Apichatpong, sex and smashing watermelons at HAF 2013

A who's who of Thai indie filmmakers will take part in this year's Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul will be at the project market with Cemetery of Kings, "which follows a lonely middle-aged housewife and a soldier with a sleeping sickness".

Aditya Assarat, Sivaroj Kongsakul and Pramote Sangsorn combine for the three-segment sex omnibus Nude Project

And Anocha Suwichakornpong collaborates with Bosnian visual artist Sejla Kameric on ForeverAwhile, "composed of reconstructed scenes inspired by the fragments of their memories and lives".

Cemetery of Kings will be the first full-length feature from Apichatpong since his Cannes Palme d'Or-winning Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. He'll again be working with his Uncle Boonmee producers Simon Field and Keith Griffiths and his long-time actress Jenjira Widner, whose character is based on her recent real-life marriage to a retired German soldier. Here's the project synopsis from the HAF website:

In a small town in Thailand, 27 soldiers come down with a strange  case of sleeping sickness. An abandoned elementary school is converted to accommodate them. Jenjira Widner, a middle-age Thai lady who is married to  Frank, a retired soldier from the US, volunteers to tend to the sleeping soldiers.  She takes special interest in Itta who has no visiting relatives.

At the public library, Jenjira meets two phantoms who tell her about a buried cemetery of kings underneath the school/hospital. Jenjira is alarmed and feels more protective towards Itta. At the same time, the young soldier makes her heart flutter. Frank, her husband, becomes suspicious.

Jenjira’s fear and confusion trigger a strange dream that she shares with Itta, a  dream that involves a large unidentified creature on the Mekong River’s shore. Its  carcass leads Jenjira to Itta’s imaginary girlfriend, Phon, who revitalizes her with  the power of poems, remembering, and touching. At the shore, Jenjira fulfils her  fantasy of having a younger man begging for her love. Not far away, the dead animal is cut up. Its belly is full of marigold flowers in various stages of decay.

Check out the project synopsis from the HAF website for a detailed director's statement, in which he explains his inspiration comes from the "blanketing" influence of the military and the monarchy.

The omnibus Nude Project has Pramote, Aditya and Sivaroj each directing a segment based on a single theme: sex. "The filmmakers explore the nature of sexual desire and sexuality in different social contexts in Thai society," says the project statement, which gives detailed synopsis for each segment and further explanations from the directors, who take their inspirations from repressed and censored societal notions about sex and how parents set examples for sexual behavior.

Anocha collaborates with Sejla, a visual artist she met in Copenhagen. Their project, ForeverAwhile "will comprise a series of fragments, with each fragment’s narrative seemingly disconnected to one another. Some fragments will be short, lasting under a minute in duration, while some will be much longer. Some fragments will also be repeated, sometimes (but not always) with a slight variation."

Watermelons falling off the back of a truck and smashing on the road, footprints in the snow, hands setting a table and silent record player are among the images. The project, which aims to be a 60-minute film/visual art crossover, is produced by Copenhagen's DOX:LAB, the Center for Contemporary Arts, Sarajevo and Anocha's own Electric Eel Films. Read the project PDF for lots more details.

The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) runs from March 18 to 20 as part of the Entertainment Expo Hong Kong.

(Via Film Business Asia, The Hollywood Reporter)

Pen-ek's Paradoxocracy delayed over 'technical problem'

Pen-ek Ratanaruang and Prachya Pinkaew promote the Clap! Festival du Film Francais, set for February 13-20 at the Emporium, Bangkok.

Pen-ek Ratanaruang's forthcoming political documentary Paradoxocracy has been delayed, according to The Nation's Soopsip column.

It was set for release on February 7 at the Lido cinemas, but has now been pushed back because of technical problems – color correction and sound. The reason for the delay is not because of any political pressure, insist the filmmaker and his producer.

Soopsip says another insider points out that Paradoxocracy hasn't even been submitted to the film board for rating, so how could there be a censorship issue? "It's too early for that," they say.

Nonetheless, feelings of paranoia and fear are palpable, especially in light of such recent events as the 10-year prison sentence for an activist magazine editor and Channel 3's abrupt cancellation of the politically themed TV series Nua Mek 2, the reasons for which haven't been coherently explained. Add to that the banning last year of Shakespeare Must Die, and well ...

Nawapol's Year of June selected from Venice Biennale College

Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit took part in the recent Venice Biennale College – Cinema and his project, The Year of June, produced by Pop Pictures' Aditya Assarat, is one of three selected to proceed to the production phase.

The goal is to present the mini-budget, 150,000-euro features (debut or second works) at the this year's 70th Venice International Film Festival, which runs August 28 to September 7.

Nawapol won last year's Busan's New Currents Award and is in this year's International Film Festival Rotterdam Tiger Awards with 36.

The Year of June looks to continue his experimental efforts. Here's more about the project from the Biennale College website:

The Year of June [is] a "digital adaptation" of an anonymous school girl’s year-long Twitter stream. She deconstructs herself into hundreds of fragments and the filmmakers reconstruct them back into an imagined narrative. The result is a fast, funny, and fantastical adventure of a schoolgirl in the city of Bangkok.

In all, 15 filmmakers took part in the Biennale College. The other two projects selected for production are Memphis by Tim Sutton from the U.S. and Yuri Esposito by Italy's Alessio Fava.

The three production teams will take part in a second workshop, each working with a mentor-director and a number of tutors and trainers.

The Biennale College – Cinema is organized by the Biennale di Venezia in partnership with Gucci with support from Italy's Ministry for the Cultural Heritage and Activities – General Direction Cinema – and by the Regione del Veneto, and in collaboration with the New York IFP, the Dubai International Film Festival and TorinoFilmLab.

(Thanks Thongdee!)

IFFR 2013: Presenting Lublae and more

A still from Lublae, the one-minute leader by Anocha Sukwichakornpong.

The International Film Festival Rotterdam is now underway. As always, it's an important platform for Thai independent filmmakers.

In addition to two features – Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit's 36 and Visra Vichit-Vadakan's Karaoke Girl in the main Tiger Awards competition plus Pimpaka Towira's single-shot funeral The Mother in the Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films – there are several other Thai shorts.

There's a special one-minute leader that will precede each HBF Harvest film at IFFR, Lublae, a weird sci-fi short directed by a past Tiger Award winner, Mundane History's Anocha Suwichakornpong.

Here's more about it from the festival website:

Lublae is a district in northern Thailand that used to be known as the "hidden" land, due to its remote location; "lub" means "hidden" in Thai. Others say that Lublae is a derivative of Lublang, the name of the forest in the area. "Lang" means "evening" in the language of Lanna (an old kingdom in present-day northern Thailand) as the forest was so dense, it often got dark before sunset. Legend has it that the residents of Lublae were all women and that they tolerated no lies, no matter how small.

The ten women who appear in Lublae are friends of the director, all of whom work in the arts: among them are a film director, an architect, an actress. They walk through a field, torches in hand, searching for something. The beams of light from their torches briefly illuminate the soon-to-be dark landscape. The director likes to think of them as modern-day usherettes – while these ten women may be searchers, they also show us the way.

Watch it online at the IFFR website.

Anocha is also taking part in the Spectrum Shorts program with fellow Electric Eel and IFFR veteran Wichanon Sumumjarn (In April the Following Year, There was a Fire). Together they present Overseas, a 16-minute short in the Leaving Traces program. It's about a young Burmese woman working in a seafood-packing factory who is faced with pretty serious dilemma.

Another IFFR vet, Jakwaral Nilthamrong (Unreal Forest) presents Zero Gravity, a "visually and dramatically complex story set simultaneously in the present and the past, [which] returns to where a bizarre hostage situation ended in blood over 10 years ago. Almost every conflict in or on the border of Thailand seems to be dealt with."

Also of Thailand interest is Poor Folk, Myanmar-Taiwan-based Midi Z's followup to Return to Burma. It's a look at lawlessness along the Thai-Myanmar border and follows a guy as he's trafficked to Bangkok to begin a life of crime.

The International Film Festival Rotterdam runs through February 3.

Review: The Stunt

Veteran stunt coordinator Kawee Sirikhaerut and his team.

• Directed by Sathanapong Limwongthong
• Starring Panna Rittikrai, Kawee Sirikhaerut, Wych Kaosayananda, Prachya Pinkaew, Gary Daniels, Pangrit Sangcha, "Ant" Vatcharachai Sunthornsiri, Kecha Jaika, Nhong N.T., Thep Baanrig, Nung Pradit, Lalisa Sontirod, Nerun Sreesun, and Gary Daniels
• Special screening on January 20, 2013 at the Lido cinema, Bangkok
• Wise Kwai's rating: 4/5

Featuring talking-head interviews with the Thai film industry's top stunt doubles, coordinators and action directors, The Stunt is a worthy effort in giving these unheralded talents a much-needed voice.

Directed by Sathanapong Limwongthong, The Stunt pulls no punches in its depiction of the Thai action movie scene. The interviews are for the most part brutally frank, with the interviewees stating that it's difficult for Thai stuntmen because there is no guild. They also speak of a lack of unity because the scene is so fiercely competitive.

They also acknowledge the key role 2003's Ong-Bak played in jump-starting the Thai action movie scene and bringing it to the world stage.

The Stunt, which is made with support from the Department of Tourism, isn't quite a slam-dunk though. It suffers from an appalling lack of film clips, which would go far in spicing up the talking-head format. It's not that what the stunt players have to say isn't interesting, it's just that the parade of talking heads becomes dull after awhile.

The young director was quizzed about this in during the question-and-answer session after the movie's screening at the Lido, and he acknowledged it was difficult to obtain the rights from any of the major studios.

So what we're reduced to seeing are B-roll clips from such B-grade Thai action flicks as The Sanctuary and The Microchip, and there simply isn't enough to go around.

It's symbolic that a film that's so supportive of the industry is undercut by the industry itself.

Vatcharachai Sunthornsiri and his horse.

There's also the elephant that's missing from the room – Ong-Bak star Tony Jaa, the actor who did his own acrobatic, hard-hitting stunts in the rough-and-tumble "no wires, no CGI" style. While Ong-Bak director Prachya Pinkaew and Jaa's mentor and stunt choreographer Panna Ritthikrai – a hero to many of the other interviewees – are present, Jaa is noticeably absent. But really, that's okay, because it gives other folks a chance to be heard.

One of the most interesting figures is Ant Vatcharachai. He performs all kinds of stunts but specializes in horseback riding. Virtually any recent Thai movie that's involved horses has had Ant in the saddle. These include Tears of the Black Tiger and the King Naresuan epics. The interview is conducted with a corral in the background, and a horse, seemingly aware it's on camera, paces pack and forth behind Ant. Eventually, Ant saddles up and takes a ride.

One stuntwoman is interviewed: Lalisa Sontirod, who is better known as "Tik Big Brother" from her time on the Thailand version of the reality TV series. Her roles have included Kantana's epic The Edge of Empire and doubling for Princess Ubol Ratana in My Best Bodyguard.

Another major player is Suthep "Thep Baanrig" Chubsri, whose company specializes in rigging slings. Watch the closing credits for just about any Thai film, even ones that aren't necessarily "action" films, and you'll see that name scroll by.

There's also "Seng" Kawee Sirikhaerut, an industry veteran whose long list of credits includes stunt coordination on such Thailand-set Hollywood movies as The Hangover Part II and Rambo.

Other figures are Kecha Khamphakdee (Operation Dumbo Drop, The Red Eagle),  Pangrit Sangcha (Bang Rajan, Tears of the Black Tiger, Fireball), Pradit Seelum (My Best Bodyguard, The Red Eagle), Nerun Sreesun (Fireball, The Red Eagle) and Krissanapong Rachata, director of Power Kids and The Microchip.

British action star Gary Daniels also appears, and is full of praise for the professionalism, skill and bravery of Thai stunt players.

The most outspoken is director Wych Kaosayananda who's infamous for making one of the movies that's considered the worst ever, the Hollywood bomb Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. Aware of his infamy, he doesn't hold back at all, and states flatly that there have been no decent Thai action films since Ong-Bak and that the Thai industry still has a long way to go.

Stuntwoman Lalisa Sontirod.

Related posts:

• Documentary The Stunt gives voice to Thailand's unheralded stuntmen

Boundary to debut in Berlinale Forum

Nontawat Numbenchapol's Boundary will make its world premiere at the 43rd International Forum of New Cinema, which is a sidebar of the Berlin International Film Festival.

The Thai-Cambodian production, also called Fahtum Pandinsoong, pushes the hot-button topic of Preah Vihear, the ancient Angkorian temple that's perched on the border between the two countries. Nationalist Thai groups have protested the border demarcation that handed Preah Vihear to Cambodia, and used the topic to politically tarnish various Thai governments. There have even been military skirmishes between the two countries in recent years.

Nontawat's movie focuses on residents of the troubled border area. He received support for his project in 2011 from the Asian Network of Documentary's DMZ Fund.

Nontawat exhibited a related video installation and research materials in a show called DIG at the Messy Project Space in Bangkok. The show wrapped up last month.

The Forum line-up follows a previous announcement about another Thai film, Kongdej Jaturanrasmee's Tang Wong taking part in Berlinale's Generations program.

The Berlinale Forum runs from February 7 to 17.

(Via Film Business Asia)

Review: Khun Nai Ho

• Directed by Rerkchai Paungpetch
• Starring Araya A. Hargate, Akom Preedakul, Jaroenporn Ornlamai, Teeradate Methavorrayuth, Ray MacDonald
• Released in Thai cinemas on December 27, 2012; rated 15+
• Wise Kwai's rating: 2/5

For no other reason than it's funny looking, soap star "Chompoo" Araya A. Hargate wears a wig in Khun Nai Ho (คุณนายโฮ), the latest year-end comedy bonanza from M-Thirtynine Pictures and director Rerkchai Paungpetch. The comical bowl-shaped bob gives the usually long-haired actress the appearance of a mushroom, a fact that is later commented on with much venom by one of the characters.

Khun Nai Ho, a.k.a. Madame Ho, also has the international English title Crazy Crying Lady, which is literally what the movie is about. Sort of.

It's the latest in a long line of romantic comedies from Rerkchai and M-Thirtynine, released every New Year's holiday. They all follow the same formula – casting attractive young, popular stars with veteran male comedians who are usually in drag. All are incomprehensible tales, full of non-sequitur humor and take forever to get to the point. And they are, for some reason, wildly popular with Thai audiences. According to the latest box-office figures, Khun Nai Ho has earned nearly 80 million baht after three weeks, zeroing in on the industry's benchmark 100 million baht figure and ensuring that we'll get another one of these types of comedies around this time next year.

Like just about every Thai comedy, Khun Nai Ho starts out fun and full of energy, but quickly degenerates into a succession of headache-inducing nonsensical jokes, gay slurs and slapstick gags. The production design and costuming is candy colored and gives the movie a generally hermetic feel, more like a TV series. Much of it seems to have been filmed in a city park, where tiny roadways add to the fantasyland feel. The electronic keyboard soundtrack also seems to have been borrowed from Thai TV. And the storytelling is episodic, just like a TV series.

Also from TV is the star, Thailand's leading soap-opera actress, "Chompoo" Araya. She portrays Ho, a woman-child who wears her emotions on her sleeve.

The story follows her from childhood. As a schoolgirl she is bright but emotionally crippled. Simple requests from anyone cause her to cry. At school one day, the teacher asks the children what they want to be when they grow up. Ho's neighbor-boy classmate Doc says he wants to be a doctor, of course. Her long-haired guy pal Boyd wants to be a rock star. The little girl Ho says she wants to be pregnant, which earns her a severe reprimand from the teacher, who instructs Ho to wait until she has indeed grown up. The incident scars Ho for life.

Another life-altering occurence is when little-girl Ho is awarded for earning the highest marks in her class. She runs home, crying all the way, to tell her parents, only to be met on the front porch by her father and younger brother. Dad then breaks the news that her mother and sister have been killed in a car crash. And cue more tears.

Cut to years later, the adult but still childish Miss Ho is a teacher at her old school. She's still single and still a virgin, thanks to that traumatizing reprimand from her teacher years ago. Ho is also still handicapped by her overemotional state, which causes her cry all the time. Tell her some good news, she cries. Tell her some bad news and she cries even more.

Chompoo Araya is really the perfect choice for this role, because in order to work on Thai TV she has be able to turn on her tear faucet as easy as most folks turn the tap on their kitchen sink.

But one of the many problems with this movie is that Chompoo, despite being the star and central figure, is sidelined by various nonsensical subplots involving the supporting characters, namely her father, played by Akom Preedakul, a.k.a.  Kom Chaunchuen, and her gay cross-dressing brother, portrayed by Jaroenporn "Kotee" Ornlamai.

Kom's character is a retired military man who can't let go of his former career. He's haunted by an incident on the battlefield, and apparently suffers from terminal post-traumatic stress syndrome. Despite his unkempt facial hair, unruly mane and not-so-trim physique, he holds on to his military bearing and wears a uniform everywhere.

Among the shenanigans involving Kom's character is an outing to a paintball range with his old army buddies. It's run by Ho's wannabe rock star childhood friend Boyd (Ray MacDonald). The fun turns disastrous when dear old dad opens up with real bullets rather than paintballs.

Kom's character Nawa is also ashamed that his son is gay, and scolds the boy for dressing up in women's clothes, engaging in less-than-manly activities and having a boy-toy boyfriend. Kotee, as always, commits fully to the character, squeezing his rotund figure into tight outfits. A humorous aside is the "Yes! You Can Do" self-help videos Nawa records, offering tips on everything from makeup to robot dancing. At one point, Kotee strips to the waist, letting fly his large man boobs and corpulent tummy. The stunt earns him gales of laughter from the audience but does nothing to advance the plot.

Plot? Oh yeah. Plot. Eventually, somewhere toward the end of the movie they get around to that. Ho still desperately wants to have children but doesn't want to give up her virginity. However, her best friend, the dear old childhood chum Dr. Doc (Teeradate Methavorrayuth), is as it turns out, an obstetrician. He informs her that her eggs are dying, and if she doesn't get pregnant soon, she won't be able to have kids.

At the urging of her gal pals, she tries a weekend hookup with her supposed boyfriend, the paintball-range operator Boyd. But Boyd is simply too aggressive, and scares the tearful Chompoo off. Ray brings his usual dramatic intensity, but shows off his comedic range as he rattles off a string of insults when he breaks up with Ho.

The next likely candidate is her BFF, Doc. But will it be too late by the time they finally get around to being more than friends?

Unfortunately by then, time has run out and the end credits are running alongside outtakes involving Kotee's character and his self-help videos.

See also:

• Official trailer (embedded below)

Documentary The Stunt gives voice to Thailand's unheralded stuntmen

Before Ong-Bak hit the scene in 2003, Thai action cinema was largely unheard of outside Thailand, except perhaps for a handful of cult-film nerds.

Ong-Bak changed all that, spawning hordes of fanboys worldwide. With its rough-and-tumble, "no wires, no CGI" style, the movie made household names of star Tony Jaa, his mentor martial-arts choreographer Panna Rithikrai and director Prachya Pinkaew. Before Ong-Bak, Panna had toiled away in obscurity for years, making C-grade direct-to-VCD action flicks. But with Ong-Bak, an entire industry has grown up around Panna, who now runs a major martial-arts and stunt training center that's grooming the next Tony Jaa as well as the legions of black-shirted foes who oppose him.

Nonetheless, the lot of most Thai stunt performers has not much improved in the decades since the start of the industry, with no stuntmen's guild and sometimes a shocking lack of safety standards. Many stunt actors still grind away to earn a living, performing death-defying acts in live stunt shows in the Thai countryside.

A new documentary film, The Stunt, produced by Dream Maker Entertainment with support from the Department of Tourism, looks into the history and hardships of the still largely unheralded Thai stuntmen. It's directed by Sathanapong Limwongthong.

Interviewees include Panna and Prachya, and the documentary goes deeper into the industry by giving voice to several other players – "Seng" Kawee Sirikhaerut (The Hangover Part 2, Rambo 4), Pangrit Saengcha, Ant Vatcharachai (King Naresuan), Kecha Jaika, Nhong N.T., Thep Baanrig, Nung Pradit, Tik Bigbrother, Nerun Sreesun (Fireball, Red Eagle), Wych Kaosayananda and Gary Daniels.

The Stunt will screen on Sunday, January 20 at 2pm at the Lido cinemas in Siam Square, Bangkok.

Find out more by checking out the film's Facebook page and by watching English-subtitled trailer below.

Film Virus brings more Lav Diaz to Bangkok

Two recent works by the master of long-form black-and-white human suffering, Filipino independent filmmaker Lav Diaz, will be screened in Bangkok at the end of March in a program called "In Lav We Trust".

The films are 2011's Century of Birthing (Siglo ng pagluluwal) and last year's Florentina Hubaldo, CTE.

The screenings are made possible by Film Virus, the same loosely organized group of film-loving "sick people" who brought Lav Diaz and several of his films for a series of screenings in Bangkok and around Thailand in 2009.

The screening venue for the March 30-31 event is the Reading Room on Silom Soi 19 in Bangkok. The showtime is 1pm. Both films clock in at 6 hours. I advise getting there early in order to stake out the comfy spot you'll be occupying for the day. Perhaps bring along a pillow.

Century of Birthing has had festival appearances in Venice, Toronto and Rotterdam. It won the Jury Grand Prize at the 2011 Cinemanila International Film Festival.

Here's the synopsis from Toronto, which is reposted at Mubi.com:

Telling two seemingly unrelated tales, it is a grand meditation on the roles of the artist, the prophet and the acolyte. The first story focuses on Homer, a filmmaker who has spent years working on his latest opus — and still isn’t happy with it. Hounded by friends, co-workers and festival programmers to finish the damn thing, he resists every entreaty, countering a programmer’s pleas to send him the film with, “I don’t make films for festivals, I make them for cinema.” (The story plays a little like 8½, minus the surrealism and with a dollop of Warhol thrown in.) The second story concentrates on a Christian cult in a rural region — a group largely comprised of young women (referred to as “virgins”) and dominated by its charismatic leader, Father Turbico. When one of the longest-standing members strays, the impact is catastrophic for both her and the cult.

Diaz portrays both men as troubled and problematic figures, pressured to perform but also ruled by their own romantic conception of themselves. Father Turbico carefully primps himself before meeting with one of his disciples. Homer gives long interviews about the nature of cinema — Diaz, as if to indicate that he’s not convinced by his apparent stand-in’s rhetoric, drowns out the dialogue with industrial noise and almost-decipherable chatter. The characters are linked by public professions of fealty to their gods (Homer’s devotion to cinema; Turbico’s peculiar take on Christianity), and both have followers whose devotion proves to be less than healthy.

Told almost entirely in long takes that are alternately transfixing, claustrophobic and penetrating, Century of Birthing boasts exquisite black-and-white imagery. Indeed, it may be Diaz’s most entrancing film to date — and it’s certainly his most personal.

Florentina Hubaldo, CTE has had festival appearances in Rotterdam, Toronto's Images and Edinburgh. It won the NETPAC Award at last year's Jeonju International Film Festival. Here's the synopsis from Rotterdam, as reprinted from Mubi.com:

As no other filmmaker, Lav Diaz is involved with the suffering of the people of the Philippines, with its history of colonialism, corruption and poverty. A philosophical drama about the psychological effects of injustice and arbitrariness. Two poor labourers leave the city looking for a treasure.

Few filmmakers make films as long as those of Lav Diaz. Six hours is not even particularly long within his oeuvre. He has films to his name that are twice that long. And even fewer filmmakers would want to reshoot a film they’ve already made. Yet that’s what happened here. Lav Diaz shot a first version of Florentina Hubaldo, CTE in 2009 (when it was still called Agonistes, Myth of a Nation). Once he had a HD camera, he decided to shoot the film again. Another long film. Back to distant and inhospitable locations. It says a lot about this filmmaker’s commitment that he does not make life easy for himself when telling his epic social dramas.

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive degenerative disease found in individuals who have been subjected to multiple concussions and other forms of head injury. A variant of the condition, dementia pugilistica (DP), is primarily associated with boxing.

Individuals with CTE may show symptoms of dementia such as memory loss, aggression, confusion and depression which may appear within months of the trauma or many decades later.

Call for entries: Chaktomuk Short Film Contest 2013

In Southeast Asia's film industries, Cambodia is among those that are still struggling in the "emerging" category. The country at one time had a vital, much-acclaimed film industry, as documented in Golden Slumbers. But then talents from this Golden Age were snuffed or scattered by the brutal Khmer Rouge, and the Cambodian film industry has been on the ropes ever since.

Cambodian cinema has started to rise back up in recent years with more and more features being made and more young independent filmmakers coming out with new works. Last month's Cambodia International Film Festival, the third edition, featured several new Cambodian films.

Another new film event is the Chaktomuk Short Film Contest and Film Camp, which holds its second edition this year. They have a call for entries until February 28 for shorts in three categories: Southeast Asian competition, Cambodian competition and Women's Rights. Films must have been completed after January 2011 and entries are open to all genres except documentaries. Check out the website for further details.