Two upcoming film showcases explore the many faces of Asean and offer a close look at Thailand.
Boundary
Stranger than fiction
From the slums of the Philippines to the Thai-Cambodian border conflict, from the life of a gay Myanmar hairdresser and Phnom Penh lesbians to Malaysia's simmering politics, the disparate facets of Asean will be the main course of the Salaya International Documentary Film Festival, which begins on Monday. Now in its third edition, the event has grown from a small gathering into a substantial showcase of documentaries with strong social and political subjects. And with the focus on Asean this year, the festival, which is open free to the public at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya and Bangkok Art and Culture Centre in Pathumwan, offers to fill the knowledge gaps in our great Asean dream.
"We didn't set out to screen many films with social activist content, but as we went through the submissions and made our selection, we realised that young documentary filmmakers in the region are reflecting on the problems of their countries," says Chalida Uabumrungjit of the Thai Film Archive, which co-hosts the festival with the Thai Film Foundation. "Documentary films have increasingly become a channel to express social concerns. The faces of Asean in the films we're showing are colourful, troubled and beg for more scrutiny as we try to understand the region."
As if following the economic model that dominates every Asean discussion, the festival is in fact Asean-plus-two: besides films from Southeast Asia, documentaries from Japan and India make up the 20-film programme.
''What we also try to do is to show titles that approach the documentary form with creativity. The usual perception of documentaries is that they're educational, straightforward and boring. But they aren't really,'' says Chalida. ''Documentary films of the past few years are more varied in their sentiment and emotional purposes. Some are downright poetic, and others entertaining. Through this they can sometimes drive their messages more powerfully.''
Where I Go
Documentary filmmaking also performs a journalistic function, and stories from neighbouring countries that hardly receive official reports are certainly the highlights for Thai viewers. Fact, it seems, is sometimes stranger than fiction. In the Indonesian film Denok & Gareng, we follow a Muslim couple who start a pig farm and how they fight to keep their unusual dream alive. From Malaysia, The Rights Of The Dead investigates the mysterious death of a politicians while being held on charges of corruption. From Cambodia, Two Girls Against The Rain tells the true story of a lesbian couple in their 50s who survived the Khmer Rouge genocide.
Even Thai filmmakers have caught the political bug. Political films are rare here, but the festival will show two _ one new and one old _ and together they bracket the period of our political awakening. From the Thai Film Archive comes the rarely seen documentary 14 October, a newsreel collage by Shin Klaipan that narrates the landmark student uprising; it's a must for those who seek to witness a visual record of the event whose deep implications are still felt today. Also the festival will premiere the much-expected Fah Tam Phandin Soong, or Boundary, a documentary by Nontawat Numbenchapol about the Thai-Cambodian border conflict and the Preah Vihear dispute _ told mostly by Thai villagers in the area, but with some startling footage shot in Cambodia.
''The October 14 documentary will mark the 40th anniversary of the event in 1973, while Boundary is an issue that's strongly relevant,'' says Chalida, referring to the ongoing World Court case between Thailand and Cambodia. ''Filmmakers from Asean countries have taken up telling their immediate stories, and maybe it's time for Thai filmmakers to do the same.''
Vinyan
Cinematic reflections
How is Thailand perceived on screen?
As a paradise? A recreational playground? A decadent limbo? As somewhere else that's not here? Maybe all, and more. The first Thailand International Film Destination Festival, organised by the Department of Tourism, is intended to boost revenue from international film crews that come to make movies here, but incidentally, the films shown as part of the event will also allow us a glimpse of ourselves.
Ten movies shot in Thailand will be shown in the festival _ at SF World Cinema, free of charge from April 1-10 _ with several directors and producers as guests. Some of the films have already been released, the most memorable being The Hangover 2, Lost In Thailand and The Lady (with Thailand standing in for Myanmar), and there are also films that have never been shown here before, such as Elephant White, Teddy Bear and The Detective.
Among the international films lured by the exotic image of Thailand were Miss Suwanna Of Siam, a love story shot by American Henry McRae in 1923, and Chang, a wildlife thriller from 1927 (its producer, Meriam C. Cooper, would go on to make King Kong). In 1974, the emerald waters of the Andaman Sea was immortalised in The Man With The Golden Gun, and Bangkok stood in for Phnom Penh in The Killing Fields (1984). Leonardo DiCaprio was here to film The Beach in 2000, a controversial production that brought out environmentalists to protest against the shoot's alleged destruction of Koh Phi Phi. Recently, Sylvester Stallone was here for Rambo IV, Denzel Washington shot a few scenes of American Gangster in Chiang Mai and Bangkok, and of course The Hangover 2, with the pristine coast of the South and the splendid squalor of the capital in full view.
Last year, 636 foreign crews came to Thailand to shoot feature films, documentaries, TV commercials, series and music videos, generating more than 1.7 billion baht in revenue (they're not all from Hollywood _ many came from India, Japan and Europe). The highest revenue earned from a foreign crew in a year was two billion baht.
The Hangover 2
THE FILMS
Elephant White(US)
Thai director Prachya Pinkaew directs Kevin Bacon and Djimon Hounsou in this action film that has the two stars in action around Yaowarat and other spots.
Lost In Thailand(China)
Two Chinese buddies get lost in Chiang Mai; the film was a phenomenal hit in its home country.
Teddy Bear(Denmark)
A Danish bodybuilder arrives in Pattaya, where he meets a female gym owner and starts a new adventure.
Mammoth(Denmark/Sweden/Germany)
Gael Garcia Bernal and Michelle Williams star in this drama about a married yuppie from New York who meets a Thai woman on his vacation in Thailand.
The Lady(France/England)
A biopic of Aung San Suu Kyi, directed by Luc Besson. Thailand stands in for Myanmar throughout most of the film.
Vinyan(France/Belgium)
In this spiritual thriller, a French couple trek into a strange forest on the Thai-Myanmar border to look for their lost child.
The Beach(US)
Danny Boyle directs Leonardo DiCaprio in a story about a group of backpackers looking for a mythical, paradisiacal island in the Andaman Sea.
The Hangover 2(US)
Four friends arrive in Thailand for a wedding _ and things go from crazy to crazier.
The Detective(Hong Kong)
This Hong Kong thriller is set in Bangkok and tells the story of bizarre murders and a foreign detective trying to find a mysterious girl. Directed by Danny and Oxide Pang.
Formosa Betrayed(US)
Apparently, Thailand stands in for Taiwan in this military action/thriller about an FBI agent on the trail of a murder investigation.
Nargis: When Time Stopped Breathing
SOME HIGHLIGHTS
Boundary(Thailand)
The story of the Preah Vihear conflict shot in towns along the Thai-Cambodian border.
Nargis: When Time Stopped Breathing(Myanmar)
Records the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis shot by a group of young filmmakers who evaded the government's order not to film scenes of destruction.
Where I Go(Cambodia)
The movie looks at the life of a Cambodian-Cameroonian man who grew up in Cambodia after the end of the Khmer Rouge era.
Char: The No Man's Land(India)
A look at an island in the middle of the Ganges inhabited by a number of homeless people.
Tondo, Beloved: To What Are The Poor Born?(Philippines)
A geopolitical exploration of life in the smallest home in the seams of Manila's premier international port.
Denok & Gareng(Indonesia)
A Muslim couple starts a pig farm, and face many complications.
Queer Asean programme
A collection of documentaries on gays and lesbians from Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand.
Freedom Malaysia programme
A collection of political documentaries from our southern neighbour.
