Bangkok Cinema Scene special: Four short films for HM the King's 83rd birthday

Three Silpathorn Award laureates are among the directors of four short films that will screen at Bangkok's SF World Cinema at CentralWorld from today in a Film Festival in Commemoration of the Celebration on the Auspicious Occasion of His Majesty the King's 83rd Birthday Anniversary.

The films are:

• Terribly Happy (สุดสะแนน, Sudsanan), directed by Pimpaka Towira
• Superstitious (เกษตร ...ตะกอน), directed by Nonzee Nimibutr
• Six to Six, (เพลงชาติไทย, Pleng Chat Thai) by Aditya Assarat
• The Greatest Love, (รักที่ยิ่งใหญ่) by Sirisak Koshpasharin and Pranpaporn Srisumanant

Nonzee, Pimpaka and Aditya were given the Silpathorn Award in 2008, 2009 and this year, respectively. The prestigious contemporary-arts honor is conferred by Thailand's Office of Contemporary Art and Culture of the Ministry of Culture. Those government agencies are among the organizers of the film-festival project.

In Pimpaka's Terribly Happy, a young soldier stationed in southern Thailand takes his leave to return to his hometown in Udon Thani in the Northeast and finds that his girlfriend has a Westerner for a lover. He's angry as first, but learns forgiveness.


An e-mail from Pimpaka's production company Extra Virgin explains further:

Loosely translated as "terribly happy", Sudsanan is an Isaan expression meaning the state where all the sorrows and miseries end, leaving only the feeling of blissful happiness. Similarly, the main idea behinds this film is that human sufferings can be healed by learning how to give.

In a situation of severe conflict, we always think that there has to be a winner and loser. But the reality is that there is never a real winner. Any battle, big or small, always has a cause in greed, ego and self-centeredness.

The filmmaker is inspired by the speech of His Majesty the King on Compassion, which is one of the Ten Royal Virtues. The filmmaker hopes that this film will help bringing about the importance of compassion and generosity in our society on all levels, no matter what social status or language.

There's also a trailer for Pimpaka's Terribly Happy.

Aditya's Six to Six was completed very quickly, and in fact was only shot earlier this month! The Pop Pictures blog explains how they did it.

Here's more about Six to Six:

One afternoon, Kaen, Noi, and Pa Nit, employees of an old apartment building, are cleaning the master’s room on the top floor. They eat lunch, chat about this and that, and enjoy the cool breeze from the canal. At six o’clock they wait for the national anthem to mark the passing of another peaceful day in the kingdom.

Director’s Statement

I’m just a normal person. I’ve never met the King, never even seen him, except on TV. I suspect most Thai people are like me. So I wanted to make a film from the perspective of the small people living in this kingdom. As a man we may not know His Majesty, but as a symbol, his presence is felt all around us, like the warm sunlight or the cool breeze of an afternoon, a constant amid the conflicts currently afflicting our nation.

The Greatest Love, a melodrama extolling the virtues of His Majesty's "sufficiency economy" theories, is screened in 3D as well as 2D. The 3D version screens by itself at 10.30 daily until Friday. The 2D version is screened with the other three shorts.

There are also two feature films, So the short films aren't screening in all sessions. There's also The Ultimate Dream (ปิดทองหลังพระ ตอน ความฝันอันสูงสุด), about military heroes, starring Maj-Colonel Wanchana Sawatdee (Naresuan) and Sornram Theppituk, and 9 Mahasan-Ong-Rachan-Palang-Pan-Din (๙ มหัศจรรย์ องค์ราชัน พลังแผ่นดิน), which is a compilation of segments about nine miracles.

The screenings are at SFW CentralWorld. Free tickets are at a table in the lobby. You can also check this spreadsheet for the schedule.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening November 25-December 1, 2010

Let Me In


The boy from The Road, Kodi Smit-McPhee meets "Hit Girl" from Kick-Ass, Chloe Moretz, in Let Me In, a Hollywood remake of the acclaimed 2008 Swedish coming-of-age vampire thriller Let the Right One In

Shifting the story from snowy Sweden to New Mexico in the American southwest, Smit-McPhee is a lonely and bullied 12-year-old boy. He befriends his new neighbor (Moretz), a girl who appears to be about 12 but is in fact a lot older.

Richard Jenkins also stars, along with Elias Koteas.

Matt Reeves, who helmed the alien-invasion thriller Cloverfield, directs.

Critical reception is generally favorable, with the consensus being "similar to the original in all the right ways, but with enough changes to stand on its own." Rated 18+.

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Unstoppable


After their collaboration on the subway thriller The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, director Tony Scott and star Denzel Washington are back on track in Unstoppable, a fact-based action thriller in which an unmanned runaway freight train hauling hazardous cargo is barreling toward a city.

Washington, playing a veteran locomotive engineer, and a rookie conductor (Chris Pine, the young James T. Kirk from Star Trek), team up to try and stop that train.

The movie is based on the Crazy Eights incident of 2001, when CSX train 8888 ran unmanned with hazardous cargo at high speed through the state of Ohio before it was brought to a stop by a locomotive that caught up with it and coupled to the rear.

Critical reception is generally favorable, with Unstoppable praised "as fast, loud and relentless ... perfect popcorn entertainment – and director Tony Scott's best movie in years." Rated G.

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Also opening


My Soul to Take – Nightmare on Elm Street creator Wes Craven writes and directs this slasher thriller about seven teenagers who share the same birthday as the day a serial killer in their small town supposedly died. As they all near their 16th birthday, the remembers of the "Riverton Seven" find themselves stalked one by one, by the killer known as the Riverton Ripper. Critical reception is generally negative. In 3D. Rated 13+.


Guzaarish – Hrithik Roshan is a magician who is injured while performing a trick and becomes a quadriplegic. He ignites a controversy when he petitions a court to end his own life. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan also stars as his nurse. Critical reception is generally positive. It's showing at Major Cinplex Sukhumvit (Ekamai) on Friday and Sunday at 7.30 and at Major Cineplex Rama III on Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 4. Call BollywoodThai at (089) 488 2620.

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Also showing


A Design Film Festival – Part of the Bangkok International Design Festival, this first edition of A Design Film Festival is running at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld until Sunday. The traveling film event was launched this year in Singapore and has also popped up in Berlin. The line-up has Milton Glaser, a profile of the graphic artist who designed the iconic I Love NY logo; Rem Koolhaus: A Kind of Architect, about the Dutch architect and architectural theorist; Beautiful Loser, about a coming together of do-it-yourself subcultures in New York City; Herb & Dorothy, about Herbert and Dorothy Vogel, a couple that despite their modest means, have built up one of the world's most significant contemporary art collections; Visual Acoustics, about architectural photographer Julius Shulman; Craftwork, about a group of "creatives" who aim to keep a hands-on approach to their visual works; Extended Play, an eclectic selection of shorts; and J-Star, a sneak peek at new visual trends out of Japan. For the schedule, click to expand the e-card above and download or hit the festival website.


Science Film Festival – The sixth Science Film Festival, organized by the Goethe-Institut Thailand, the French Embassy and the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology, runs until November 30 in venues throughout Thailand. In Bangkok, the screenings are at the Esplanade Cineplex Rattanathibhet, National Science Centre for Education at Ekamai, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Thai Film Archive in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, National Science Museum, the NSM Science Square at Chamchuri Square and TK Park at CentralWorld.

Take note that the French documentary Elle s’appelle Sabine (Her Name is Sabine), will have an encore screening on Saturday, November 27, at 2 in the Media Library at the Alliance Française Bangkok. Admission is free.

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Sneak preview


The Social Network – David Fincher (Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) directs this drama that's based on the founder of Facebook. Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) wrote the screenplay, which is adapted froma book by Ben Mezrich. Jesse Eisenberg stars as Mark Zuckerberg, who founded the social-networking website while he was at Harvard. Justin Timberlake plays Napster founder Sean Parker, the dotcom entrepreneur who guided Facebook in its days as a booming startup. Critical reception is mostly favorable. "Impeccably scripted, beautifully directed and filled with fine performances [it's] a riveting, ambitious example of modern filmmaking at its finest," is the consensus. Sounds like an Oscar possibility. The Social Network is in nightly sneak previews through Sunday before going to a wider release next Thursday. Rated 13+.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening November 18-24, 2010

Fair Game


Naomi Watts stars Fair Game, a fact-based political thriller, about Valerie Plame, whose work as a secret agent for the CIA came to an end when she was exposed as a result of political maneuvering by the Bush White House.

Sean Penn portrays Plame's husband, diplomat Joseph Wilson, who wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times that refuted White House claims that Iraq had purchased weapons-grade yellowcake uranium from Niger, which poked holes in the Bush administration's stories about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

It's believed that Plame was exposed in retaliation for her husband's opinion.

Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Swingers) directs.

Critical reception is mostly favorable. It's in limited release at House on RCA, SFW CentralWorld and Paragon. Rated 15+.

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1


It's almost over. The movie adaptation of the seventh and final book in author J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series is split into two parts, with the first part out this week, and part two coming out next July.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Harry, Ron and Hermione escape from Hogwarts on a mission to find the Horcruxes, which hold the key to immortality and destruction of the evil Lord Voldermort. While the teenage wizards are all alone, the dark lord's powers are growing ever stronger, making things more dangerous than ever.

David Yates, who's helmed the movie series since the fifth entry, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, directs.

All the main cast returns, including Daniel Radcliffe as Harry with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

Critical reception so far is highly favorable. While 3D is planned for Part 2, Part 1 is all in 2D, and includes an IMAX version. Rated 13+.

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Also showing


Science Film Festival – The sixth Science Film Festival runs until November 30 in venues throughout Thailand. The fest focuses on “family edutainment”, with an aim to explain the world in a fun way to young audiences, along with films for all ages in the categories of “Ecology and Environment”, “Natural Science, Life Science and Technology” and “Culture and History”. The festival is organized by the Goethe-Institut Thailand, the French Embassy and the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology and is supported by the National Science and Technology Development Agency and Bayer Thai. In Bangkok, the screenings are at the Esplanade Cineplex Rattanathibhet, National Science Centre for Education at Ekamai, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Thai Film Archive in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, National Science Museum, the NSM Science Square at Chamchuri Square and TK Park at CentralWorld.


ExploreAsia Film Festival – It's rare that the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand is open on a Saturday, and this special occasion, running from 10am to 4.30pm this Saturday at the FCCT, will have a selection of six short documentaries, selected by the Explorer's Club of New York.

Among the selection is The Last Elephants in Thailand, which was featured earlier this year at the Bangkok IndieFest.

Here's the lineup of the ExploreAsia fest:

• 10am – Hovsgol Nuur: Diving in the Land of Chinggis Khan (Mongolia)
• 11am – Hope from the Land of the Polar Bear, directed by George Meegan (Japan)
• 12.15pm – Lunch
• 1.15pm – Bordering Happiness in Chinas, directed by Yu Shu (China)
• 2.15pm – Crossing the Line (North Korea)
• 4pm – The Last Elephants in Thailand (Thailand)

All are narrated or subtitled in English. Come for one or a few films, or for the entire day.

Admission is 150 baht for FCCT members, students and children under 17; all others pay 300 baht.


Bangkok International Design Festival – A Design Film Festival is running at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld from November 23 to 30 as part of the Bangkok International Design Festival. The traveling film event was launched this year in Singapore and has also popped up in Berlin. It features a selection of documentaries on architecture, graphic design, art, photography, motion graphics and guerrilla capture. Here's the line-up:

• Milton Glaser – A profile of the graphic artist who designed the iconic I Love NY logo, which replaced the word "love" with a red heart.
• Rem Koolhaus: A Kind of Architect – The Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and professor at Harvard whose many works include the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing.
• Beautiful Loser – Here's a look at a group of like-minded outsiders who found common ground at a little New York City storefront gallery, and made it their home for a do-it-yourself subculture that included skateboarding, surf, punk hip-hop and graffiti.
• Herb & Dorothy – Using their modest means, Herbert Vogel, a postal clerk, and his librarian wife Dorothy have built up one of the world's most sigificant contemporary art collections. This is their story.
• Visual Acoustics – There are architects to design buildings and then photographers who take pictures of them. Julius Shulman is a photographer, whose celebrated images have captured nearly every major modern American architectural landmark, including works by Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, John Lautner and Frank Gehry.
• Craftwork – Here's a look at a group of "creatives" who aim to keep a hands-on approach to their visual works in the digital age, stitching, knitting, collaging, sticking and folding things together.
• Extended Play – This is an eclectic selection of shorts that explore new approaches in graphic and alternative storytelling.
• J-Star – A sneak peek at new visual trends, including eye-popping sights, side-splitting fun and serene beauty in music videos, motion graphics and shorts from Japan.

Check the festival website for more details about the schedule at SFW CentralWorld.


Elle s’appelle Sabine (Her Name is Sabine) – Documentary Film Month continues at the Alliance Française Bangkok with this 2007 work by actress and director Sandrine Bonnaire about her autistic sister, Sabine Bonnaire. It recounts Sabine's story through personal archives, shot over a period of 25 years, and gives an account of her life today. It's showing on Wednesday, November 24 at 7:30pm and on Saturday, November 27 at the Alliance Française, with English subtitles. Take note that the documentary Une aventure musicale, l’Ensemble intercontemporain, will have an encore screening on Saturday, November 20, at 2 in the Media Library. Admission is free.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening November 11-17, 2010

Skyline


Visual-effects specialists the Brothers Strause direct Skyline, a sci-fi horror thiller set in Los Angeles, where giant spaceships appear in the sky and beam down light that attracts people like moths to flame. It's like a cross of District 9 and Cloverfield from the filmmaking pair who previously directed Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem and did visual effects for such movies as Avatar and 2012. Just being released this week, critical buzz is only just now starting to build. Rated 15+.

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Dog God and Full Water


Amorn Harinnitisuk directs Dog God and Full Water (Mah Apiniharn Lae Khuad Mahasamut, หมาอภินิหารและขวดใส่มหาสมุทร), an indie drama that tells various stories about the stratas of Thai society. Among the characters are an impoverished mother and child living in the Sanam Luang area of Bangkok. Their lives take a dramatic turn when they find a diamond ring. Another is a heartbroken man who’s lost faith in humanity and wants to be a dog. It's screening at the Lido in Siam Square, once daily until December 10 with a different concept everyday. Part of the box-office proceeds will be donated to charities. Watch the trailer at YouTube.

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Also showing


World Film Festival of Bangkok – Still many highlights yet to be seen as the eighth annual festival rolls into its closing weekend. Highlights today include the Singaporean childhood adventure drama Red Dragonflies at 5.20 at Paragon, Jacques Doillon’s The Little Gangster at 7.50 at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit and the Thai indie arthouse drama by Phuttiphong Aroonpheng, A Suspended Moment at 7.50, followed by a Q&A, at Paragon. Friday has the collection of Southeast Asian indie shorts in SEA Shorts at 11 at Paragon and the world premiere of the Filipino indie crime thriller The Night Infinite, directed by Ato Bautista. That's at 6.50pm at Paragon. Saturday has another world premiere, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, a trilogy of short films by Asian female directors. The Thai portion, involving a couple of Bangkok schoolkids on their lunchhour, is directed by Anocha Suwichakornpong, the much-lauded director of Mundane History. Others are by China's Wang Jing, who does breakfast in Nanjing, and Kaz Cai who has dinner in Singapore. It's screening at 5.40 on Saturday and 11am on Sunday. Although the festival runs through Sunday, the closing ceremonies actually take place on Saturday night starting at 8 at Paragon, with the screening of the 2001 French horror comedy Love Bites. Beforehand, there will be the Celebrity Lookalike contest, in which participants are asked to come as their favorite movie monster or ghost. Check the schedule at www.WorldFilmBKK.com.

Experimental German Music Videos From 2004-2008 – Dr. Lars Henrik Gass of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen is in Bangkok to find Thai short films for his festival and while he's here, he's brought a collection of experiment German music videos. The showtime is at 5pm on Thursday, November 11, in the fifth floor auditorium at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. Call (080) 557 9709.

The Dreaming Vendors (Ebong Shaupno Jatree) – Ahmed Abid directs this documentary on cross-coastal trafficking, economic migration and lack of human security and issues surrounding the Rohingya ethnic vulnerable group. The Dreaming Vendors depict an extraordinary horrific journey of Kamal and Fazlu, the sufferings and struggle for survival of two people who were seeking a better life against a background of lack of human security. Bangladesh Ambassador Kazi Imtiaz Hossain will be present to inaugurate this premiere screening at 7 tonight at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand.


Action Replayy – Akshay Kumar and mega-starlet Aishwarya Rai star in this sort-of Back to the Future comedy. It's about a young guy believing all his troubles will be fixed if he goes back in time to the 1970s and makes it so that his parents (Akshay and Aish) fell in love, instead of getting hitched in an arranged marriage. BollywoodThai screens this colorful comedy again this weekend, at SFX the Emporium on Saturday at 8 and at Major Cineplex Rama III on Sunday at 4. Check www.BollywoodThai.com or call (089) 488 2620.


Science Film Festival – Thailand's sixth Science Film Festival runs from November 16 to 30 in venues throughout Thailand, with branches of the festival being initiated for the first time in Indonesia, the Philippines and Cambodia, as the event aims to facilitate regional exchange and connect countries in the ASEAN region. This year the festival received around 170 entries from 24 countries, of which 47 films from 17 countries are screened. Participating countries include Australia, Austria, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Malaysia, Spain, Thailand, the Netherlands, the Philippines, the U.K. and the U.S. The Science Film Festival focuses on “family edutainment”, with an aim to explain the world in a fun way to young audiences. There's also films for audiences of all ages in the categories of “Ecology and Environment”, “Natural Science, Life Science and Technology” and “Culture and History”. The festival is organized by the Goethe-Institut Thailand, the French Embassy and the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology and is supported by the National Science and Technology Development Agency and Bayer Thai. In Bangkok, the screenings are at the Esplanade Cineplex Rattanathibhet, National Science Centre for Education at Ekamai, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Thai Film Archive in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, National Science Museum, the NSM Science Square at Chamchuri Square and TK Park at CentralWorld. Screenings will also be held in 26 provinces throughout Thailand.

Une aventure musicale, l’Ensemble intercontemporain – Documentary Film Month continues at the Alliance Française Bangkok with this portrait of the Ensemble intercontemporain, in residence at the Cité de la musique in Paris, and its 30-year adventure in contemporary music. Directed by Michel Follin, the film's structure is in the form of polyphonic architecture. Among the figures interviewed are founder and conductor Pierre Boulez, and Suzanna Mälkki, its current director, as well as other composers and conductors who guide the audience through the tours and studio recordings. It's showing on Wednesday, November 17 at 7:30pm and on Saturday, November 20 at the Alliance Française, with English subtitles. Take note that the documentary on prisoners' wives, À côté, will have an encore screening on Saturday, November 13, at 2 in the Media Library. Admission is free.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening November 4-10, 2010

Due Date


Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis are mismatched traveling partners in Due Date, a road-trip comedy by director Todd Phillips (The Hangover) that's very much in the same vein as Trains, Planes and Automobiles, Midnight Run and Phillips' own Road Trip.

Downey plays a "highly strung father-to-be" who is forced to hitch a ride with a goofball aspiring actor (Galifianakis) and the bearded man's French bulldog.

Comic mishaps ensue.

Michelle Monaghan, Jamie Foxx, Juliette Lewis, the RZA and Matt Walsh also star.

Critical reception so far is mixed.

Meanwhile, Phillips, Galifianakis and the rest of The Hangover crew are due in Bangkok soon to start shooting The Hangover 2. Rated 15+.

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Also opening


Brown Sugar 2 (Namtan Daeng 2, น้ำตาลแดง 2) – Three more young indie directors offer short erotic tales in the second half of the six-film Brown Sugar series put together for Sahamongkol Film International by Baa-Ram-Ewe producers Prachya Pinkaew and Bandit Thongdee. Here, Surawat Chuphol offers Lum Prang, Prachya Lampongchat has Trisadee Bon Toh Arharn and Anurak Janlongsilp has Khurak Bon Dao Loke. Prangthong Changtham and Arthit Amornvej are an aunty and a nephew in Lum Prang, which delves into the dark side of sex, in which a story from the past comes to haunt the victim and sex is used as a bargaining tool. Anna Ris and Narisara Srisant are two friends in Trisadee, which deals with surrealism. Rapat Akenithiset and Weerachaisriwanik Wannikkul are a working woman and a working man in Khurak, looking for the meaning of real love. The trailer is at YouTube. Rated 18+.


Nam Pee Nong Sayong Kwan (น้ำ ผีนองสยองขวัญ) – Nang Nak leading lady Inthira Charoenpura goes from playing the ghost to being scared by them in this swimming-pool frightfest. She teams up with ubiquitous comedian and actor Jaroenporn On-lamai, a.k.a. Kohtee Aramboy, as well as Kom Chanchuen, and looks like she's having a blast working with these two funnymen. Sai Inthira portrays Mook, a competitive swimmer who has a phobia of water ever since there was an accident involving other members of her swim team. She is then befriended by a guy named Charlie (Kohtee) after she's hit by Charlie's car and develops amnesia. The two then start seeing ghosts everywhere. The trailer is at YouTube. Rated 15+.


Paranormal Activity 2 – More ghostly goings-on are caught on a home surveillance system in this follow-up to last year's viral low-budget hit thriller. Here, a ghost mom is intent on taking her baby. Critical reception is leaning toward positive. At Major Cineplex, Paragon, Esplanade and IMAX. Rated 13+.


Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage – Similar to Pixar's Finding Nemo, this computer-animated feature by Belgian director Ben Stassen follows a sea turtles 50-year journey around the world in which he witnesses the devastation being wrought on the oceans by humans. In 3D. Rated G.


Action Replayy – It's Diwali, one of India's biggest holidays, when traditionally a huge Bollywood box-office attraction will unspool, and this year's tentpole is a time-travel comedy featuring the superstar combination of leading man Akshay Kumar and mega-starlet Aishwarya Rai. It's a sort-of Back to the Future, with a young guy believing all his troubles will be fixed if he goes back in time to the 1970s and makes it so that his parents (Akshay and Aish) fell in love, instead of getting hitched in an arranged marriage. BollywoodThai screens this colorful comedy starting tonight (Thursday, November 4) at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit at 8, also Friday at 8 and then at Major Central Rama III on Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 4, back at Major Ekamai on Sunday at 7.30 and at SFX The Emporium on Monday at 8. Check www.BollywoodThai.com or call (089) 488 2620.

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Also showing


The Ugly American – Marlon Brando stars in this 1952 Cold War thriller based on a 1958 novel by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer about an idealistc U.S. ambassador in the fictional strife-torn Southeast Asian nation of Sarkhan, where he battles for hearts and minds against the communists. Interestingly, this film was shot in Thailand, and Thai statesman MR Kukrit Pramoj played the role of Sarkhan's Prime Minister Kwen Sai and later on became the 13th prime minister of Thailand. The screening is on Thursday night at the Jim Thompson Art Center's William Warren Library, and will be followed by a panel discussion by Mahidol University and Thammasat University lecturer Sirote Klampaiboon and film critic and writer Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn. They'll talk on how the film relates to today’s politics in Thailand. The program is part of Revisit the Jim Thompson Era, a current exhibition at the Jim Thompson Art Center, 6 Soi Kasemsan 2 off Rama I Road, opposite National Stadium. The film screening is in English with English subtitles, and the discussion will be in Thai. The show starts at 6 on Thursday, November 4.


World Film Festival of Bangkok – The eighth annual festival gets under way on Friday with an invitation-only gala opening and screening of the Thai indie film Eternity at Paragon Cineplex. The fest then begins in earnest on Saturday, screening around 150 features and shorts from all over the world. There are many highlights, including Cold Water of the Sea from Costa Rica, which won a Tiger Award at this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam; the Taiwanese drama No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti, winner of four Golden Horse Awards this year; Insects in the Backyard, the debut feature by Thai indie director Tanwarin Sukhapiset; Au Revoir Taipei, a new romantic comedy from Taiwan and Crab Trap, Colombia's Oscar contender. The opening film, the arthouse drama Eternity screens again on Wednesday night at 5.40 at Paragon Cineplex with a Q&A afterward by filmmaker Sivaroj Kongsakul and his crew. Other highlights include a retrospective on French director Jacques Doillon and five of his films, among them his latest, The Three Way Wedding, and the New Turkish Cinema section with five features, including Honey by Semih Klaplanoglu. There's also Three Monkeys this year's Lotus Award recipient, Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The festival takes place this year in two venues, at Paragon Cineplex, where most of the films are in the digital format, and at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit (Ekamai), where the movies are on 35mm film and screen the multiplex's Cinema 3. Tickets are Bt100 and Bt50 for students. You can download the schedule from the festival website.


À côté – It's Documentary Film Month at the Alliance Française, and next Wednesday's screening is this 2007 work by Stéphane Mercurio in which she hangs around the men’s jail in Rennes, France, and its hostel for relatives – women, sometimes with their children, who wait for the visiting times when they can see their husbands, sons or brothers. It's showing on Wednesday, November 10 at 7:30pm and on Saturday, November 13 at the Alliance Française, with English subtitles. Take note that Juliette Binoche dans les yeux (Juliette Binoche: Sketches for a Portrait) will have an encore screening on Saturday, November 6, at 2 in the Media Lab. Admission is free.

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: 8th World Film Festival of Bangkok, November 5-14, 2010

The 8th World Film Festival of Bangkok introduces around 150 movies from around the world from November 5 to 14 at Paragon Cineplex and Major Cineplex Sukhumvit (Ekamai).

French post-New-Wave director Jacques Doillon and Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan are among the major figures attending.

The Thai indie film Eternity (Tee Rak) will be the opener.

Kriengsak “Victor” Silakong, director of the World Film Festival of Bangkok (WFFBKK), says the movies will be shown in nine sections: Asian Contemporary; Cinema Beat; Cine Latino; Doc Feast; Short Wave; Guts Nouveau; Music & Dance a la Carte, New Turkish Cinema and Retrospective.

There are several “must-see” movies in the festival, including Insects in the Backyard, the debut feature by indie director Tanwarin Sukhapisit, which premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival. It’ll make its Thai premiere at the WFFBKK.

Others are Red Dragonflies from Singapore, which has been awarded at many film festivals; The Well, a coming-of-age drama from India; Au Revoir Taipei, a new romantic comedy from Taiwan; Cold Water of the Sea from Costa Rica, which won a Tiger Award at this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam; The Famous and the Dead, a new teenage flick from Brazil; Curling from Canada, winner of two awards at the Locarno film festival this year; and A Film Unfinished, Yael Hersonski's powerful documentary that portrays people behind and before the camera in the Warsaw Ghetto during Nazi occupation in World War II.

Friday night's opening film Eternity (Tee Rak) by Sivaroj Kongsakul, represents the new blood of Thai independent cinema. His first feature explores the three stages of a man’s life, from his romance as a young man to the woman who will be his wife, then as a ghost wandering his childhood home and finally as a void in the lives of those he left behind. It’s a tribute to his father, who died when Sivaroj was a child.

Sivaroj is well known in Thailand’s independent cinema scene. His short films Always and Silencio have won prizes in various film festivals. He has worked as an assistant director for Aditya Assarat, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and Wisit Sasanatieng. Eternity (Tee Rak) premiered in the New Currents competition at the 2010 Pusan International Film Festival, and the World Film Festival of Bangkok hosts the movie’s Thai premiere.

The festival’s prestigious Lotus Award this year will be given to Nuri Bilge Ceylan, one of the most important filmmakers from Turkey. He's expected to be in attendance on opening night and for the screening of Three Monkeys.

Invitation only, the opening ceremony of the 8th World Film Festival of Bangkok will be held in the Infinity Hall of Paragon Cineplex on 5 November, 2010, at 6pm.

French director Jacques Doillon will be praised in the Retrospective section. He will attend the festival to present five of his movies: Touched in the Head (1974), The Little Gangster (1990), Ponette (1996), Just Anybody (2008) and The Three Way Wedding (2010) as well as a documentary about his life and works: Jacques Doillon – Words and Emotion (1998) by Anne Brochet and Françoise Dumas. This is a rare chance for Bangkok audiences to watch Doillon's films and meet the director.

He'll also give a workshop at the Alliance Française on Thursday, November 4 from 3 to 5.

With support from the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Tourism of Turkey and Turkish Airlines, the festival presents New Turkish Cinema, a section that focuses on five outstanding contemporary Turkish films: Envy by Zeki Demirkubuz, Kosmos by Reha Erdem , Vavien by Durul Taylan and Yagmur Taylan, Wrong Rosary by Mahmut Fazil Coskun and Honey by Semih Klaplanoglu.

Another exciting part of the WFFBKK is the poster competition. We received so many great poster designs and many of them are full of creative ideas.

As with past years, the closing celebration will have a “Celebrity Look Alike” competition. This year, with generous support by Thai Life Insurance, there will be the special theme “Vampire Party”, with participants urged to come dressed as their favorite spook. Get ready for the fun on Saturday, November 13 2010, from 6pm onward. There will then be the closing film, 2001's Love Bites from France.

The 8th World Film Festival of Bangkok will be held at Paragon Cineplex and Major Cineplex Sukhumvit (Ekamai) from November 5 to 14.

Most of the 35mm films will unspool at Major Ekamai, while the digital projections and screenings with special guests will be at Paragon.

Tickets are Bt100 and Bt50 for students.

You can download the schedule from the festival website.