Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening June 16-22, 2016

Distance

Three award-winning Asian indie directors – Tan Shijie from Singapore, Xin Yukun from China and Sivaroj Kongsakul from Thailand – each take a crack at directing Taiwanese actor Chen Bo-lin in Distance
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The three-segment drama has the actor in different roles in stories that explore the notion of "distance" and what it means in our societies.

The producer behind this ambitious indie project is Anthony Chen, the Singaporean filmmaker who won much acclaim for his 2013 drama Ilo Ilo. He's helped out by Thai producer Aditya Assarat, who also wrote one of the segments.

Distance previously was the opening entry in the Golden Horse Film Festival in Taipei.

It's in Chinese with English and Thai subtitles at SF World Cinema CentralWorld, SFX Cinema Central Rama 9 and SFX Cinema Maya Chiang Mai. Rated 15+

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Also opening

The Nice Guys – Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe team up for this buddy comedy that is a throwback to a bygone era of Hollywood comedies. Set in 1970s Los Angeles, the neo-noir story has a down-on-his-luck private eye (Gosling) getting help from a self-employed enforcer (Crowe) in investigating the mysterious death of a porn star. Shane Black, the cult-figure screenwriter of Lethal Weapon, co-wrote the script and directs. Critics love it. Rated 15+

Central Intelligence – And Thai movie distributors and cinema chains double down on buddy comedies, with this one starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Kevin Hart. Johnson is a former fat kid who was bullied in school. He grew up musclebound and became a CIA agent. He attends his high-school reunion while claiming to be on secret mission. He and a motor-mouthed classmate (Hart) get up to adventures while they foil a terror plot. The director is Rawson Michael Thurber, who previously helmed the comedy masterpiece Dodgeball as well as We're the Millers. Critical reception is just starting. Rated G

Finding Dory – After more than a decade of enduring the endless pestering of talk-show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres to make a sequel to 2003's Finding Nemo, animators at Disney-Pixar finally gave up and made Ellen a movie featuring her forgetful blue tang fish Dory. She starts to have flashbacks to her family, and enlists her clownfish friends Marlin and Nemo to help her. She's then captured and taken to a marine research facility, where she has to make new friends to help her in her quest. Albert Brooks is back as the voice of Marlin with other voice talent including Ed O'Neill, Idris Elba, Dominic West and many others. Critics have all drunk the Pixar Kool-Aid. It's in 3D in some cinemas, including IMAX. Rated G

Udta Punjab – Four characters – a rock star, a migrant labourer, a doctor and a cop – fight the menace of drugs. Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh star. In Hindi with English and Thai subtitles at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit, Rama III and Pattaya. Opens Friday.

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Also showing

The Third Silent Film Festival in Thailand – One of the earliest vampire films, 1922's Nosferatu opens the festival at 8 tonight at the Scala. Live musical accompaniment will be by German composer and multi-instrumentalist Gunter A. Buchwald, with percussion by Thai classical musician Anant Nark-kong. Tickets are 200 baht. The fest then shifts over to the Lido for screenings from Friday until Wednesday. Tickets are 120 baht. They are all great films and are worth seeing on the big screen with live musical accompaniment – it is an experience that can only be had in the cinema. The line-up was profiled in a special post last week. For further details, check check www.Fapot.org or www.Facebook.com/silentfilmthailand.

Singapore Film Festival – The third annual Bangkok showcase of Singaporean cinema gets underway today at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld. Running until Sunday, the fest have five entries, ranging from 1997's 12 Storeys to last year's SG50 celebration 7 Letters. It was all covered in a special post last week. Tickets are free and will be handed out 30 minutes before the shows. For more details, check the SF cinemas' site.

Bangkok Gay and Lesbian Film Festival – The second edition of the BGLFF continues until Sunday at the Quartier CineArt. Lots of worthwhile stuff. The line-up and schedule were detailed in a recent special post. Tickets are 160 baht and 180 baht. Please note that there are no ads before the shows, so the films are generally starting on time, at least that was the case when I attended last weekend.

The Friese-Greene Club – American politics are still in focus tonight with Recount, an award-winning 2008 HBO drama about the 2000 presidential ballot recount in Florida. Kevin Spacey, Laura Dern, John Hurt and Denis Leary are among the stars. Tomorrow, it's Wong Kar-wai's drama of unrequited romance In the Mood for Love, which had Bangkok locations standing in for 1960s Hong Kong. And Saturday has a "not-so-classic" foreign film made in Thailand, Sacrifice!, a 1972 Italian cannibal horror that's also known as The Man from Deep River. And Sunday's film from 75 years ago is the Josef von Sternberg thriller The Shanghai Gesture. Next Wednesday is a documentary on U.S. politics, 1960's Primary, which recalls the Democratic nomination fight between JFK and Hubert Humphrey. Shows are at 8pm. The FGC is down an alley next to the under-renovation Queen's Park Imperial Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 22. For more details, check the club's Facebook page.

Alliance Française – Tomorrow night's French film with Thai subtitles is Il était une forêt (Once Upon a Forest), a documentary by Luc Jacquet, who later did March of the Penguins. Next Wednesday's French film with English subtitles is Alda et Maria (All Is Well), in which a pair of teenage girls escape civil war in the Congo and land in Lisbon. Shows are at 7pm. Admission for the general public is 100 baht.

Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand – The Contemporary World Film Series has one more movie this month, with Le meraviglie (The Wonders) at 7pm on Monday. An Italian-Swiss drama, it's about a family of beekeepers in the Tuscan countryside who have their quiet lives disrupted by the arrival of a troubled teenage boy and by a reality-TV crew. Directed by Alice Rohrwacher, it won the Grand Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. Admission is 150 baht for non-members plus 100 baht for anyone wanting the wine and cheese laid on by the Swiss Embassy.

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Take note

House cinema is still closed for renovations. The place was to reopen today, but work is taking a bit longer than expected, now lasting until June 22.

The European Union Film Festival kicks off next week at CentralWorld, running June 22 to July 3.

And the oddball Thailand International Film Destination Festival has finally got around to simply stating when it will take place. Drumroll please: July 4 to 13 at Paragon Cineplex.

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: Singapore Film Festival, June 16 to 19, 2016

Classics and more-recent entries from Singapore’s resurgent cinema movement will screen next week in the Singapore Film Festival at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld.

The Singapore Embassy’s third annual Bangkok showcase of the city-state’s cinematic offerings will have five films, from 1997’s 12 Storeys to last year’s omnibus 7 Letters, which was made to honor the 50th anniversary of Singaporean independence.

Others are the 2007 musical comedy 881, the 2015 thriller 1965 and the brand-new drama Long Long Time Ago.

The classic 12 Storeys serves as an introduction to Singaporean cinema and culture, with three interweaving tales that are set in one of the city-state’s ubiquitous Housing Development Board (HDB) apartment blocks. Directed by leading Singaporean filmmaker Eric Khoo, the characters include a fumbling middle-aged husband and his gold-digging young bride, an upright and a young man left in charge of his troublesome teen sister and baby brother, and a lonely, depressed young woman and her domineering, overly critical mother. Much acclaimed, 12 Storeys won the best film prize at the Hawaii International Film Festival.

Royston Tan brings the cheer with 881, a colorful, fun-filled musical comedy about the Papaya Sisters, a glitter-bedecked duo who race around the city performing epic song-and-dance numbers on the getai concert circuit. The childhood friends find themselves at odds as they are challenged by a flashier rival act, the Durian Sisters. Tan’s musical was Singapore’s submission to the Oscars and was a nominee for make-up and costume design at Taiwan’s prestigious Golden Horse Film Festival.

Singapore’s beginnings are reflected in a pair of dramas, 1965 and Long Long Time Ago.

Directed by Randy Ang, 1965 has a Chinese girl abducted and racial tensions coming to a boil in the months leading up to Singapore’s separation from Malaysia.

Long Long Time Ago spans the 50 years from 1965 to 2015, following a family as they move from the city-state’s mostly vanished kampong villages to an HDB flat. It’s a heartfelt and nostalgic dramatic effort from director Jack Neo, who is better known for his hit comedies, such as Money No Enough and I Not Stupid.

Finally, there’s 7 Letters, which features the work of Khoo, Tan and Neo, plus noted documentary filmmaker Tan Pin Pin, cult genre-film director Kelvin Tong and up-and-coming indie filmmakers Boo Junfeng and K. Rajagopal. The seven-segment film represents “love letters” to Singapore, with stories of its diverse people, lost love, identities, inter-generational family issues, unlikely neighbours and traditional folklore.

The Singapore Film Festival runs from June 16 to 19 at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld. Films will have English and Thai subtitles. Tickets are free and will be handed out 30 minutes before the shows. For the schedule and other details, check www.SFCinemacity.com.

(Cross-published in The Nation)

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: Bangkok Asean Film Festival, April 22-26, 2016

Movies from across the Asean Economic Community will be shown in the second edition of the Bangkok Asean Film Festival, which opens to the public on Friday at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld. It's put on by the Ministry of Culture, with support from SF cinemas, the Thai Film Archive and the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand.

The selection has recent acclaimed movies from all the Asean member states plus three "Asean Classics", films that date back to the 1950s and 1970s. The entries are a mix of gripping drama, romance, comedy, action and a moving documentary. Here is the line-up:


Asean Classics

• The Snake Man (Pous Keng Kang, a.k.a. The Snake King's Wife) – An icon of Cambodian cinema's lost "golden age", Tea Lim Koun's inventive special-effects-laden fantasy is the tragic story of a girl who is destined to be the wife of the Snake King. The doyenne of the Cambodian stage and screen Dy Saveth is among the stars, and she is due to put in an appearance at the festival. Made in 1972, the film was released across Asia, including Thailand. Unfortunately, the first 10 minutes are missing. Also, it is Thai-dubbed only and there are no English subtitles, the only one in the fest where that is the case. But it's still worth a look if you are interested in Cambodian cinema and weird B-movie fantasies.
• After the Curfew – From 1954 and directed by Usmar Ismail, this social drama is regarded as a classic of Indonesian cinema. It's about a former soldier who takes up a vigilante cause against corrupt officials.
• Manila in the Claws of Light – Directed by Filipino cinema titan Lino Brocka, this much-acclaimed 1975 social drama follows a young man who has left behind his rural hometown and work as a fisherman to move to the big city and in search of new opportunities and a better life. He should have stayed in the countryside.

Asean films

• Yasmine, Brunei – Not many films come out of Brunei. And Yasmine is only the second Bruneian film I've ever heard of. Even more unusual, is that Yasmine centers on a young woman who goes against conservative society to join competitions in the Malay martial art of silat. It won prizes at the Asean International Film Festival and Awards and at the Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival in Switzerland.
• 3.50, Cambodia – Chhay Bora directs this drama about Cambodia's illegal sex trade, as seen through the eyes of an American woman who is making a documentary film and becomes determined to change the country's cruel ways.
• A Copy of My Mind, Indonesia – Top indie talent Joko Anwar turns to romance with this drama about a woman who works in a beauty salon who falls for a subtitler of pirated DVDs. Their love turns problematic amidst turbulent politics. The film was in competition at the Venice fest last year and has been a frequent entry of festivals around the region.
• Above It All, Laos – Outside of the Lao PDR, it's kind of hard to describe how groundbreaking this film is. But it is the first Lao film to have a gay main character, a medical student who is struggling to come out of the closet to his strict father. It also deals with a young Hmong woman who wants to break away from the tribal tradition of arranged marriages. Directed by Anysay Keola, one of the leading figures of Laos' burgeoning film industry, Above It All premiered at last year's Luang Prabang Film Festival.
• Day and Night, Malaysia – This is a compilation of segments by three talented independent Malaysian filmmakers, who all offer their reflections on the state of contemporary Malaysian society. The segments are Trespassed by Ho Yuhang, Bite by Charlotte Lim and Bedside Manners by Yeo Joon Han.
• Kayan Beauties, Myanmar – The often-exploited "giraffe neck" women of Myanmar's and Thailand's tribal regions are thrust into the spotlight in this 2012 feature, which has been shown at many festivals around the Asia-Pacific and won awards. The adventure story involves three young Kayan women who take up the search for a girl abducted by human traffickers. The Nation has an article from a couple years ago.
• Taklub, Philippines – Brillante Mendoza, the chief purveyor of the gritty so-called "poverty porn" films of the Philippines, directs this documentary-style drama about families attempting to pick up the pieces after their community was devastated by Supertyphoon Yolanda in 2014. Veteran actress Nora Aunor stars. It won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at Cannes last year.
• 3688, Singapore – Celebrated filmmaker Roystan Tan's movies generally have numbers in their titles and tend to be musical tales about starry-eyed dreamers. His latest is about a parking attendant who wants to be a singer just like her famous namesake, the Taiwanese "queen of hats" Fong Fei Fei.
• The Songs of Rice (พลงของข้าว, Pleng Khong Kao), Thailand – Talented director and cinematographer Uruphong Raksasad wraps up a trilogy of farming documentaries with The Songs of Rice, which is a tuneful look at the rites of rice cultivation across the Kingdom. Winner of many prizes, Uruphong's film vividly captures such unique scenes as the water buffalo races in Chon Buri and the rocket festival in Yasothon, along with parades, prayer ceremonies, alcohol-fueled festivities and beauty pageants. It was one of my favorites of 2014.
• Bitcoins Heist, Vietnam – Ham Tran, who made his worldwide breakthrough with 2006's post-war drama Journey from the Fall, is now solidly part of Vietnam's commercial film industry. His latest is a high-tech action thriller about a disparate squad of crooks and con artists who are tasked with tracking down a cyber-criminal. Out of all the films in this fest, this is the one I most want to see.

All films will have English and Thai subtitles (except for Cambodia's The Snake Man). After Bangkok, the fest will travel to SF cinemas in Khon Kaen from April 28 to May 4, Surat Thani from May 6 to 12 and Maya Chiang Mai from May 13 to 19.

In addition, the Film Archive will have a special screening of the Asean Classics on May 1.

Admission is free, with tickets handed out at a special table 30 minutes before the shows. Line up well before then to ensure you get a decent seat. For the schedule, please check the website. For more details, see www.SFCinemaCity.com.

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: Bangkok Asean Film Festival

Yet another free film festival is upon us with the Bangkok Asean Film Festival, organized by the Culture Ministry and the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand. Running from August 27 to 30 at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld, it will present films from each of the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Noteworthy entries include The Last Reel from Cambodia, Bwaya from the Philippines and Men Who Save the World from Malaysia. There are even films from two countries that don't really make that many movies, Laos and Brunei.

Here is the line-up:

• What's So Special About Rina? (Brunei) – One of the first feature films to come out of the oil-rich Muslim sultanate on the island of Borneo, Rina is an enjoyable romantic comedy by Harlif Haji Mohamad and Farid Azlan Ghani. It centers on a sad-sack advertising man named Hakim (Syukri Mahari) and his ladies-man roommate Faisal (Tauffek Ilyas). Hakim nervously attempts to catch the eye of his new co-worker Rina while Faisal competes for the affections of a waitress, who is also being wooed by an Elvis impersonator. Read more about it in an article in The Nation from a couple years ago.
• The Last Reel (Cambodia) – This much-buzzed-about title mixes contemporary Cambodian culture with the country's cinematic Golden Age of the past, all tinged by the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge era. The drama involves a young woman (Ma Rynet) who learns that her aged, mentally ailing mother was an actress in the 1960s and 70s. Seeking to make a connection with her mom, Sophoun sets about recreating the lost final reel from one of her mother's most famous films. Mom is portrayed by Dy Saveth – one of Cambodia's best-known actresses and a starlet of the Golden Age. The debut film by Kulikar Sotho, The Last Reel has won several prizes, including the Spirit of Asia Award from the Tokyo film fest and the Black Diamond Audience Award from the Udine Far East Asian Film Festival.
• Siti (Indonesia) – Directed by Eddie Cahyohno, Siti is a 24-hour slice of life about a young mother who goes to work in a karaoke bar, against her fisherman husband's wishes, in order to support the family. It is filmed in black-and-white, in the old-style 4:3 ratio. Critical reception has been fair, and Siti has won awards, including best actress at the Singapore International Film Fest for star Sekar Sari and best script at the Shanghai fest.
• Real Love 2 (Laos) – Stifled for decades by the communist military rulers, commercial filmmaking is finally starting up in Laos, and one of the early adopters of this fledgling medium has been singer, comedian and TV host Jear Pacific, who last year made his film debut with the romantic comedy Huk Ey Ly, which offered various vignettes of young couples and their comical antics, all in a slapstick style designed to appeal to an audience whose main source of entertainment has been Thai television. The quickly made sequel Huk Ey Ly 2 offers more of the same, and it's been a big hit in Laos, which just opened its first modern multiplex, the Major Platinum Cineplex in Vientiane.
• Men Who Save the World (Malaysia) – Liew Seng Tat, who made his award-winning feature debut in 2007 with the sweet boyhood tale Flower in Pocket, returns with a satire on contemporary Malaysian society with Men Who Save the World. The story is centered in a remote village that is panicked by a haunted house, inhabited not by ghosts, but by a fugitive African immigrant. From appearances in festivals that include Hong Kong, Locarno and Singapore, critical reception has been mixed, but perhaps viewers with more than a passing knowledge of Malaysian culture will appreciate this film more.
• Golden Kingdom (Myanmar) – This is a drama, written and directed by American filmmaker Brian Perkins. It premiered at this year's Berlin International Film Festival, where it was a nominee for Best First Feature and the Crystal Bear Award in the youth-oriented Generation Kplus category. With many painterly, finely composed shots, it follows four young novice monks at a remote monastery, who are left to fend for themselves when their abbot is called away on temple business. Critical reception has been fair.
• Bwaya (Philippines) – A 2009 incident in which a girl was killed by a crocodile serves as the basis for this award-winning drama by Francis Xavier Pasion. Set in the Agusan del Sur water basin, the story involves a young mother (Angeli Bayani from Ilo Ilo) who is searching for her daughter's missing body. She has to navigate treacherous social terrain as she discovers that the worst predators are not in the water. Bwaya (Crocodile) has won many awards, including the Best Film-New Breed prize and Netpac Award at Cinemalaya and the Grand Prize at Tokyo FilmEx.
• 1021 (Singapore) – Despite a huge Tamil-speaking population, locally made Tamil films have been rare in Singapore, but there is a movement afoot to correct that. Following 2009's My Magic by Eric Khoo, now there's 1021, a family drama about a teenage girl who after the death of her mother goes to live with her father, a lonely, depressed man who has turned to drugs to cope. Local buzz has been positive.
• Latitude 6 – Thailand looks the Deep South for its contribution to the festival, with this drama that was released in cinemas in July. Directed by Thanadol Nualsuth, it weaves together stories in a tight-knit ethnically diverse community in Pattani. The characters include a Bangkok musician and computer technician (Peter Corp Dyrendal) who comes to Pattani to update the Islamic Bank's software. Along they way, he falls for a Muslim woman, who is the daughter of a stern, tradition-minded religious leader who frowns when he sees the guy's tattoos. There's also a young guy who wants to excel at Pencak Silat, against the wishes of his tradition-minded father, and a young woman who deejays for a community radio station, caught in a love triangle between two boys. And the Army's Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc), who produced this bit of propaganda, is there to lend an amiable, helping hand.
• Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories – Another selection from this year's Berlinale, Big Father is the sophomore effort from director Phan Dang Di, who was much acclaimed for his debut Bi, Don't Be Afraid. Set in 1990s' Ho Chi Minh City, the story involves a youngster named Vu who arrives in Saigon to go to photography school. He falls in love with his roommate, a shady guy who wants to involve Vu in various schemes. Meanwhile, the boy's father pushes a village girl toward Vu for an arranged marriage, and she becomes a third leg in an awkward triangular romance. In addition to taking part in the top-tier Golden Bear competition in Berlin, Big Father was also a nominee for prizes at the Hong Kong fest.

In addition to those 10 films, there is a hidden 11th title in the mix, Mart Payak, a made-for-TV biographical documentary on famed boxer Samart Payakarun, "The Jade Faced Tiger". Part of The Great Muay Thai Fighter TV series produced by Krungthep Thurakij and the Now 26 television channel, with support from the Culture Ministry, it follows Samart from his start in the ring as a boy and his rise to the heights of the Muay Thai world. It screens just once, on Wednesday night in a gala invite-only opening ceremony.

Following its run in Bangkok, the Asean Film Festival will travel to SF branches in Chiang Mai from September 3 to 6, Khon Kaen from September 10 to 13 and Surat Thani from September 17 to 20.

Admission is free, with tickets handed out 30 minutes before the shows. You'll want to queue up for an additional 30 minutes or so to ensure you get a decent seat. For the schedule, please see the SF Cinemas website.

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening May 21-27, 2015

Song of the Sea

A sweet traditionally animated feature from Ireland hits big screens this week with the Academy Award-nominated Song of the Sea, which is inspired by the ancient Celtic folklore about the selkie, mythical creatures that lived as seals in the ocean but could also exist for a time as humans on land.

The story is about a young brother and sister, who live with their lonely lighthouse-keeper father. They discover that their mother was a selkie.

Top Irish screen and stage talents Brendan Gleeson and Fionnula Flanagan are among voice cast.

It is directed by Tomm Moore, whose previous animated feature, The Secret of Kells, was also nominated for the Oscar.

Critical reception is overwhelmingly positive. Rated G

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Tomorrowland

Director Brad Bird, who previously helmed the Pixar animations The Incredibles and Ratatouille as well as Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, makes his return to the Disney fold with Tomorrowland, a promising adaptation of a theme-park attraction.

The sci-fi adventure story is about a curious teenager (Britt Robertson) who comes into possession of a mysterious pin that reveals a hidden futuristic world. It leads her to track down a jaded former boy genius (George Clooney). Chased by mysterious goons, the pair climb into a rocket-powered bathtub and blast off on a mission to uncover the secrets of Tomorrowland.

It's co-scripted by Damon Lindelhoff, writer of Cowboys and Aliens and Star Trek Into Darkness, and is inspired by a 1950s Disney theme park attraction, as well as Walt Disney's own optimistic dreams of utopian societies.

Critical reception is generally positive. In addition to screenings at conventional multiplexes, it's also at IMAX. However, it's not in 3D. So enjoy. Rated G

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Also opening

Paa Happy She Taa Yuh (ป้าแฮปปี้ Sheท่าเยอะ a.k.a. Miss Happy or literally "happy auntie") – Popular TV actress and product presenter Khemanit "Pancake" Jamikorn "goes ugly" for her big-screen debut, wearing a frizzed-out wavy mop of hair and funky mismatched baggy blouses and long skirts. She's Meesuk, a young lady who somehow manages to remain cheerful despite a run of bad luck that includes a heart problem and a doctor's diagnosis of one month to live. To survive, she decides she needs to just dance, with moves supplied by her gay best friend (singer Chalatit "Ben" Tantiwut). Rated 15+

A Little Chaos – Alan Rickman directs and stars as a droll King Louis XIV in this historical drama about the romantic entanglements of gifted landscapers competing to design a garden for the Palace of Versailles. Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Stanley Tucci and Helen McCrory also star. Critical reception is evenly mixed. Rated 15+

Unfriended – It's a bit of a twist on the "found footage" horror genre, with a screengrab drama that unfolds during a chat session on a teenager's computer. She and her friends are stalked by an unseen figure who seeks vengeance for an online bullying attack that led to a girl's suicide. This was also called Cybernatural, and critical reception is mixed, leaning slightly to positive. Rated 18+

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' – The villain Frieza returns with an aim to take vengeance against Goku and the other Saiyans. Another in a long-running series of popular Japanese manga and anime franchises, it's at SF and Apex, with the Japanese soundtrack and English and Thai subtitles at some cinemas. Rated G

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Also showing

Singapore Film Festival – Six recent films from Singapore are screening from tonight until Sunday at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld. Among the highlights is the dark satire Unlucky Plaza, in which a Filipino restaurateur spirals out of control and takes hostages. There's also Singapore's submission to the Academy Awards, Sayang Disayang, which was the first Malay film to be produced in Singapore since the city-state became independent 50 years ago. It is a drama about a disabled elderly widower and his slowly changing relationship with his Indonesian housekeeper. Other entries are Banting, about a Muslim girl who secretly becomes a professional wrestler, the quirky romance Singapore Girl, the thriller Ms. J Contemplates Her Choice and supernatural horror in Bring Back the Dead. Showtimes and more details are covered in a special post. Tickets are free, and handed out 30 minutes before the shows on a first-come, first-served basis. So queue up.

The Friese-Greene Club – Oh sure, you hear a lot about The Godfather or Apocalypse Now, but tonight's selection is probably Francis Ford Coppola's finest film – The Conversation. The top-prize winner at the Cannes Film Festival in 1974, it stars Gene Hackman as an obsessive surveillance expert. John Cazale also stars, in one of the five feature-film roles he played in a short but unrivaled career. Tomorrow, it's a British triumph at Cannes, Roland Joffe's 1986 adventure epic The Mission, with Jeremy Irons as a missionary priest to South American tribal people, and Robert De Niro as a slave-hunting mercenary who seeks redemption. Featuring a gorgeous soundtrack by Ennio Morricone, The Mission was actually a commercial flop, according to the FGC's desscription. The club is closed for a private function on Saturday, but the show resumes on Sunday with director Frank Oz's fun adaptation of the musical Little Shop of Horrors, starring a giant talking plant and Rick Moranis, with support from Steve Martin and Bill Murray. Next Wednesday is one more music documentary for the month, Who the F**k Is Arthur Fogel, a 2013 look at the little-known Canadian CEO behind Live Nation Entertainment, the company that has monopolized the rock-concert industry. Shows are at 8pm. The FGC is down an alley next to the under-renovation Queen's Park Imperial Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 22. For more details, check the club's Facebook page.

Cinema Diverse: Director's Choice – On Saturday, the second entry in this year's Cinema Diverse series at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center brings together two young filmmakers, Thailand's Aditya Assarat (Wonderful Town, Hi-So) and India's Chaitanya Tamhane for a discussion and screening of Tamhane's Court. The courtroom drama follows the trial of an elderly folksinger who is accused of abetting a man's suicide. “Court is very funny even though it’s not a comedy. The acting is very real. It could have been acted as a comedy but then it wouldn't have been funny. I laugh because the actors never let me forget this is a serious situation. That is the power of the movie,” Aditya says. A stunning debut film, Court won prizes last year at film fests in Vienna, Venice, Singapore, Goteborg and elsewhere. The accolades include the New Talent Award at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival. Along with the two directors, actor-producer Vivek Gomber will be on hand for the post-screening talk. There's no way to reserve seats – registration opens at 4.30pm, with the screening at 5.30pm on Saturday in the BACC's fifth-floor auditorium.

Alliance Française – Director Sylvain Chomet is best known for his animated features like The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist, but he turned to live-action for 2013's Attila Marcel, an oddball comedy about a dysfunctional young man who was raised by his overly-attentive aunts. He seeks to break away from his sheltered existence, with the help of an eccentric neighbor lady. It screens at 7pm on Wednesday, May 27, at the Alliance.

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Take note

More details are emerging about the Bangkok Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, which is set for June 5 to 14 at the Esplanade Ratchada. While a schedule and other details are being hammered out, there is a Facebook events page. It is being put on by Attitude magazine, which is also sponsoring a short-film contest in conjunction with the fest.

And yet another film fest has cropped up – the Italian Film Festival from June 2 to 11 at the Quartier CineArt. I'll have more details ready in a few days. It is being organised in part by the Dante Alighieri Cultural Association Bangkok, which has also been putting on monthly film screenings.

Next Thursday has another documentary screening at the FCCT, The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol, which accuses the South Korean authorities of moving too slowly to rescue victims of the 2014 ferry disaster. Hit the link and scroll down for more upcoming movies in the FCCT's Contemporary World Film series.

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: Singapore Film Festival, May 21-24, 2015

Wide-ranging views of contemporary Singaporean society are portrayed in six entries of the Singapore Film Festival, which runs from Thursday to Sunday, May 21 to 24 at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld in Bangkok. Marking 50 years of diplomatic relations with Thailand, the festival's selection offers romance, comedy, drama and even horror.

Tickets are free, and will be handed out to those who are queued up 30 minutes before the shows.

• Singapore Girl – In this 2014 romantic comedy, a Singapore Airlines flight attendant who has broken up with her boyfriend takes a vacation in Thailand. On Koh Samui, the quirky young woman bonds with a goofball young man, also a Singaporean who is also recovering from a break-up. They seem to get along, even though they don't speak the same language. Kan Lume (The Art of Flirting) directs.
• Sayang Disayang (My Beloved Dearest) – The first Malay film produced in Singapore since the city declared independence in 1965 was submitted to this year's Academy Awards, and though it didn't make the short list, the film did win several accolades on the festival circuit. Directed by Sanif Olek, it is the tender portrait of the slowly developing relationship between an embittered, disabled elderly Muslim widower and his Indonesian housekeeper. Frequently prone to burst out in song, the stout maid Murni remains ever cheerful, despite her employer's refusal to accept that her diligent daily preparation of the traditional spicy dish sambal goreng is as good or maybe even better than his late wife's.
• Banting – Sayang Disayang sparked an interest in more Malay Singaporean films, including this unusual sports comedy from last year. In Bintang, a young woman from a strict Muslim household secretly joins an all-female pro-wrestling team. Raihan Halim directs.
• Unlucky Plaza – For a change of pace, here's darkly comic satire about a Filipino restauranteur (Jeffrey Quizon), who is struck by a run of bad luck when his eatery has a food-poisoning scandal, he's on the verge of bankruptcy and he's hit by a financial scam. He spirals out of control and ends up taking hostages. It's the latest effort from cult director Ken Kwek, whose 2013 debut feature Sex.Violence.FamilyValues was initially banned in the city-state.
• Ms. J Contemplates Her Choice – Further examination of Singaporean society takes place in a thriller that features the screen debut of famous singer Kit Chan. A frequent guest on a radio show that offers advice on relationships, she is forced into a series of difficult decisions by an anonymous caller. Jason Lai, who did the award-winning short Three Feet Apart, directs.
• Bring Back the Dead – A young mother (Jesseca Liu) who is grieving over the loss of her seven-year-old son consults a former caregiver, Madam Seetoh (Liu Ling Ling), to bring back the boy's soul. This leads to strange and deadly occurrences. Released in January in the city-state, it's directed by television veteran Lee Thean-jeen.

May 21

• 6pm - Singapore Girl
• 8pm - Sayang Disayang

May 22

• 6pm - Unlucky Plaza
• 8.20pm - Banting

May 23

• 2pm - Unlucky Plaza
• 4.30pm - Sayang Disayang
• 6.20pm - Bring Back the Dead
• 8.20pm - Ms. J Contemplates Her Choice

May 24

• 2.30pm - Singapore Girl
• 4.30pm - Banting
• 6pm - Ms. J Contemplates Her Choice
• 8pm - Bring Back the Dead

(Cross-published in The Nation)

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: Salaya Doc 2015

With an abiding focus on Southeast Asia, as well as filmmaking and cultural preservation, the Salaya International Documentary Film Festival returns for its fifth edition from March 21 to 28 at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, and from March 24 to 27 at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre.

Opening film

• The Look of Silence – Director Joshua Oppenheimer continues to examine genocide in Indonesia with this follow-up to his Oscar-nominated The Act of Killing, which rounded up the lethal men behind Indonesia’s anti-communist purges of the 1960s. The Look of Silence centers on an optometrist who uncovers the identity of the men who killed his brother. Winner of the Venice fest’s grand jury prize and awards at many other festivals, The Look of Silence has been much acclaimed, and has even been made required viewing for Indonesian military troops.

Closing film

• Y/Our Music – Unusual figures at the fringes of Thailand’s music scene are featured in this indie doc by Waraluck “Art” Hiransrettawat Every and David Reeve. It journeys through the Isaan countryside and hidden pockets of Bangkok to survey an array of musicians, from the amateur maker of bamboo saxophones to veteran performers of traditional songs. The documentary premiered at last year’s Busan fest, and this week makes its North American premiere at the music-leaning South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas.

Special screenings

• Southeast Asian Cinema – When the Rooster Crows – Italian director Leonardo Cinieri Lombroso interviews four of the region's cinema talents: Cannes-winning best director Brillante Mendoza from the Philippines, Singapore’s Eric Khoo, Indonesia’s Garin Nugroho and Thai auteur Pen-ek Ratanaruang. It is generously sprinkled with clips from all the directors’ films, and has interviews with producers, critics and behind-the-scenes talents. I reviewed it at last year's Luang Prabang Film Festival.
• Flowers of Taipei: Taiwan New Cinema – Here's a look at the influential stalwarts of Taiwanese cinema, among them Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-hsien, and how they aided Taiwan’s transformation from a hub of cheap plastics manufacturing to a cultural and technological powerhouse. Artists and filmmakers from other parts of the world are interviewed about how Taiwanese cinema has shaped their work. They include Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul invoking his “film is memory” mantra, along with Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Jia Zhangke, Wang Bing, Ai Weiwei and others.
• Love is All: 100 Years of Love and Courtship – Rare footage from the British Film Institute and Yorkshire Film Archive covers this history of romance in film, from the very first kisses ever caught on film, through the disruption of war, to the birth of youth culture, gay liberation and free love. It's directed by Kim Longinotto directs, and Richard Hawley, formerly of the British rock band Pulp, provides the soundtrack.
• No Word for Worry – Norwegian director Runar Jarle Wiik looks at the fast-fading culture of Moken “sea gypsies” in Myanmar, and one young man's efforts to preserve it.
• The Wages of Resistance: Narita Stories – This is a followup to the series of classic documentaries by Ogawa Shinsuke about the farmers who opposed the building of Tokyo's Narita airport in the 1960s. They haven't given up, and are now fighting airport expansion. It's directed by Daishima Haruhiko with Otsu Koshiro, who served as cinematographer on Shinsuke's earlier docs, which I saw at the 2011 edition of Salaya Doc.
• National Gallery – And the festival continues to fete the esteemed 85-year-old “institutional” documentarian Frederick Wiseman. Last year the festival featured his At Berkeley and this year it's an exhaustive three-hour look behind the scenes of the revered London art museum.

Asean competition

• The Storm Makers – Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh, whose Oscar-nominated The Missing Picture screened in Salaya last year, produces this work by French-Cambodian director Guillaume Suon. It's the story of Aya, a young woman who at age 16 was sold into work as a maid in Malaysia, where she was exploited and beaten for two years without receiving any pay. “I should have died over there”, she says. The director then has a chat with Pou Houy, the notorious head of a recruiting agency who shamelessly admits he doesn’t care what happens to the women he hires, and that he’s only interested in profit.
• Die Before Blossom – Indonesian director Ariani Djalal focuses on two families during a decisive period of their daughters’ schooling in Yogyakarta, just as public education in Indonesia is coming under political pressure to include more Islamic teachings in its formerly secular curriculum.
• Lady of the Lake – Yangon Film School student Zaw Naing Oo directs this examination of Myanmar’s “cult of the nat” – spirit worship – in a village on Moe Yun Gyi Lake, in the country’s southcentral Bago Region.
• Echoes from the Hill – In northern Thailand, a village inhabited by the “Pgaz K’Nyau” – simple humans – is under threat. Their sacred belief is to remain in harmony with nature, even as they come into conflict with the Thai government’s attempts to build a dam and make their ancestral forest lands a national park. Jirudtikal Prasonchoom and Pasit Tandaechanurat, students King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang direct.
• Madam Phung’s Last Journey – Ageing drag queens lead a transgender carnival troupe around Vietnam. At each town, a pattern is repeated. Locals are at first enchanted by the entertaining visitors, but later at night, after the drinks have flowed, the scene turns ugly, and the troupe has to beat a hasty retreat. Nguyen Thi Tham, who spent around a year embedded with the troupe, directs. I reviewed it at last year's Luang Prabang Film Festival.
• 03-Flats – Lei Yuan Bin seeks to dispel the dull and drab image of Singapore's public housing program with help from three single women who have made their flats into spaces that can truly be called homes.

Please note that the screening schedule had not yet been completed when I last checked, and that this is only a tentative lineup. I'll aim to have further information in time for my usual update next Thursday. For more details, check www.Fapot.org or www.Facebook.com/SalayaDoc.

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: Salaya Doc 2014

The schedule has been completed for the fourth Salaya International Documentary Film Festival, which runs from March 22 to 29 at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom and from March 25 to 28 and on March 30 at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre.

Highlights include the Thai premieres for the Rotterdam award-winner The Songs of Rice and the Oscar-nominated Best Foreign Language Film The Missing Picture.

The opening film will be At Berkeley, a brand-new work by documentarian Frederic Wiseman. Running for four hours, it chronicles the debate over tuition increases and budget cuts at the University of California at Berkeley.

The Songs of Rice, the latest feature by Agrarian Utopia director Urupong Raksasad, will be the closing film. It was among a big crop of Thai films at this year's International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it made its world premiere and was given the Fipresci Award.

The Missing Picture, the first Foreign Language Film nominee for Cambodia at the Academy Awards, is the latest work by Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh to examine the legacy of the Khmer Rouge. It combines archival footage and uses clay figures of his vanished family members in a bid to reconstruct fading memories. It makes its Thai premiere in a special screening.

Another special screening will be Receiving Torpedo Boat (การรับเรือตอร์ปิโด), 1935 footage by Luang Kolakarn Jan-Jit (Pao Wasuwat) about Royal Thai Marines going to Italy to acquire a torpedo boat. The film was added last year to the Registry of Films as National Heritage.

The Director in Focus this year is Kazuhiro Soda, with screenings of two of his films, Campaign 1 and Campaign 2
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There will also be a selection of UK-produced documentaries co-presented by the British Council – Rough Aunties, Requiem for Detroit, Moving to Mars and Soundtrack for a Revolution.

Entries from Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have been selected for the festival's Asean Documentary Competition.
Two of them are by Thai indie filmmakers – Sivaroj Kongsakul and Wichanon Sumumjarn.

In Homeland, Sivaroj continues on the themes he explored in his semi-autobiographical debut feature, 2010’s family drama Eternity (Tee-Rak). The 23-minute documentary is about a schoolteacher who, after 36 years of instructing first-grade pupils, hopes to own her own home before she dies.

Wichanon, who made his feature debut with the semi-autobiographical documentary-drama In April the Following Year There was a Fire, looks at a young Isaan lass as she takes a job as a product presenter in Pretty Woman Walking Down the Street.

From Myanmar, Aung Nwai Htway dissects his parents’ marriage in Behind the Screen. His folks were film icons in 1960s Myanmar, but today Htway struggles to reconcile those glamorous images with the painful memories of his parents’ divorce.

The Cambodian entry Red Wedding looks at a legacy of the Khmer Rouge, which forced some 250,000 women into marriages. Directed by Lida Chan and Guillaume Suon and produced by Rithy Panh, Red Wedding tells the story of Sochan, who at the age of 16 was forced into a marriage with a soldier who raped her. After 30 years of silence, she brought her case to the international tribunal in Phnom Penh.

Another Asean neighbour’s past is unearthed in To Singapore, With Love by Tan Pin Pin. Her controversial film features interviews with the country’s political exiles.

The past also lingers in the Vietnamese entry, Mrs Bua’s Carpet, in which director Duong Mong Thu goes looking for memories and traces of war in Danang.

And Jazz in Love by Filipino filmmaker Baby Ruth Villarama centres on cross-cultural romance as it looks at a young Filipino named Jazz as he awaits the arrival of his fiance, a middle-aged German man.

Hit the following link to download the schedule.

(Via The Nation)

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening March 6-12, 2014

Mr. Peabody and Sherman

Adapted from the archly satirical and lovably goofy Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons made by Jay Ward in the 1950s and '60s, Mr. Peabody and Sherman is a feature-length treatment of a segment called Peabody's Improbable History, in which an urbane bespectacled talking dog masterminds time-travel adventures with his trusty adopted human boy, the awkward geek Sherman.

The story involves the bullied Sherman misusing Peabody's vaunted WABAC machine to impress his classmate Penny, and it is up to them to restore the space-time continuum. Mr. Peabody's time-travel adventures usually involved him encountering historical figures. Here, the characters include Sigmund Freud (Mel Brooks), Leonardo da Vinci (Stanley Tucci), King Agamemnon (Patrick Warburton) and Mona Lisa (Lake Bell).

Ty Burrell (Modern Family) is Peabody and kid actor Max Charles is Sherman. Other voice actors include Stephen Tobolowsky, Allison Janney, Dennis Haysbert, Stephen Colbert and Leslie Mann.

It's directed by Rob Minkoff, the animation vet who helmed The Lion King. Craig Wright wrote the screenplay. His credits include the decidedly adult TV shows Six Feet Under and the short-lived 2007 series Dirty Sexy Money, which he created. It's produced by Dreamworks Animation.

Although Rocky and Bullwinkle only ran during the height of the Cold War from 1959 to '64, it aired in syndication during my childhood. I suppose somewhere out there, Moose and Squirrel are still cracking kids up with their sophisticated satire and sideways-glancing puns. The animation may have been a bit on a crude side, but the writing was top-notch.

Previous adaptations from the Jay Ward franchise have not fared well. The live-action-animation Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle from 2000 (with Robert DeNiro as the evil Fearless Leader) wasn't that good. And the live-action Dudley Do-Right from 1999 fell flat off his horse. But Mr. Peabody and Sherman seems like it is actually pretty good – surprisingly. It opened in sneak previews last week and now moves to a wide release. It's in 3D (actual) in some cinemas. Rated G

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300: Rise of an Empire

Australian action star Sullivan Stapleton is the lead warrior in 300: Rise of an Empire, a sequel to the cult-hit swords-and-sandals CGI epic 300.

But he likely won't be promoting the movie because of a serious head injury he sustained when he fell off a tuk-tuk a few weeks back while in Bangkok on a break from filming the Cinemax military-action series Strike Back. Not much else is known about the incident, which happened while Stapleton was "exploring the town in his free time". The series' production is on a six-month hiatus, likely delaying its premiere for a few months or even until next year. According to film-industry sources, they shot around his remaining scenes in Thailand and are now on a break before resuming production in Hungary.

Anyway, 300: Rise of an Empire is based on 300 graphic novelist Frank Miller's unpublished Xerxes. It deals with what was going on with another band of scrappy Greek warriors while 300 Spartans were fighting and dying at Thermopylae. Stapleton is Themistocles, an Athenian general leading the Greeks in ab-crunching exercises. Eva Green is the the fierce warrior queen Artemisia and Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro is the imposing and much-pierced King Xerxes of Persia. Game of Thrones' Lena Headey is the Spartan queen.

Noam Murro (Smart People) takes over as director from 300 helmer Zack Snyder, who is at work on his Man of Steel sequel. But the comic-book fan Snyder still has a hand in, producing and co-writing the script.

Critical reception is mixed, leaning to favorable. It's in 3D (converted) in some cinemas, including IMAX. Rated 15+

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Also opening

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? – This award-nominated romantic comedy from Taiwanese director Arvin Chen stars Richie Ren and Mavis Fan as a couple with one kid who've been married for nine years. With the wife putting pressure on her hubby because she wants another child, complications arise when an old friend of the husband turns up and turns out to be gay. It premiered at last year's Berlin International Film Festival and was in competition at New York's Tribeca fest. Fan is a supporting-actress nominee for the upcoming Asian Film Awards. Critical reception is leaning to favorable. It's at House, Paragon, Esplanade Ratchada and SFW CentralWorld. Rated 15+

Gulaab Gang – An all-female movie is a rarity from any film industry, especially Bollywood, but that's what we have here with Gulaab Gang, which stars Madhuri Dixit as a woman who sets up a sanctuary for her abused and battered sisters. Armed with axes and sickles, these vigilantes in pink saris mete out justice while grinding spices and weaving baskets. Juhi Chawla, Divya Jagdale, Priyanka Bose and Tannishtha Chatterjee also star. It's in Hindi with English and Thai subtitles at Paragon and Major Cineplex Sukhumvit, Rama III and Pattaya. Opens Friday.

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Also showing

The Friese-Greene Club – Philip Seymour Hoffman is a skeevy schoolteacher in love with his teenage student in 25th Hour, Spike Lee's post-9/11 commentary of New York, as seen through the eyes of a drug dealer (Edward Norton) who is on his way to prison and is spending one last night out with his pals. It screens tonight. Tomorrow is the Soviet war drama Come and See. From 1985, Elem Klimov's film deals with the Nazi occupation of Byelorussia during World War II. On Saturday, it's 1975's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which is only the second film to win all five major Academy Awards. Sunday is the flag-waving musical by Michael Curtiz, Yankee Doodle Dandy, with Jimmy Cagney as the irrepressible Broadway showman George M. Cohan. Shows start at 8. The FGC is down an alley next to the Queen's Park Imperial Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 22. With just nine seats, the screening room fills up fast, so reservations are a must. There are sometimes changes in the schedule, so please check the website and Facebook page before planning a visit.

Singapore Film Festival – Nostalgia for the 1990s is being stoked this weekend in the Singapore Film Festival at SFX the Emporium. Two films are being screened, That Girl in Pinafore and Ilo Ilo. Up first at 7 on Friday is That Girl in Pinafore by Chai Yee Wei. Set in 1992 – the year the island republic banned chewing gum – four young pranksters enter a music contest while they chase girls. It also screens at 4 on Saturday. Showing at 7 on Saturday and Sunday, Ilo Ilo is the first Singaporean entry to win a prize at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, the Camera d’Or for debuting director Anthony Chen. It’s the heartfelt story of a Filipina maid (Angeli Bayani) who goes to work for a middle-class Singaporean family. She struggles to bond with the family’s bratty boy and please the domineering pregnant matriarch (Yeo Yann Yann) while the father has been thrown out of work, but is keeping that a secret. Tickets are free and can be collected 30 minutes before the screening.

Film Virus Double Bill – Two titans of Filipino cinema, Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal are featured this Sunday. Up first is Brocka's All Be Damned (Hahamakin lahat) from 1990. A social drama involving betrayal and revenge, it follows lower and upper-class couples in conflict. Bernal's Working Girls from 1984 is a contemporary urban satire. It was recently remade. The show starts at 12.30pm on Sunday. The venue is the Rewat Buddinan Room in the basement of the Pridi Banomyong Library at Thammasat University, Tha Chan. You'll need to show your I.D. and have it copied to gain entry. The best way to get there is to take the Chao Phraya River Express to Wang Lang (Siriraj) pier and then ride the ferry across to Tha Chan.

German Film Series – The Goethe-Institut Thailand's monthly film series offers the 2011 drama If Not Us, Who? at 3pm on Tuesday, March 11 at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. There is another screening at 3pm on Sunday at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya. It covers a tumultuous time of change in Germany, from the post-war late 1940s through the '60s, culminating in the German student protests of 1968. August Diehl stars and Andres Veiel directs. The film premiered in competition at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival and won the Alfred Bauer Prize and the Prize of the Guild of German Art House Cinemas.

German Film Weekends – Apart from the ongoing monthly German Film Series, there is also the Goethe-Institut Thailand's German Film Weekends from March 15 to 30 at the Esplanade Cineplex Ratchadapisek. The opening gala is actually not on a weekend, it's next Wednesday, March 12, with proceedings starting at 5.30pm, when World Film Festival of Bangkok director Kriengsak "Victor" Silakong will share his experiences from this year’s Berlin International Film Festival. Afterwards they'll show the drama Lessons of a Dream by Sebastian Gobler. It's about an English teacher (Daniel Bruhl) who teaches boys a new game – soccer. Other films will be Westwind on March 15, a package of Oscar-winning and nominated live action and animated shorts in Short and Sweet IV on March 16, Barbara on March 22, Cracks in the Shell on March 23, Hotel Lux on March 29 and 1950's Two Times Lotte on March 30. Shows are at 4pm. Tickets are free and can be reserved by phone at (02) 287-0942-4 ext. 80/82 or by e-mail, programm@bangkok.goethe.org. For more details, please see the Goethe website.

Alliance Française – Cyril Mennegun directs the 2012 drama Louise Wimmer, about a homeless woman who works hard to maintain her dignity. Corinne Masiero, Jérôme Kircher, Anne Benoît and Marie Kremer star. The show starts at 7pm at the Alliance Française de Bangkok. It's at the intersection of Rama IV and Wireless roads, opposite Lumpini Park in the former location of the Suan Lum Night Bazaar.

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Take note

All is calm in Siam Square on Tuesday night, as folks head in to the 9 o'clock screening of Pompeii.

Bangkok breathed a collective sigh of relief last Saturday when it was announced by the whistleblowing anti-government protesters that they would end their occupation of major city intersections and set up camp in Lumpini Park. The move came as deadly violence was ramping up around the rally sites and there was even talk of civil war. While joggers in Lumpini are inconvenienced, residents can visit the Pathumwan, Ratchprasong and Asoke areas without fear of having a bead drawn on them by snipers or blown to bits by grenades.

Now that it's safe to roam around, later evening shows have resumed at the Apex chain's Lido and Scala cinemas in Siam Square. They had been curtailed while the rally was in force at Pathumwan.

The end of the Bangkok Shutdown also clears the way for film-lovers to safely take part in an upcoming event, the Salaya International Documentary Film Festival, which runs from March 22 to 29 at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya with a concurrent program from March 25 to 28 at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. Among highlights will be At Berkeley by the great documentarian Frederick Wiseman and premieres of the award-winning The Songs of Rice and Cambodia's first Foreign Language Film nominee, The Missing Picture. Read more about it at that other blog.

Disney's Frozen is back in cinemas, in celebration of its winning the Oscars for animated feature and original song. The move was perhaps prompted by the viral social-media photo of one of the Thai animators who worked on the film holding the Oscar statuette. Many other Oscar winners and nominees can also be seen on the Bangkok big screen, including 12 Years a Slave, Dallas Buyers Club, Blue Jasmine, Gravity, American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street.