Slice, Mundane History, A Letter to Uncle Boonmee and Lumphini 2552 will be featured in the 34th Hong Kong International Film Festival, which opened for businss yesterday.
Slice (Cheun), is a top nominee for both the Thailand National Film Association Awards and the Bangkok Critics Assembly, and director Kongkiat Komesiri won at the Starpics Awards. The gritty and gory crime thriller will screen in the Midnight Heat section, making its official "international premiere" in Hong Kong. The International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it was a "small film" with a 3.8 out of 5 audience rating, didn't count.
The social-class drama Mundane History (Jao Nok Krajok), winner of the Tiger Award in Rotterdam, is in the Indie Power section. The debut feature by Anocha Suwichakornpong, it's also in the FIPRESCI Prize competition.
Tomonari Nishikawa's experimental Lumphini 2552 Avant Garde Program I and Apichatpong Weerasethakul's A Letter to Uncle Boonmee is in Avant Garde Program II.
Mundane and Boonmee can also be seen at the upcoming San Francisco Asian American Film Festival.
The Thai presence at this year's HKIFF is bit muted compared to past years. One factor is that no Thai films are nominated for the Asian Film Awards that are held in conjunction with HKIFF. But Lee Chatametikool has an editing nod for Karaoke by Malaysian director Chris Chong Chan Fui.
It's a huge festival, with 240 films from over 50 countries. Hong Kong films are the big focus of the festival, which includes a Bruce Lee career retrospective, in celebration of the 70th birth annivesary of the martial-arts legend.
The fest runs from March 21 to April 6.
Great news! I will go to see Mundane History in my home town :)
ReplyDeleteCatch Slice too if you can.
ReplyDelete