represent what the Philippines, as a country that is diverse and multi-faceted, truly is."

There's also S-Express programs from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and "Chinese".

Many other special programs have been detailed earlier. These include the Best of Clermont-Ferrand, from the world's biggest short film festival.

The musical documentary Baby Arabia makes its world premiere on September 1, likely with a mini-concert by the band. Baby Arabia is also tipped for the selection at this year's Vancouver International Film Festival.

There's the Animation Showcase in Tribute to Payut Ngaokrachang, the pioneering Thai animator who died in May. The progam features animated shorts from Japan, the U.K., Norway, Ireland and Spain and is highlighted by Payut's 20-minute short, A New Adventure of Hanuman (หนุมานเผชิญภัย (ครั้งใหม่)). From 1957, it's an anti-communist propaganda film Payut did while working for the U.S. Information Service, which has Hanuman the white monkey god fighting the Red menace.

Queer of Siam features a selection of Thai shorts, Coming of AIDS by Waasuthep Ketpetch, Ter Lae Ter (เธอและเธอ) by Sutthion na Lumphoun, Pre-Attitude by Panu Saeng-Xuto and Play Name by David Snyder. Program Queer: Generation offers an international selection of shorts from Belgium, Argentina, Brazil and Norway.

Another special program, In the Realm of Conflict is in observance of Bangkok's politically charged violence of just a few months ago, and has shorts about all sorts of conflicts from Georgia, Palestine, Iraq, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, South Korea and Indonesia.

Beyond Yangon is a package of short documentaries that offer a rare glimpse inside the borders of military-ruled Myanmar from the Yangon Film School, a non-profit organization founded in 2005 by Anglo-Burmese filmmaker Lindsey
Merrison.

Also special this year is Pridi 110, a selection of six short documentaries on statesman Pridi Banomyong in observance of his 110th birth anniversary.

There's even Shorts for Kids.

Of course, the Thai Short Film & Video Festival isn't all about shorts, and so the Digital Forum program returns this year with feature-length works.

Among them will be the Thailand premiere of Unreal Forest, Jakrawal Nilthamrong's experimental documentary made as part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam's Forget Africa program. It previously played in Singapore and Milan. The screening coincides with a multi-platform art exhibition of Unreal Forest, set for the Numthong Gallery.

But the whole raison d'être of the Thai Short Film & Video Fest is the competitions, and the finalists have been chosen, with categories for student films (White Elephant for college students and Special White Elephant for younger pupils), the general public (the RD Pestoni Award), animation (the Payut Ngaokrachang Medal), documentaries (the Duke Award) and the International Competition.

The festival opens at 5 on Thursday with registration and then the first program at 6, with the premiere of Aditya Assarat's Phuket (set to screen in Bangkok later as part of the Director's Screen Project), the Georgian conflict film Aprilis Suskhi by Tornike Bziava and the Oscar-winning short Logorama from France.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening August 19-25, 2010

The Girl Who Played with Fire


Did you see The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo at House? I hope so, because it served as a bang-up introduction to the two main characters of the Swedish movie series, based on the Millennium trilogy of mystery novels by Stieg Larsson.

I'm hooked.

In The Girl Who Played With Fire, the troubled and rebellious genius computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) becomes a prime supect in a murder that has ties to the sex-trafficking trade from Eastern Europe.

She goes on the run while her friend and crime-fighting partner, the crusading, feminist-leaning journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), keeps his distance in trying to get to the bottom of the case and maybe even clear Lisbeth's name.

This movie hits the Bangkok boutique screen as more news about the Hollywood remake is hitting the wires. With 007 Daniel Craig already lined up to play Blomkvist, it's been announced that young actress Rooney Mara will play Lisbeth. She was most recently seen in the Nightmare on Elm Street remake. David Fincher is directing.

Much as I enjoyed the first entry in the Millennium movies (I've not read the books), I found myself distracted at wondering why the movie needs to be remade, but then reading subtitles isn't for everyone I suppose. And I think Daniel Craig is a ringer for Michael Nyqvist.

Critical reception is more mixed compared to Dragon Tattoo, with the consensus being it doesn't pack quite as much punch as the first. It's at House RCA, in Swedish with English and Thai subtitles. Rated 18+.

---

Guan Muen Ho (Hello Stranger)

Seems like everyone is getting in on the trend for South Korean pop culture in Thailand.

Last month, there was Poj Arnon's romance released by Phranakorn, Kao Rak Thee Korea (เการัก ที่เกาหลี, also Sorry Saranghaeyo).

Now comes GTH with a romantic comedy, Guan Muen Ho (กวน มึน โฮ ). Originally called Knowing Me, Knowing You, the official international English title is how Hello Stranger.

It's the solo bow by Banjong Pisanthanakun, who makes the switch to romantic comedy from horror after co-directing Shutter and Alone with Parkpoom Wongpoom and doing the comedic segments for the Phobia and Phobia 2 portmanteau horror movies.

The story has a young woman (newcomer "Noonaa" Neungtida Sophon), who's obsessed with South Korean TV dramas, and a young guy ("Ter" Chantavit Dhanasevi from Coming Soon). They meet on a package tour of South Korea and agree to travel together with the stipulation that they won't tell each other their names or try to get to know each other.

Banjong has said he aims to make a satire about the Thai fascination with Korean music, movies, TV shows, fashion and hairstyles, but it will also be a romantic comedy and show an awareness of that genre's cliches.

He tells The Nation that it's actually "anti-romantic".

"Most romantic comedies feature one charming character and one less-forward individual. The prominent character leads the other and they finally fall in love. But if the two characters don’t want to get to know each other then how does the romance ever get off the ground? That’s the challenge," he says.

Banjong says he likes South Korean films but has no interest in K-pop. The male character embodies his personal views while the female character is typical of the young Thai woman: She wants to visit South Korea to see the locations of her favorite TV shows.

“It’s like teasing; it’s not serious. I understand how they feel. If I had a chance to visit the the locations of Forrest Gump, I’d probably be the same,” he grins.

There's an English-subtitled trailer at YouTube. Rated 15+.

---

Also opening


MacGruber – The recurring Saturday Night Live sketch that parodies the 1980s action TV series MacGyver comes to the big screen with the bumbling special operative played by Will Forte called back into action to take down his arch-enemy, Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer). Kristen Wiig and Ryan Phillippe also star. Critical reception is mixed, though the consensus is that it's better than most SNL movie adaptations. It's only at SFX the Emporium. Rated 18+.


Splice – Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley play a pair of geneticists who defy the rules and secretly splice human and animal DNA, creating a new creature named Dren who turns into a dangerous beauty. Vincenzo Natali directs with Delphine Chanéac as the creature Dren. Critical reception is pretty positive, with the consensus being that fans of the type of "body horror" David Cronenberg made famous should enjoy it. Rated 15+.


Woochi – After he makes a mistake with his Taoist wizard colleagues, the wizare Woochi (Kang Dong-won) and his trusty dog Chorangyi (Yoo Hae-jin) are sealed into a painting, where they stay for 500 years until they are called out of retirement when goblins are causing havoc in modern-day South Korea. At the Lido.


The Back-up Plan – Jennifer Lopez stars in this romantic comedy as a single woman who conceives twins through artificial insemination, only to meet the man of her dreams (Alex O’Loughlin) the very same day. Critical reception is mostly negative, with the consensus being that while J.Lo is appealing is a pretty predictable and typically nonsensical rom-com. Only at Paragon, Esplanade and some Major Cineplex branches. Rated 15+.


Beyond a Reasonable Doubt – Michael Douglas has been in the news recently, with word that he's undergoing treatment for throat cancer, but is confident of making a full recovery. And while we're waiting for him to appear in Oliver Stone's Wall Street sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, here he is as a corrupt district attorney. Jesse Metcalfe plays a young writer who seeks to expose the always-winning prosecutor's rigged trials by framing himself for murder. Amber Tamblyn also stars. Directed by Peter Hyams, this is a remake of a 1956 film-noir thriller by Fritz Lang. It's also apparently not as good, with critical reception being mostly negative. At the Lido.


Lafangey Parindey – Deepika Padukone (Om Shanti Om, Chandni Chowk to China) is a blind, roller-skating dancer who softens the heart of a fighter played by Neil Nitin Mukesh in this romantic comedy-drama directed by Pradeep Sarkar and produced by Aditya Chopra. In Hindi with English subtitles at Major Cineplex Central Rama III on Friday and Saturday 8 and Sunday at 4 and at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit (Ekamai) on Sunday and Monday at 7.30. Call (089) 488 2620 or visit www.BollywoodThai.com.

---

Also showing


International Award-Winning Thai Films – The Culture Ministry joins with Paragon Cineplex to salute Thai shorts and features that won awards and gained acclaim on the international festival circuit in a film series that runs until Sunday. Today at 5 and on Saturday at 5.30 it's Apichatpong Weerasethakul's A Letter to Uncle Boonmee, Kanitta Kwanyu's The Moment of Love , Nattaphong Homchuen's entertaining Red Man, Pichaya Chaidee's Love You If Me Dare and Zart Tancharoen's Relativity Plus Quantum. Tomorrow at 5 and Sunday at 1 are more shorts, Anocha Suwichakornpong's Graceland and Like. Real. Love. and Aditya Assarat's Waiting and 705/1 Sukhumvit 55. The 222-minute documentary on politics, society and southern Thailand, Citizen Juling, screens on Saturday at 1 and Sunday at 6. More about the films was covered here in an earlier post. The schedule is also at the Major Cineplex website. Tickets are 120 baht (80 baht for students). Call (02) 129 4635-36.


Mundane History (เจ้านกกระจอก, Jao Nok Krajok) – Playing as part of Extra Virgin's Director's Screen Project, director Anocha Suwichakornpong's family drama is loaded with symbolism as it comments on Thai society as well as life, the universe, and, well, everything. The story is about a young man who's been paralyzed in an accident. He's the scion of a well-to-do Bangkok family. The dad is cold and distant, too busy with his work to care much. He hires a male nurse for his son. The two are ill at ease – the rich kid because he's bitter about having to waited on hand and foot, and the nurse because he comes from upcountry and is ill-equipped to deal with the way his new patient looks down on him. The film is made unique by a non-linear structure, which gives it a jagged, jazz-like feel that's enhanced further by an alternative-rock soundtrack by the bands Furniture and the Photo Sticker Machine. Mundane History has been winning lots of awards, most recently the Grand Prix at the Era New Horizons International Film Festival in Poland. It screens until September 1 at SFX the Emporium, with nightly screenings at around 7 and additional Saturday and Sunday matinees at around 2. The showtimes are not fixed exactly, so check the SF website or Extra Virgin's calendar for the latest timings. Every Saturday, there's special activities, with a director's Q&A after the evening show. Rated 20-.


Chulalongkorn University International Film Festival – Michael Haneke's 2009 Palme d'Or-winning period drama The White Ribbon screens on Friday. Filmed in stark black and white, it's set in a northern German village on the eve of World War I. Thirst, Park Chan-wook's thriller about a priest-turned-vampire, screens on Monday. The show time is 5pm in the Boromrajakumari Building, Room 503 (seating capacity: 320). There's free parking next to Chulalongkorn University Auditorium. The movies are on DVD, all with the original soundtracks and English subtitles. Admission is free. Stay on afterward for a talk with film critics Kittisak Suvannapokhin, Nopamat Veohong and the Bangkok Post's Kong Rithdee. Call (02) 218 4802 or visit ChulaFilmFest.multiply.com.


Rhythmic Uprising – This is a documentary on social and cultural movements by artists against class inequality in Bahia, Brazil, a region known for it's vibrant dance and music. The film takes a look behind the scenes of the grandiose Carnival spectacles to see how local cultural leaders use the arts to change lives. After the screening there will be a short music performance by Capoeira Angola Bangkok and then a panel discussion, "From Brazil to Thailand: Music as a Tool for Social Change" (in Thai only), with social activist Sombat Boon-ngam-anong, musician and activist Adchariya Sitikittisri, music scholar Atipop Pataradajapaisan and Vipash Purichanont as moderator. The show starts at 2 at Kyo Reading Room, upstairs through a narrow doorway in a shophouse at 2 Silom Soi 19, near the corner of Silom Road.
Call (02) 635 3674 or visit ReadingRoomBKK.org.

The Adventure of Sudsakorn – The late animator Payut Ngaokrachang's seminal animated feature is based on an episode from Phra Aphai Mani, a 30,000-line epic poem by Sunthorn Phu, and depicts the fantastic adventures of the young son of a mermaid and a minstrel prince. It's screening at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, at 11am every Sunday until October 3. Call (02) 482 2013-14, ext 111.


Cabaret Balkan: Rarely Seen Films from the Balkans – This film series got under way last Sunday with Emil Kusturica's wild comedy-drama Time of the Gypsies, about a Gypsy boy with telekinetic powers who helps wrangle grifters and beggars on the streets of Milan. They were showing the 4.5-hour, five-part mini-series made for Yugoslav television, but a technical problem prevented the final installment from being shown. It'll be screened this Sunday. The main program this week is two of Serbian director Aleksandar Petrovic's works from the 1960s, Three, a trio of World War II stories that was an Academy Award nominee for best foreign-language film, and I Even Met Happy Gypsies, a tragic romance that was also an Oscar nominee that won the Fipresci Prize and the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1967. The movies are at Thammasat University Tha Prachan, in the Pridi Banomyong Library's Rewat Buddhinun Room, U2 Floor. The shows start at 12.30. The movies are on DVD. Admission is free. You'll have to inform the library staff you're watching the movies and let them copy your ID. Call (02) 613 3529 or (02) 613 3530 or visit the DK Filmhouse blog for the complete lineup.


Le voyage en Arménie – Anna, a cardiologist, discovers her father has fled to his native Armenia after being diagnosed with a heart problem. Despite their contentious relationship, she sets out to bring her father back to France for an operation. She is a tough-minded, headstrong woman with little feeling for her father's homeland or patience with its politics and socially intrusive culture, yet she finds this journey not only a reunion of sorts, but one of reconciliation. It's showing on Wednesday, August 25 at 7:30pm at the Alliance Francaise, with English subtitles. Admission is free.

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: International Award-Winning Thai Films at Paragon Cineplex, August 18-22

The Culture Ministry together with Paragon Cineplex join the trend of saluting Thai independent cinema with a program of 11 shorts and features, screening from August 18 to 22 in the International Award-Winning Thai Films series under the ministry's Fuan Mit Ruan Samai Sangsan Thai Su Sakol project.

According to a Culture Ministry press release, the program is in honor of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit and aims to "propagate contemporary art as [a] cultural asset, and also to extend the contemporary art to the creative economy".

Here's the lineup (also at the Major Cineplex website):

• August 18, 5pm: Zart Tancharoen's Lost Nation (100 min)
• August 19, 5pm: Apichatpong Weerasethakul's A Letter to Uncle Boonmee (20 min), Kanitta Kwanyu's The Moment of Love (22 min), Nattaphong Homchuen's Red Man (8 min), Pichaya Chaidee's Love You If Me Dare (17 min) and Zart Tancharoen's Relativity Plus Quantum (15 min.)
• August 20, 5pm: Anocha Suwichakornpong's Graceland (17 min), Anocha's Like Real Love (38 min) Adiya Assarat's Waiting (25 min) and Aditya's 705/1 Sukhumvit 55 (5 mins)
• August 21, 1pm: Citizen Juling (222 min) by Samamrat "Ing K" Kanchanawit, Manit Sriwanichapoom and Kraisak Choonhavan
• August 21, 5.30pm: A Letter to Uncle Boonmee, The Moment of Love, Red Man, Love You If Me Dare and Relativity Plus Quantum
• August 22, 1pm: Graceland, Like Real Love, Waiting, 705/1 Sukhumvit 55
• August 22, 6pm: Citizen Juling

Zart Tancharoen's experimental docuemtary-style drama Lost Nation (ผมชื่อชาติ) is about a man named Chart (Nation), who's lost in the woods. As he fades into the mist, his identity becomes clearer to friends and family who talk of his disappearance. It screened at last year's World Film Festival of Bangkok.

Apichatpong's A Letter to Uncle Boonmee a short film that's part of his multi-platform Primitive art project, which also spawned the Cannes Golden Palm winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Letter has reaped several awards, including best film and prize of the jury at the Pernambuco Association of Filmmakers at the Janela Internacional de Cinema do Recife, Brazil, as well as honors in Oberhausen and Ann Arbor. It was also screened at last year's World Film Festival of Bangkok.

Kanitta's The Moment of Love (เวลา...รัก) was featured at last year's Thai Short Film & Video Festival and the Bangkok Fringe Festival.

Nattaphong's highly entertaining, politically colored Red Man was also featured at last year's Thai Short Film & Video Festival. It won the best cinematography award in the Kodak Filmschool Competition and was part of last year's travelling package of S-Express Thailand shorts.

Pichaya's Love You If Me Dare won a short film prize at the 16th Subhanahongsa Awards and was selected for the Fat-rama festival, the Bimm festival and others.

Zart's Relativity Plus Quantum was featured at the 2005 World Film Festival of Bangkok. It was the second-prize White Elephant Award for student films as well as the best cinematography honors in the Kodak Awards at the ninth Thai Short Film & Video Festival. It was shown at the 2006 Curta Vila do Conde International Film Festival in Portugal and the 2005 CJ Entertainment Asian Film Festival in South Korea.

Graceland, from 2006, was Anocha's graduate thesis film from Columbia University. It's about an Elvis impersonator (Sarawut Martthong) being picked up by a mysterious woman and taken into the countryside. It was the first Thai film to be selected for the Cannes Cinefondation program. It won awards at the Busan Asian Short Film Festival and the Tampere Film Festival.

Anocha's triptych Like. Real. Love (ดุจ จิต ใจ , Duj Jit Jai), premiered at the 2008 International Film Festival Rotterdam, and won the grand prize at the 13th Hong Kong Independent Short Film & Video Awards and a special mention at Oberhausen. Each of the three segments examine different states of emotion and dreams.

Aditya, this year's Silpathorn laureate for film, has Waiting from 2002, which has been featured at dozens of festivals. Awards include the Cinemavenire Grand Prize at the 2003 Torino Film Festival and a special mention at the 2003 Thai Short Film & Video Festival. His 705/1 Sukhumvit 55 (an address along Bangkok's Soi Thonglor) is also from 2002 and has been featured at many film festivals.

Citzen Juling (พลเมืองจูหลิง, Polamuang Juling) is a sweeping, epic-length documentary on Thai politics and society that stems from the fatal beating of a young Buddhist schoolteacher in restive Muslim-majority southern Thailand's Narathiwat Province in 2006. The film premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival and was also screened at that year's Bangkok International Film Festival and the 2009 Berlinale. Despite much fear by Ing K, Manit and Kraisak that their politically sensitive movie would be censored, it was screened uncut in a limited release at Bangkok's House cinema last year. It was a nominee for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and best-picture winner at the Kom Chad Luek Awards.

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: Chula Film Fest 2010, August 16-September 3

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: Chulalongkorn Film Festival 2010, August 16-September 3

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives may be getting a lot of attention this year after winning the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, but there's a bunch of other major award winners from Cannes and other festivals that haven't hardly been seen in Bangkok.

And so the Chulalongkorn University International Film Festival 2010 continues, bringing in six more award-winning films from six countries, none of which have been commercially released in Thailand.

Here's the line-up:

• Monday, August 16, The Cove (USA)
• Friday, August 20, The White Ribbon (Austria)
• Monday, August 23, Thirst (South Korea)
• Friday, August 27, Sin Nombre (Mexico)
• Monday, August 30, Samson and Delilah (Australia)
• Friday, September 3, A Prophet (France)

Stay on afterward for a talk with film critics Kittisak Suvannapokhin, Nopamat Veohong and the Bangkok Post's Kong Rithdee.

The show time is 5pm in the Boromrajakumari Building, Room 503 (seating capacity: 320). There's free parking next to Chulalongkorn University Auditorium. The movies are on DVD, all the original soundtracks and English subtitles. Admission is free.

The festival is presented by the Department of Dramatic Arts, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, with support from the Cultural Centre.

For more details, call (02) 218 4802 or visit ChulaFilmFest.multiply.com.

Here's the breakdown on each movie


The Cove – Academy Award Winner for Best Documentary of 2009 (among 24 other wins and nominations), this highly controversial film follows an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers as they embark on a covert mission to penetrate a remote and hidden cove in Taiji, Japan, shining a light on a dark and deadly secret. Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, including hidden microphones and cameras in fake rocks, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide. The result is a provocative mix of investigative journalism, eco-adventure and arresting imagery, adding up to an unforgettable story that has inspired audiences worldwide to action. Louie Psihoyos directs. with support from Richard O'Barry, the technical adviser and trainer for the Flipper TV series back in the 1960s.


The White Ribbon – In a village in Protestant northern Germany, on the eve of World War I, the children of a church and school run by the village schoolteacher and their families experience a series of bizarre incidents that inexplicably assume the characteristics of a punishment ritual. Who could be responsible for such bizarre transgressions? Leonie Benesch, Josef Bierbichler and Rainer Bock star in director Michael Haneke's 2009 Palme d'Or-winning period drama.


Thirst – Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho of The Host) is a priest who cherishes life; so much so, that he selflessly volunteers for a secret vaccine development project meant to eradicate a deadly virus. But the virus takes the priest, and a blood transfusion is urgently ordered up for him. The blood he receives is infected, so Sang-hyun lives – but now exists as a vampire. Struggling with his newfound carnal desire for blood, Sang-hyun’s faith is further strained when a childhood friend’s wife, Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin), comes to him asking for his help in escaping her life. Sang-hyun soon plunges into a world of sensual pleasures, finding himself on intimate terms with the Seven Deadly Sins. Directed by Park Chan-wook, Thirst got the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival last year.


Sin Nombre (Without Name) – Making its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival where it won two awards in direction and cinematography, Sin Nombre is an epic dramatic thriller from award-winning director Cary Fukunaga. Seeking the promise of America, a beautiful young Honduran woman, Sayra (Paulina Gaytan), joins her father and uncle on an odyssey to cross the gauntlet of the Latin American countryside en route to the United States. Along the way she crosses paths with a teenaged Mexican gang member, El Casper (Edgar M. Flores), who is maneuvering to outrun his violent past and elude his unforgiving former associates. Together they must rely on faith, trust and street smarts if they are to survive their increasingly perilous journey towards the hope of new lives.


Samson and Delilah – Samson and Delilah’s world is small – an isolated community in the central Australian desert. When tragedy strikes, they turn their backs on home and embark on a journey of survival. Lost, unwanted and alone they discover that life isn’t always fair, but love never judges. Written and directed by Warwick Thornton, who was awarded the Camera d’Or for best first feature at the Cannes Film Festival 2009. The president of the jury, Roshdy Zem, said "...probably the best love story that we have seen in many years. An immensely memorable film."


A Prophet – Condemned to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim, who won European Film Awards’ Best Actor for this role), part Arab, part Corsican, cannot read or write. Arriving at the jail entirely alone, he appears younger and more fragile than the other convicts. He is 19 years old. Cornered by the leader of the Corsican gang currently ruling the prison, he is given a number of "missions" to carry out, toughening him up and gaining the gang leader`s confidence in the process. Malik is a fast learner and rises up the prison ranks, all the while secretly devising his own plans. An Academy Award nominee, director Jacques Audiard's A Prophet won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival 2009, a BAFTA award for best foreign-language film and nine César Awards.

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: King of the White Elephant rides again on Peace Day, August 16

The King of the White Elephant (พระเจ้าช้างเผือก, Prajao Changpeuk), a 1941 historical battle epic, will be shown all across Thailand on Monday, August 16 – Thai Peace Day – in simultaneous screenings, all starting at 6pm, right after the National Anthem.

The movie was written and produced by statesman Pridi Banomyong in the months leading up to the December 8, 1941, Japanese invasion of Thailand.

It's actually an anti-war movie, and, uniquely, it's an English-language film, and it aimed to voice the pacificist stance of Pridi and others opposed the government of Field Marshal Pibun Songkram.

After the Japanese invasion, Pibun made Thailand an Axis ally and declared war against Britain and the United States. Pridi helped organize the Free Thai resistance movement.

August 16, 1945, the day after the Japanese surrendered, was declared Peace Day in Thailand.

The screening of King of the White Elephant is part of a project organized by the Pridi Banomyong Institute, the Thai Film Archive and the Thai Film Foundation.

The film will be shown in 76 provinces, mostly on DVD at universities, but in Bangkok, it will unspool in 35mm in an outdoor screening at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. Check the Facebook event page for more details (in Thai).

The historically significant film was almost lost, but a 16mm copy was recovered from the U.S. Library of Congress. It was restored through the efforts of Technicolor and the Thomson Foundation, along with a 1962 drama, The Boat House (Ruen Pae).

The restored 35mm print of The King of the White Elephant was presented at the first Phuket Film Festival in 2007.

Kong Rithdee, writing in the Bangkok Post, has more about the project, and he talked to Pridi's daughter, Dusadee Banomyong:

"Father foresaw that when Germany invaded Poland, another World War was inevitable," says Dusadee. "He wrote The King of the White Elephant and made it into a movie – an English-language movie – with the aim of showing the world that Siamese people love peace, that the conflicts in war are between kings or heads of state, but not between the people."

In the film, which alludes to the ancient rivalry between Siam and Burma, the King of Ayodhaya battles the King of Honsa in an earth-trembling sequence of elephant marches still unmatched in terms of cinematic audacity by any other films. Though Honsa is defeated at the end, the philosophy the film expounds concerns forgiveness, patience and respect for your enemies – as the King of Ayodha shows that he can rise above the conflict and assures the safe passage home for the defeated army.

In the frying pan of current Thai politics, peace has been cooked, claimed, possessed, even exploited and abused. The King of the White Elephant discusses the possibility of peace in the classical yet never naive sense. It doesn't dismiss the spectre of conflict, but it doesn't hammer home the point of chest-thumping patriotism, even against a neighbouring country with a history of antagonism. Rather, the film has power because of its belief in humanism, in the ability of leaders to go beyond the obvious and the crudeness of "victory" to something more morally luminous.

The screening is part of celebrations of the 110th anniversary of Pridi's birth.

Among other activities is the Thai Film Foundation's competition of documentary films based on Pridi's life and work, and the six finalist films will be shown at the upcoming 14th Short Film & Video Festival.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening August 12-18, 2010

Toy Story 3


The beloved Disney-Pixar animated franchise comes to a close with Toy Story 3.

The toys' owner Andy is headed off to college. His mother gives him a choice: Either box the toys up and put them in the attic or throw them all away.

Either option causes distress for the cowboy Woody, his Space Ranger buddy Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the gang, though they've known all along that Andy's growing up was inevitable and they should have been prepared for this day.

A mix-up has the toys delivered to a day-care center, where things take a dark turn.

Tom Hanks and Tim Allen return to voice Woody and Buzz Lightyear respectively with Joan Cusack again doing duty as rootin', tootin' cowgirl Jessie. John Ratzenburger again voices the know-it-all piggy bank Ham, and Don "Hockey Puck" Rickles is back as Mr. Potatohead.

New to the cast are Michael Keaton as a Ken doll, Timothy Dalton as a British hedgehog toy named Mr. Pricklepants and Ned Beatty as a grandfatherly teddy bear and leader of the day-care gang.

As with the first two Toy Story movies, critical reception is overwhelmingly positive, but with critics saying it falls just short of the perfection the earlier entries achieved. Kids may find some things disturbing, but adult fans of the series won't be able to hold back the tears.

It's in 3D in some cinemas, including Imax. Rated G.

---

Also opening


First Love (สิ่งเล็กๆ ที่เรียกว่า...รัก, Sing Lek Lek Thee Riak Wa … Ruk, or literally "a little bitty thing called ... love") – Mario Maurer is 21 years old, but the Love of Siam star can't seem to get away from being cast as a schoolboy. Here he's the heartthrob of the school and crush object of a rather plain schoolgirl (Pimchanok Luevisetpaibool). A makeover is needed. So ditch the schoolgirl uniform and maybe the glasses. But she could also wipe that dumb look off her face, or else it'll freeze like that. Sudarat "Tukky" Butrprom plays a teacher who's trying to catch the eye of the gym teacher. This teen romance is a co-production of Sahamongkol Film International and TV production house Workpoint. Putthiphong Promsakha na Sakon Nakhon and Wasin Pokpong direct. Rated G.


Luangphee Teng 3 Roon Ha Khayao Lok (หลวงพี่เท่ง 3 รุ่นฮา เขย่าโลก) – Phranakorn Film's hit monastic comedy series started in 2005 with comedian Teng Terdterng playing a former street hood who seeks to redeem himself as a monk. He joins a down-at-the-heels temple in a small town and faces all kinds of new situations in helping the locals deal with their problems. It was the biggest box-office hit of the year. The series continued in 2008, with rapper Joey Boy taking over the lead role, playing a monk who preaches in a rapid-fire style, energizing the disadvantaged residents of a rural area. Now comes singer-actor Krissada "Noi Pru" Sukosol Clapp, who is known for taking on challenging film roles. But here it doesn't seem to be much of a stretch for the 13 Beloved leading man, as he plays a rock star named Noi who enters the monkhood. As a new and somewhat rebellious monk, he has to deal all kinds of new situations. Chalermpon “Jack Fan Chan” Thikampornteerawong, Natee Ekvijit (Oui from the rock band Budda Bless) and veteran comedian Der Doksadao also star. Musician Ad Carabao rides in on his Harley to help out. As always, Bumrer “Note Chernyim” Phonginsee directs. Rated 13+.

---

Also showing


Mundane History (เจ้านกกระจอก, Jao Nok Krajok) – Playing as part of Extra Virgin's Director's Screen Project, director Anocha Suwichakornpong's family drama is loaded with symbolism as it comments on Thai society as well as life, the universe, and, well, everything. The story is about a young man who's been paralyzed in an accident. He's the scion of a well-to-do Bangkok family. The dad is cold and distant, too busy with his work to care much. He hires a male nurse for his son. The two are ill at ease – the rich kid because he's bitter about having to waited on hand and foot, and the nurse because he comes from upcountry and is ill-equipped to deal with the way his new patient looks down on him. The film is made unique by a non-linear structure, which gives it a jagged, jazz-like feel that's enhanced further by an alternative-rock soundtrack by the bands Furniture and the Photo Sticker Machine. Mundane History has been winning lots of awards, most recently the Grand Prix at the Era New Horizons International Film Festival in Poland. It screens until September 1 at SFX the Emporium, with nightly screenings at around 7 and additional Saturday and Sunday matinees at around 2. The showtimes are not fixed exactly, so check the SF website or Extra Virgin's calendar for the latest timings. Every Saturday, there's special activities, with a director's Q&A after the evening show. Rated 20-.


Aisha – Sonam Kapoor stars as a precocious, presumptuous Delhi socialite who plays matchmaker for all her friends. It's adapted from Jane Austen's "Emma". Here's a review. In Hindi with English subtitles at Major Cineplex Central Rama III on today at 4, on Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 4. Call (089) 488 2620 or visit www.BollywoodThai.com.

The Adventure of Sudsakorn – The late animator Payut Ngaokrachang's seminal animated feature is based on an episode from Phra Aphai Mani, a 30,000-line epic poem by Sunthorn Phu, and depicts the fantastic adventures of the young son of a mermaid and a minstrel prince. It's screening at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, at 11am every Sunday until October 3. Call (02) 482 2013-14, ext 111.


Time of the Gypsies – Emir Kusturica's 1998 film tells the story of Perhan, a Gypsy teenager with telekinetic powers and his passage from boy to man that starts in a little village in Yugoslavia and that ends in the criminal underworld of Milan. It's the 270-minute extended version and is part of a program by Duangkamol Film House, FilmVirus and Thammasat University Libraries Tha Prachan, Cabaret Balkan: Rarely Seen Films from the Balkans. It's showing at 12:30pm on Sunday in the the Rewat Buddhinun Room, U2 Floor, in the Pridi Banomyoung Library at Thammasat University, Tha Phra Chan. Admission is free. You'll have to inform the library staff of your film-viewing purpose and show an ID. Call (02) 613 3529, (02) 613 3530.



A tout de suite (Right Now) – Benoît Jacquot directs this 2004 drama, set in the mid-1970s, about a young upper-class woman who embarks on a life of crime after falling in love with a hoodlum. It's showing on Wednesday, August 18 at 7:30pm at the Alliance Francaise, which regularly shows French films on Wednesday nights, with English subtitles. Admission is free.


Who Killed Chea Vichea? – This 50-minute film's title asks a question it doesn't answer. This "documentary about an untrue story" does clearly sum up that the two men, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, who were convicted of the murder of labor activist Chea Vichea, didn't do it. So who pulled the trigger on January 22, 2004, when Chea was gunned down at a newsstand in Phnom Penh's Wat Langka neighborhood? Fingers seem to point at top police officials, cronies of self-proclaimed strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen. Bradley Cox worked over the course of five years to make this depressing and damning portrait of Cambodia, a country that despite decades of international aid, cannot break free of the rule of lawless thuggery that has dominated the so-called democracy since the end of the genocidal Khmer Rouge era of the 1970s. The voices of dissent are stifled by intimidation. Their absence is even more incriminating. And to prove that point, the Cambodian government has banned Who Killed Chea Vichea? and says it intends to stop screenings of the film “wherever they are held". But, after a kerfuffle involving scheduling, it was shown at the recent Phuket Film Festival, and it'll be shown again at 8pm on Wednesday, August 18, at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand. Cox and Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Right Watch's Asia Division, will be present for a Q&A session.