Blood Maple gets cash at HAF

Blood Maple and the Passion of the Kid, the debut directorial project of Chartchai Ketnust, was awarded $20,000 worth of post-production services by Technicolor Bangkok at the Hong Kong-Asian Film Finance Forum.

Technicolor Bangkok also awarded services to Vietnamese director Chuyen Bui Thac for his project, Vertigo (PDF).

The Hollywood Reporter has the rundown on the other winnners, including Hong Kong actress Charlie Young, whose directorial debut Christmas Rose is being produced by Oxide Pang.

The third edition of Screen International Fair Daily (PDF) profiles Chartchai, who's been a post-production specialist for GTH, working on such films as Alone, Dorm, 4Bia, The Tin Mine and Final Score, for which he won the editing award from the Bangkok Critics Assembly. Here's more from the PDF:

The image of a student being stabbed in the heart with a wooden stick left an indelible imprint on the young Chartchai Ketnust. “It’s like the way a vampire is killed,” says Chartchai, who discovered the picture in a book about the October 1976 student massacre at Bangkok’s Thammasat University when he was 14. “My teacher was reluctant to talk about it, and so are people today.”

It is a desire for answers that has led the 31-year-old to make his directorial debut with Blood Maple and the Passion of the Kid. Set in the 1970s, Blood Maple is a drama about a young boy who makes enemies with his childhood friend when he discovers she is a communist fighter.

The project has found the backing of Sinsawad Yodbangtei at Bangkok's Pridi Phanomyong Institute, and Kamron Kunatilaka’s documentary production company Magenta Media Creation, as well as producer Pantham Thongsang.

It's actually started filming. With a total budget of US$500,000 and $330,000 in hand already, Chartchai was seeking $170,000 for post-production. The $20,000 award from Technicolor Bangkok means he's left looking for $150,000.