Wednesday, September 7, 2011

It seems like an eternity for Eternity


It's been nearly a year since Sivaroj Kongsakul's debut feature Eternity (ที่รัก, Tee Rak) premiered at the Pusan International Film Festival, where it won the New Currents competition and made Sivaroj another Thai name for world cinema followers to get acquainted with.

It opened the World Film Festival of Bangkok last year, giving the city's festival die-hards two screenings before heading back out on the road to win the Tiger Award in Rotterdam, the top prize at the Deauville Asian Film Festival and an award in Hong Kong as well as critical praise at LA Film Fest. In the meantime, Sivaroj went to France, where he took part in the Cannes Cinefondation Residency program.

Now, finally, Sivaroj's highly emotional, personal and spiritual ode to his late father comes home to Bangkok once again, giving the multiplex crowds a contemplative alternative to the cacophonous Hollywood and Thai-studio blockbusters as part of the Extra Virgin Director's Screen Project at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld.

Opening on Thursday (September 8), it'll screen until October 5, with showtimes at around 7 nightly plus 2 o'clock matinees on Saturdays and Sundays.

That'll be followed in October by another highly personal indie film in the Director's Screen Project, Hi-So, the sophomore feature by director Aditya Assarat, who just happens to also be one of the producers of Eternity.

Eternity is a quiet, tearful and homespun tale that captures a man's existence, tracing back from his lonely sadness in the afterlife, to his all-too-fleeting romance and marriage and finally to the wife and son he's left behind.

It is not to be confused with a much-bigger, much-gaudier film with the same English title released by the Thai film industry last year. But to further complicate matters, the same director that made that other Eternity last year is back this year, going head-to-head with the smaller indie film with another much-hyped Thai-film-industry tentpole release. It's an outrage, I tell you.

Calm down with me and have a look at the freshly cut trailer (embedded below).

Update: Eternity (Tee Rak) will screen in the London Film Festival, October 12 to 27.



(Via Pop Pictures)

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