Asian Cinema Fund backs Suriya, Interior, I Carried You Home and Boundaries

Four Thai projects are among the 31 finalists for this year's Asian Cinema Fund of the Busan International Film Festival.

Getting backing for script development are Wisit Sasanatiang's Muay Thai biopic Suriya and Interior by indie filmmaker Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit.

Suriya, which will be Wisit's first indie project since parting ways with the studio system after his last feature The Red Eagle, was previously pitched at the Ties That Bind workshops and at Cinemart in Rotterdam.

Interior, which "narrates contemporary family issues", will be the feature debut by Nawapol, whose Cherie is Korean-Thai won the top award at last year's Thai Short Film and Video Festival. His other shorts include Bangkok Tanks, Penguin, and Mr. Mee Wanna Go To Egypt. He also runs the film-activist group Third Class Citizen.

I Carried You Home by Tongpong Chantarangkul receives post-production funding. The "drama/black comedy" is about two estranged sisters two estranged sisters who take a journey with their mother’s corpse to her home where they will bury her. There's more about the project at the movie's website.

And the Asian Network of Documentary's DMZ Fund is supporting Where Your Boundaries Are by Nontawat Numbenchapol. The documentary looks at the hot topic of villagers near Preah Vihear, the Angkorian temple along the contested Thai-Cambodian border. Nontawat's previous films include the family portrait Empire of Mind, which won an award at the 2009 Thai Short Film and Video Festival, Bangkok Noise, Volatize and the 2005 skateboarding doc Weirdrosopher World.

The 16th Busan (not Pusan) International Film Festival runs from October 6 to 14.

(Via Film Business Asia, Screen Daily)