Birth of the Seanama at Bangkok Fringe

The Bangkok Fringe Festival 2008 is on at Patravadi Theatre, being held on weekends for the next four weeks, and in addition to many fine performances of contemporary dance and theatre, there is a sidebar for film, which is put together by the Thai Film Foundation. The films will be shown over the weekends of February 2-3 and February 16-17.

One of the more important works to be shown, according to Limitless Cinema, is Birth of the Seanama by Sasithorn Ariyavicha. Here is what Limitless Cinema's Jit has to say to me about it:

I hope you will have a chance to go to see Birth of the Seanama in this Fringe Festival. I think this film is rarely screened. I’m not surprised many people haven’t seen it. It was shown in the Thai Short Film Festival in 2004, then it was shown at Thammasat University Library in 2004, then it was shown in the Bangkok International Film Festival in 2005. That means it may have been shown only three times in Bangkok in the past. So don’t miss this upcoming chance. The brochure says it will be shown at Patravadi Theatre on February 16 at 17.00 hrs.

The Bangkok Fringe Festival film program offers a mix of Thai and Southeast Asian short films and independent features. From Malaysia, there's Love Conquers All by Tan Cui Mui, which won the New Currents Award at the 2006 Pusan International Film Festival; James Lee's Before We Fall in Love Again, the Best Asean Film of the 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival, and the controversial The Last Communist by Amir Muhammad. There will also be a chance to see Stories from the North, the 2005 feature by Uruphong Raksasad.

For more on the schedule, please see Limitless Cinema in Broken English.

More information:

• Bangkok on the Fringe (Nation Weekend)