Thailand had something to cheer about at the 43rd International Film Festival Rotterdam, Europe's first high-profile cinefest. The 10-day festival ended on Sunday, with seven Thai titles screened the highest number in years and one winning a prize.
Amid piercing winter rain, Rotterdam gave the Hivos Tiger Award to three films: Sweden's Something Must Break, Japan's Anatomy Of A Paper Clip and South Korea's Han Gong-Ju. One of the big surprises of the night was the jury's selection of Uruphong Raksasad's stunningly beautiful The Songs Of Rice as the winner of FIPRESCI Award. Four years ago, Uruphong's Agrarian Utopia also won the Tiger Award, the top honour at the festival, which is known for championing upcoming filmmakers.
"For me, making film is easier than standing in front of many people like this," said Urupong in his acceptance speech.
Currently living Chiang Rai, Urupong owns a small rice field he farms when taking time off from making movies. After the success of Agrarian Utopia in 2009, he took his time finishing The Songs Of Rice, which documents rice festivals in many provinces in Thailand. With crisp digital cinematography, The Songs Of Rice focuses on the relationship between man and nature, while showing the social and spiritual importance of rice among Thai people. The scene featuring disc-shaped bamboo rockets, or ta lai lan, especially wowed the Rotterdam audience, as they witnessed them soar into the air like a homemade UFO.
This was a good year for independent Thai filmmakers at Rotterdam. Of the seven Thai films shown, Lee Chatametikool's Concrete Clouds, though empty-handed, was praised for its creativity in telling the bittersweet tale of doomed love and the 1997 economic crisis.
"At first I was not sure what the European audiences would think, because there are many Asian elements, especially the karaoke scenes, but the audience here understood what I was trying to do. I didn't expect any awards, but I'm happy that I got a lot of feedback," said Lee.
Supernatural, the latest film from veteran gay filmmaker Thunska Pansittivorakul, had its world premiere at the festival. Supernatural is Thunska's first attempt in narrative filmmaking, as opposed to his previously experimental films. Divided into seven parts, the film is the director's political expression to his country, where the citizens believe in the supernatural more than science. Perhaps the most challenging film Thunska has made, the film focuses on a wide range of themes, from gay love to science fiction and allegories of the superstructure of Thailand. It may be a kind of film that only Thai people will fully understand, but due to its controversial nature, they may not have the opportunity to watch it in wide release.
Also screened, although not in competition, was Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit's Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy, an indie hit in Thailand. Two short films were also selected Pimpaka Towira's Malaria And Mosquitoes, about the life of a Karen widow who needs money to obtain Thai citizenship, and Sorayos Prapapan, a newcomer with his Boonrerm, a simple tale of a housemaid being threatened by her boss. Boonrerm is a part of a short films project supported by the Friends Without Borders Foundation.
Besides film, one of the most interesting developments of Thai cinema in Rotterdam this year was the official launch of Mosquito Film Distribution, a company that will handle international distribution and sales of Thai and Southeast Asian productions. The sales agent is a collaboration of six leading Thai filmmakers Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pimpaka Towira, Aditya Assarat, Anocha Suwichakornpong, Soros Sukhum and Lee Chatametikool. Sompot Chidgesornpongse, Apichatpong's assistant director, has been appointed as general manager and was in Rotterdam to introduce the new outfit. Mosquito Film Distribution is handling worldwide sales for Concrete Clouds, The Songs Of Rice, Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy and Pan-Asian omnibus Letters From The South.
