In Bangkok, this week, it's April

After touring the festival circuit for most of this year, Wichanon Sumumjarn's experimental drama with the really long title comes to Bangkok cinemas for a limited release this week..

Here's the synopsis for In April the Following Year, There Was a Fire (สิ้นเมษาฝนตกมาปรอยปรอย, Sin Maysar Fon Tok Ma Proi Proi), from the movie's Facebook page:

Nuhm is a construction foreman working in Bangkok. The political instability in Thailand has made its presence felt in all business sectors. Nuhm suddenly finds himself out of jobs. He decides to leave Bangkok to go back to his hometown in the northeast of Thailand to attend his high school friend’s wedding during the Thai New Year in April, which also happens to be the hottest month of the year.

Nuhm reunites with his old friends at the wedding in Khon Kaen. He also runs into Joy, a senior from his high school whom he used to have a crush on, and is now an office woman. They exchange their phone numbers.

Suddenly, the film turns into another direction. Some interview footage of the director’s father and brother is included, and we learn that the film is a semi-autobiography of the director’s life. The character of Nuhm is, nonetheless, as much a construct as it is real.

From this point on, the film becomes the voyage of a young man into the labyrinths of thereal and the imagined, the documentary and the fiction, the past and the present – and notonly of his self but also of the Thai society writ large.

Produced by Anocha Suwichakornpong (Mundane History) and Electric Eel Films, it's the debut feature by Wichanon, who made his mark with the award-winning short film Four Boys, White Whisky and Grilled Mouse.

In April premiered this year at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and has played at many, many festivals since then. In addition to it's limited release in Bangkok this week, it's also one of several Thai films at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

It's in a two-week release at House on RCA, with showtimes for this week set at 3.45 and 7pm with Q-and-A sessions after the 7pm shows Friday to Sunday. It's Rated 13+.