Luang Prabang Film Festival 2011 announces program

The Luang Prabang Film Festival will screen 26 features in its second edition, set for December 3 to 10 in the former royal capital of Laos and UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The feature films have been chosen by the festival’s Motion Picture Ambassadors (MPAs) and aim to represent the best works produced in Southeast Asia within the past five years.

There will also be a program of shorts by filmmakers in Laos, as well as a collection of propaganda films from the National Archive. Additionally, visitors will experience Southeast Asian cinema throughout the week at exhibitions around town.

Among the selection, Thailand has the biggest representation, with five films curated by Bangkok Post film critic Kong Rithdee. They range from the Muay Thai documentary Lumpinee to the big-budget swashbuckling epic Queens of Langkasuka. There’s also the buffalo-rustling action flick Tabunfire (Dynamite Warrior), the country comedy Yam Yasothon and the childhood comedy-drama Panya Reanu. There's also Lao-Thai co-production Lao Wedding.

Here’s the selected films for the 2011 Luang Prabang Film Festival:

CAMBODIA (MPA: Chhay Bora)

• Facing Genocide
• Finding Face

INDONESIA (MPA: Prima Rusdi)

• 3 Wishes, 3 Loves
• Conspiracy of Silence
• Hip Hop Diningrat

LAOS (MPA: Michel Somsanouk)

• At the Horizon
• Lao Wedding
• On Safer Ground (special preview)

MALAYSIA (MPA: Amir Muhammad)

• Aku Tak Bodoh
• Khurafat
• World Without Shadow
• Year Without a Summer

MYANMAR (MPA: Myint Thein Pe)

• Hexagon

PHILIPPINES (MPA: Francis Joseph A. Cruz)

• Dagim
• Halaw (Ways of the Sea)
• Senior Year
• The Rapture of Fe

SINGAPORE (MPA: Wahyuni Hadi)

• Old Places
• Gone Shopping
• Invisible City

THAILAND (MPA: Kong Rithdee)

• Lumpinee
• Panya Reanu
• Queens of Langkasuka
• Tabunfire
• Yam Yasothon

VIETNAM (MPA: Duy Anh)

• Floating Lives

The list is subject to change at the discretion of the organisers of the Luang Prabang Film Festival, and the Lao PDR Department of Cinema.