Teacher's Diary leads Tukkata Tong nominations

Via MThai.com

The Tukkata Tong Awards are still a thing.

At one time, these movie awards put on by the Thai Entertainment Reporters Association were Thailand's top movie honor.

But over the decades, the Golden Dolls, as they are also known, became mired in corruption, lost credibility and were eventually supplanted by the Subhanahongsa Awards, organized by the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand.

The Tukkata Tong Awards (รางวัลพระสุรัสวดี)  were revived some years back, but haven't been extensively covered in Thailand's English-language press, which is why I never noticed they were happening in the first place. Thank social-media like Facebook for cluing me in.

The reasons for the lack of media coverage are murky and very Thai, but are probably at least in part due to the prize's checkered history, which according to a Nation story last year, involved "a series of corrupt and unfair judgements, which in some cases saw the awards going to unfinished and unreleased films."

Anyway, while the Subhanahongsa Awards are now considered to be the "Thai Oscars", being put on by the leading film-industry organization, the Tukkata Tongs are probably closer in lineage and relevance to the Golden Globe Awards put on by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Film-industry folk appreciate any sort of positive recognition and think the Tukkata Tongs are still swell. So they will be turning up in their red-carpet finery for the awards ceremony on Tuesday at the Thailand Cultural Center.

The leading nominees are The Teachers' Diary (คิดถึงวิทยา, Kid Tueng Wittaya) with 15 nods, Chiang Khan Story (Tukkae Rak Pang Mak, ตุ๊กแกรักแป้งมาก) and Concrete Clouds (ภวังค์รัก, Phawang Rak) with 11, Timeline Jodmai Khwam Songjam (Timeline จดหมาย-ความทรงจำ) with seven and, The Last Executioner (เพชฌฆาต, Petchakat), which was snubbed completely by the Subhanahongsas, with six.

Other multiple nominees are The Swimmers (ฝากไว้..ในกายเธอ, Fak Wai Nai Kai Ther) with five, The Couple (รัก ลวง หลอน, Rak Luang Lon) with four, Tai Hong Tai Hian (ตายโหงตายเฮี้ยน), Plae Kao (แผลเก่า, a.k.a. The Scar), Phoobao Thai Baan E-San Indy (ผู้บ่าวไทบ้าน อีสานอินดี้, PBTB) and I Fine ... Thank You ... Love You (ไอฟาย..แต๊งกิ้ว..เลิฟยู้) with three. The documentary Somboon, indie rural ode Village of Hope (วังพิกุล, Wangphikul) and the wax-figure thriller Hong Hoon have two nods each.

Single nods went to 1448 Rak Rao Khong Khrai (1448 รักเราของใคร , a.k.a. Love Among Us), The Master, Mother, W., Sming and By the River (สายน้ำติดเชื้อ, Sai Nam Tid Shoer).

The complete list of nominees can be found (in Thai) at MThai.com.