Insects in the Backyard in Vancouver's Dragons & Tigers, plus Baby Arabia, Mundane History and Uncle Boonmee

Tanwarin Sukkhapisit's debut feature Insects in the Backyard is in the Dragons & Tigers competition at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

VIFF's Asian lineup also includes the previously announced Cannes Palme d'Or winner (and now Oscar submission) Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, as well as Anocha Suwichakornpong's Rotterdam Tiger Award-winner Mundane History and Baby Arabia, the brand-new musical documentary from Panu Aree, Kaweenipon Ketprasit and Kong Rithdee.

There's also a package of Apichatpong's shorts: the sound-system cleanser Anthem, the whirl around Nabua in A Letter to Uncle Boonmee and the Mekong funeral of Luminous People. There's also Anocha's Elvis mystery Graceland and Aditya Assarat's Phuket.

Tanwarin (ธัญญ์วาริน สุขพิสิษ), recently spotted in a dress like Peggy Olsen from Mad Men might wear, handing out the best-actor prize at the 14th Thai Short Film & Video Festival (she also did the fest's "egg" intro reel), has directed several short and medium-length films. They include In the Name of Sin, Phone Mood, the R.D. Pestonji winner I'm Fine Sa-bai-dee Ka, the Pestonji tribute Where's My Doll? and the Revenge water-tank segment of the Poj Arnon-produced horror anthology, Tai Hong (ตายโหง, Die a Violent Death, also known as Still).

Her feature Insects in the Backyard is among an eight-film competition field of first-time feature directors: Don't Be Afraid, Bi! by Phan Dang Di (Vietnam), End of Animal by Jo Sunghee (South Korea), Good Morning to the World!, by Hirohara Satoru (Japan), Icarus Under the Sun by Abe Saori and Takahashi Nazuki (Japan), Kimu; The Strange Dance by Park Donghyun (South Korea), Rumination by Xu Ruotao (China) and Sandcastle by Boo Junfeng (Singapore).

The Vancouver International Film Festival runs from September 30 to October 15.

(Via Film Business Asia)