Thai films in New York

Shutter is playing at the Tribeca Film Festival right now, where it's sure to pick up some attention from the remake crowd, if it hasn't already.

There's also a short film called Enlightenment. It's all I found from Thailand when I did a search under the schedule.

Also in New York, recently, there was the second annual ThaiTakes film festival. From the looks of this article, it had a killer lineup: Tears of the Black Tiger, Nang Nak, The Adventure of Iron Pussy, Sayew, Siam Renaissance, One Night Husband and Fan Chan.

Actually, it's a bit hard to tell from the article what actually played. Not that it matters anymore, because it's over. But it's a good piece, quoting Chalida Uambumrungjit, of the Thai Film Foundation, and director Wisit Sasanatieng.

Thai films face external challenges as well -- audiences have become more attuned to Hollywood rhythms and story arcs than experimental ones, and cinemas often push even mainstream Thai films out of the way to make room for the latest Tinseltown Twinkie.

"Today's films have no creative signature," Weerasethakul told Asian cinema magazine Firecracker. "Thais tolerate so much that we absorb a lot of foreign styles: roman architecture, TV soap opera. So Thailand is increasingly a 'mixing bowl' and consequently I don't think Thai film has a clear identity."

Expect to see more Thai connections in NYC. Thai Airways is unveiling a 17-hour direct flight from the Big Mango to the Big Apple on its new lineup of Airbus A340-500 airliners.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)