WFFBKK '09: Belgian-Thai director is Somewhere Between Here and Now

Olivier Boonjing is a film director based in Brussels, Belgium. He was born to a Thai mother and a Belgian father and grew up in the German-speaking part of Belgium close to Germany and the Netherlands. Since he was young, his family has, as often as they possibly could, visited their relatives in Ubon Ratchathani in northeastern Thailand, his mother's hometown. That's near an international Buddhist forest monastery. Boonjing has been living in Brussels since he was 18.

His first feature film is Somewhere Between Here and Now, which makes its international premiere as part of the Cinema Beat program of the 7th World Film Festival of Bangkok.

A trailer can be found on the film's blog. Here's a short synopsis:

Louise comes back to Belgium after a long trip in Asia, but is reluctant to go home. She postpones the moment to come home. In Brussels North Station Adrian notices Louise. He is about to leave. Instead of taking his train, he follows her. Unlike Louise, he postpones the moment to leave. What follows is a backpacking trip through Brussels at night. They are in a moment in between, not yet gone, not yet arrived, in a huge transit zone, called Brussels. A place that makes surprising encounters possible, an inter-cultural, inter-national area. How to experience the home land as a foreign country? A reflection on travel as a state of mind, and home as a feel.

Somewhere Between the Here and Now premiered at the 2009 Brussels Film Festival where it won the Telenet Prime Award of Best Film (audience award). The World Film Festival of Bangkok will be the movie's international premiere.

Reviews, at eFilmCritic.com, Rogue Cinema and Quiet Earth, have been generally favorable.

Somewhere Between the Here and Now is showing at 8.15 tonight, with a Q&A session by Boonjing and members of his film's team. A second screening is on Friday at 1.15.