Get your Wisit fix with the star-packed music video, Rao Pen Khon Thai

National reconciliation can be fun.

While waiting for Wisit Sasanatieng's Iron Pussy short film for the Pusan film festival or Red Eagle, feast your eyes on his star-packed music video for singer Petch Osthanagrah, "Rao Pen Khon Thai" ("เราเป็นคนไทย" , "We R Thai").

The celebrities come from all stripes of the entertainment biz. See how many famous directors you can pick out.

(Via Veen_NT)

Sudsakorn screening every Sunday morning at Film Archive

In memory of the late Thai animator Payut Ngaokrachang, the Thai Film Archive in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom will screen his feature The Adventure of Sudsakorn (สุดสาคร) at 11am every Sunday from July 11 until October 3.

For now, it screens on Thai DVD only, with no English subtitles.

The story is based on an episode from Phra Aphai Mani, a 30,000-line epic poem by Sunthorn Phu, and depicts the fantastic adventures of the young son of a mermaid and a minstrel prince. The boy hero tames a dragon horse and encounters various characters in his travels.

Thailand's first animated feature, most of the intensely detailed work on it was done by Payut single-handedly, damaging his eyesight in the process.

It was his only feature film, and remains Thailand's sole cel-animated feature film.

Yet Payut's legacy is strong. The Ngaokrachang Prize for Animation at the annual Thai Short Film & Video Festival is a silver medallion designed by him, and dutifully presented to the winners up until last year.

Payut died on May 27 of this year at the age of 81.

For more details, call (02) 482 2013-14, ext 111.

Luang Prabang Film Festival set for December 4 to 11

The Luang Prabang Film Festival is set for December 4 to 11 with plans to present more than 30 films from Southeast Asia.

Marking the 35th anniversary of the Lao PDR and Luang Prabang's 15th year on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list, the free screenings will take place in two outdoor venues in the old royal capital of Laos.

After the festival, four films will tour other provinces in Laos, with screenings held over two-night stops in each city.

Project goals include encouraging and celebrating filmmaking in Southeast Asia, stimulating a film industry in Laos, educating Laotians about the art of film and also media literacy, inspire young Laotians to enter the film industry and support the local economy through tourism.

Check the website LPFilmFest.org over the coming months for more about the films.

Poj Arnon went to South Korea and all he brought back was a movie

Poj Arnon's South Korean movie Sorry Saranghaeyo looks like it's gone through a few changes since it was first mentioned earlier this year.

In an early trailer, it appeared to be a romance that was (mostly) heavy on the melodrama, with lots of crying in the snowy mountain landscapes.

A new trailer (embedded below) has a solid dose of comedy added.

The movie has a rejigged name too, Kao Rak Thee Korea (เการัก ที่เกาหลี), though from what I can tell, Sorry Saranghaeyo (Sorry ซารังเฮโย) remains in the title.

The story has a Thai family going to South Korea to visit the locations of their favorite TV dramas and movies.

One sister Kana (Haru Yamagushi) hopes to glimpse her favorite pop star, Ajoo (Noh Ah-joo). She's in for heartbreak while her guy pal Chai ("Guy" Ratchanon Sukprakob) is there to comfort her but secretly loves her.

Meanwhile Kana's sister Mara (Tanya Ratnamalakun) wants to indulge in another favorite activity of Thai hi-so's: She wants cosmetic surgery, for reasons that are obvious to anyone who can relate to being shallow, vain and image conscious.

During production, there was behind-the-scenes drama between Poj and Guy, who's one of the young actors in his talent-agency stable. Guy had asked to return to Thailand early so he could take a role in a soap opera on Channel 7. Poj saw that as a good opportunity for his star.

But then it emerged that Guy had signed a contract with Exact, another production company, which made Poj unhappy.

Anyway, words were exchanged, and Guy said that was the reason he was demoted from the lead role in Sorry Saranghaeyo to a supporting player, though Poj denies that was the reason.

Or maybe it was the reason. Or maybe the whole "argument" was stage-managed to drum up publicity for the film?

I don't understand what it was all about. Guy is still in the movie, is featured prominently on the posters, in the production stills and in the trailer, and his name is mentioned in the synopsis.

Sorry Saranghaeyo opens tomorrow.

Apichatpong-a-rama: Uncle Boonmee picked up for U.S. release by Strand

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives has been secured for U.S. distribution by Strand Releasing.

The release is set for spring 2011.

The deal was struck between Strand's Jon Gerrans and Michael Weber of Germany's the Match Factory, which is Boonmee's world sales agent.

"We're thrilled to be working on this film and am so happy to continue our long and on-going relationship with both a colleague and friend that we call Joe," Marcus Hu of Strand Releasing is quoted as saying in a statement on IndieWire.

The Match Factory has previously closed deals for Boonmee in around 20 territories, including the U.K. and Canada. Film Business Asia has a rundown of all those.

Strand has previously released three of Apichatpong's films in the U.S.: 2002's Blissfully Yours, 2004's Tropical Malady and 2006's Syndromes and a Century.

Apichatpong's first feature, 2000's Mysterious Object at Noon, was released in the U.S. by Plexifilm.

Los Angeles Times blogger Steven Zeitchick offers his view of how much Uncle Boonmee might earn in the U.S., where previous Cannes Palme d'Or winners have generally made around $4 million:

Strand released several of Weerasethakul’s previous movies, including Syndromes and a Century, to very minimal commercial effect. And although this film is more accessible than some of his earlier work, it has a less marketable conceit than some of the previous Palme winners. Strand, God bless it, may nonetheless be in a tough spot to push it; one could have imagined another distributor coming in and spending (marginally) more money.

One hope that I have for the Strand release of Boonmee is that the company will take care in how it presents the English subtitles. The Strand release of Syndromes is marred by the subtitles, which are hard-burned and presented in an extremely large, obtrusive type. Great for reading, but horrible for the watching the film.

Before next year's U.S. release, which film festival in North America will be the first to have Boonmee?

(Via Chaisiri)

Bangkok IndieFest announces lineup, features the Last Elephants in Thailand

The first Bangkok IndieFest, set for next month, has announced its lineup, with around 80 shorts and features planned.

Among the films will be The Last Elephants in Thailand, a documentary by Donald Tayloe and Michelle Mizner on sad welfare of Thailand's pachyderms.

"Elephants have been used to promote tourism in Thailand, but little have they been helped," says Soraida Salwala, of Friends of the Asian Elephant and founder of the world's first elephant hospital.

She appears in the trailer at YouTube. It's embedded below.

Other films in the IndieFest lineup include Drown by Nottapon Boonprakob and Suck 3/2 Seed by Siwawut Sewatanon.

Bangkok IndieFest 1.0 runs from August 6 to 8 at HOF Art.

Apichatpong-a-rama: A Primitive utopia, Letter in Berlin and Montreal, congratulations from Foreign Minister

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Primitive art project is covered in the latest issue of Chroma.

The article is illustrated by super-saturated images from the Primitive art book produced by Cujo, which is another platform in the massive art project that includes the seven-channel Primitive video-art installation, the short films A Letter to Uncle Boonmee and Phantoms of Nabua and the feature, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.

The launch of latest issue of Chroma, held on Friday in London, was at the BFI Southbank, where Phantoms of Nabua is installed until Saturday.

Here's a snip from a blog post about the article and the magazine's theme of "Utopia":

During an on-stage conversation at the BFI (which he nearly couldn’t attend due to the closure of the British Embassy in Thailand during the red-shirt protests, and due to the Home Office’s highly restrictive artist visa rules – reminders that we live far short of utopia) shortly after his win at Cannes, Apichatpong said that he’d become interested in Boonmee as a teenager, after hearing about him from a priest in Khon Kaen where he grew up. It was when he travelled to the village of Nabua, in the Isan province in the north-east of Thailand, that Apichatpong was reminded of Boonmee, a resident of Isan. His interest in Boonmee was, literally, reincarnated through his work with the young men of Nabua, a generation raised fatherless after an infamous conflict. As Apichatpong notes, “This small village was one of the places the Thai army occupied from the 60s to the early 80s to curb the communist insurgents. The soldiers erected a base to administer the villagers' daily activities. The locals were psychologically and physically abused on the grounds of withholding information. Women were raped. Some were murdered in their homes. Consequently, the villagers, mostly farmers, fled into the jungle. Most of them didn't understand the word Communism though they were accused of being communists,” leading to the gun battle that sparked a long-running conflict. Working over several months with the young men, Apichatpong created Primitive, a video installation that fuses their relationship with their absent fathers (and with the current Thai government) with the story of Boonmee’s reincarnations.

Meanwhile, the 20-minute A Letter to Uncle Boonmee, which features that smoking wooden spaceship getting ready to take off from its launchpad in Nabua, is in Berlin until Sunday at the Rencontres Internationales.

And Letter is at Montreal's Cinéma du Parc until July 8, where it's been playing before Blissfully Yours and Syndromes and a Century.

Back in Thailand, the Cannes Golden Palme winner Uncle Who Can Recall His Past Lives is continuing to be the talk of the town, with Foreign Affairs Minister Kasit Piromya getting in on the act of holding a reception to congratulate Apichatpong. Here's part of a press release about the felicitations on Monday:

The Foreign Minister congratulated Mr. Apichatpong on receiving such a prestigious award and commended him for propelling the Thai film industry to the international level. He also stated that by making movies with a universal message, Thailand can ride on the wave of globalization and expand its reputation to include movies in addition to the Kingdom’s famous hospitality and cuisine. The Foreign Minister also highlighted the importance of creating an atmosphere that is amicable to those with talent and vision. He mentioned the role of the Royal Thai Embassies and Consulates-General as coordinators and promoters of cultural affairs, emphasizing the uniqueness of thai culture, which is a part of Thailand’s integrated foreign policy.

Mr. Apichatpong thanked Foreign Minister Kasit for hosting the event and agreed with the Foreign Minister that movies and films are another way to further enhance understanding between cultures and nations. He also expressed his appreciation for the Foreign Ministry’s assistance in the past and looked forward to working with the Ministry to promote the Thai culture in the future.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives is still pulling in the crowds in its limited screening at Bangkok's SFX the Emporium multiplex. A co-worker hit a showing at mid-week and had to sit down front because the entire back section was taken up with eager moviegoers.

With the success of Uncle Boonmee, Apichatpong is looking at possibly re-submitting his previous feature, Syndromes and a Century, for another run past the censors who in 2008, before Thailand's motion-picture ratings system came into effect, ordered that six scenes be cut. Earlier, Apichatpong had said he didn't think it was worth the trouble to try and show Syndromes uncut, but the outpouring of interest in Uncle Boonmee now perhaps makes him think otherwise.

(Via Animate Projects)

On DVD in Thailand: The Rebel

The cast and crew of the Vietnamese action drama The Rebel were arguably the biggest, most glamorous stars to hit the 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival.

Star Johnny Tri Nguyen, a Hollywood martial-arts stuntman who's doubled for the likes of Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man, was already well known to Thai audiences for his role as the villain in Tony Jaa's Tom Yum Goong (a.k.a. The Protector).

As they strutted the red carpet, answered questions at press conferences and mingled with the crowds, the chemistry between Johnny and his leading lady in The Rebel, Vietnamese singer and model "Veronica" Ngo Thanh Van, was evident.

Then add the pure star power of Dustin Nguyen, the '80s teen heartthrob who came up alongside Johnny Depp on 21 Jump Street. He was relaxed as he amiably chatted with me at a press conference, talking about Vietnamese and Thai cinema.

And then I saw The Rebel, and I was thrilled by the bone-breaking (literally!) martial-arts stunts, fluid choreography, high production values and the dedication to the story.

Directed by Truc "Charlie" Nguyen – also a super nice guy and fun to talk with – The Rebel is set in French colonial Vietnam of the 1920s. The story has Johnny as a Vietnamese-French secret policeman who switches sides and takes up the cause of the peasant rebels, in the process falling in love with the plucky heroine, played by Ngo.

Dustin, who at the time was coming off a critically acclaimed performance with Cate Blanchett in the drug-addiction drama Little Fish (in which he plays a guy named Jonny Nguyen), plays the invincible black-hearted villain with obvious relish. It was his first martial-arts role and first time as the bad guy.

Ngo broke a foot during the production but kept going.

Having recently watched Johnny's and Ngo's sophomore collaboration in Clash (Bay Rong), I was eager to revisit The Rebel, so I readily snapped it up off the shelf when I saw it last weekend in a Bangkok high-end shopping mall's DVD shop.

Thai distributor United Home Entertainment has picked up the version from Dragon Dynasty. None of The Weinstein Company's plentiful special features are offered, so no commentary track with Bey Logan and the gang. United only offers a few trailers for some of the other current movies they are distributing, like Kick-Ass. But there is the decent English dub done for Dragon Dynasty by the three stars. The Region 3 PAL disc also has a Thai dub and English and Thai subtitles; no original Vietnamese soundtrack though.

Without that ton of extras on the Region 1 Dragon Dynasty disc, I'm not certain how much of a bargain the Thai version is, but it's available from eThaiCD.

Hi-So, Eternity, Baby Arabia among projects added to Strong Thailand fund

Aditya Assarat's High Society, Panu Aree's, Kaweenipon Ketprasit's and Kong Rithdee's Baby Arabia and Sivaroj Kongsakul's Eternity among an additional 41 projects slated to be recipients of the Thai Khem Kaeng (Strong Thailand) fund of the Culture Ministry.

The money is from the 53 million baht that was reallocated from the 100 million baht the ministry was going give the Legend of King Naresuan sequels. But after it was discovered the Commerce Ministry was giving 330 million baht to MC Chatrichalerm Yukol's historical epics, the Culture Ministry said it would cut that 100 million by around half.

In total the Culture Ministry has budgeted 200 million baht for the Thai Khem Kaeng fund.

Baby Arabia, a documentary on a Malay-Thai musical troupe, is set to receive 850,000 baht.

Also due to receive funds are High Society (Hi-So) and Eternity, two movies produced by Pop Pictures that will have rough-cut showings at next week's Paris Screenings as part of the Paris Cinema Film Festival.

Still pending is the "Shakespeare project" by Citizen Juling documentarians Ing K and Manit Sriwanichpoom.

Manit, along with Apichatpong Weerasethakul, had been a vocal critic of the Culture Ministry's funding scheme.

Prof. Dr. Apinan Poshyananda, the ministry's deputy permanent secretary, says he believes that the budget allocation for the second round will not cause complaints.

With the reallocation, a total of 89 projects are due to receive funds.

First-round recipients included Pen-ek Ratanaruang for Fon Tok Khuen Fah ("rain in blue") and Anocha Suwichakornpong for her next feature, Dao Kanong (By the Time It Gets Dark) and Apichatpong's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.

Thai Rath has a more complete rundown of the new projects.

Update: I made corrections or deleted the amounts of money being awarded because my machine translation of the Thai Rath report is not clear. Apologies. I'm sorry the films aren't receiving as much money as I thought they were.

(Via Extra Virgin)

Review: Takien the Haunted Tree (Nang Takien)

• Directed by Saiyon Srisawat
• Starring Jiranun Manochaem, Pirapan Arayapan, Tanaton Utsahagun, Sawatgon Nantaban, Prasat Tongaram, Sa-ad Piampongsan
• Released in Thai cinemas on June 17, 2010; rated 18+
• Wise Kwai's rating: 2/5

Poor Yaibua. The main character in Takien: The Haunted Tree (นางตะเคียน, Nang Takien) is a charming enough girl, but she has a pain in her neck.

That's because she hanged herself. First her city-slicker boyfriend showed their sex clip to his no-good co-worker friends. So she broke up with him. Then she lost her factory job in Bangkok. She goes back to her rural village to find that her entire family has died tragically. So she threw a rope up in a takien tree and stuck her head in the noose.

Because her death was unnatural, according to superstition, she is buried for a time until her spirit settles down and a Brahmin priest determines it's okay to cremate the body.

She doesn't settle down though, and goes about haunting the village and taking revenge on the ex-boyfriend and the local young gangsters who wronged her family.

It's an old story and is shares many traits of another old Thai ghost yarn, Nang Nak, about a woman who died in childbirth, was buried, appeared normal to her husband and terrorized any villager who told him she was a ghost.

A lot of trouble could have been saved if ghosts like Nang Nak and Nang Takien had been cremated to begin with. But without old superstitions, there wouldn't be movies to make.

In Thai tree folklore, takien wood is prized for making boats and offerings must be made to avoid upsetting the tree spirits. Takien wood also makes auspicious amulets. It's thought to have some sort of power.

Many movies about takien trees and takien ghosts have been made over the years. Takien: The Haunted Tree is made very much in the mold of the old Thai horror comedies that involve a lot of running around and screaming by comical villagers, even though there is nothing particularly scary.

The director, Saiyon Srisawat (สายยนต์ ศรีสวัสดิ์), is a veteran of such films. I'm told he made some of the old Baan Phi Pob movies, a long-running series about another female ghost who keeps villagers frightened for their lives.

Same old movie and old-fashioned special effects. There a young cast of fresh faces, but their acting is all very old-style Thai TV melodrama – wooden and over-emotive.

The movie's score also old school. Overbearing and constant, the background music never lets up, urging the audience on during the moments that are scary, serious or funny. Instead of building up the drama, the score saps what little strength the story had to begin with.

Jiranun Manochaem has her moments as the sad ghost Yaibua. She certainly can cry. The trailer-worthy clip where she sits up suddenly and glares at the camera comes right toward the end. Too little, too late.


The rest of the cast is principally dumb, forgettable young men, like the city-slicker boyfriend Pichan (Pirapan Arayapan), who was naive enough to show the sex clip to his dim-witted buddies at work and think they wouldn't talk about what they saw.

"I only showed them that, so they would know how much you loved me," he tells Yaibua.

There's also the village alpha male, who's all sneers and shouting. He and his gang get what's coming to them.

A cold wind blows around Yaibua's creepy old family home, leading one guy to exclaim in the subtitles, "It's awkwardly chilly in here."

The only cast members who make much of an impression are the gray-haired veterans, among them Prasat Tongaram (ประสาท ทองอร่าม), who's the village's black-magic guru, a role it seems like he's played often. He's seeking to take control of Yaibua and use her power for his own greedy purposes.

But the character actor who really shines is Sa-ad Piampongsan (สะอาด เปี่ยม พงศ์ สานต์ ). He had a crucial role earlier this year as a monk in the controversial Buddhist-themed crime drama Nak Prok and was the kindly and learned grandfather in last year's The Happiness of Kati.

In Takien, he's again shaved his hair and mustache and donned the saffron robes, playing the local temple's unflappable abbot. He meets Yaibua head-on several times and doesn't even blink – a paragon of virtuous calm in the face of ghostly rage.

Sa-ad has several monologues about the impermanence of life – the producers at Pacific Island Film want the kids who see this movie to learn something about Buddhism. He infuses his sermons with such grace and power, it's hard not to come away a believer.

In another moment, he's trying to talk to the city-slicker boyfriend and break the news that his girlfriend is a ghost. He explains the difference between the corporeal and the spiritual, but the guy just doesn't get it.

A look of beautiful bewildered frustration crosses over Sa-ad's aged mug, a face that's seen a lot over the years. He's totally in character, but I couldn't help but feel that's how feels about acting in movies like this. But, eh, it's a living.


Related posts:

• A vengeful ghost in a haunted tree in Takien