SF Cinema City yesterday announced the launch of a new ticketing service for low-cost carrier Nok Air, marking the first time cinema box offices have sold airline tickets in this country.
The company is negotiating with another three service vendors over providing ticketing and bill payment services, which are considered a value-added feature of its core cinema business.
Suvit Thongrompo, managing director of SF Cinema City, yesterday said the ticketing service offered for Nok Air would cater to the lifestyle of urban people, who demand one-stop services and convenience. It will provide win-win benefits to both Nok Air and SF Cinema City, both of which are able to provide better services to customers.
"For SF, we would like to provide a service for tickets that are beyond just movie tickets. We are quite ready in terms of ticketing system and IT, as well as a strong cinema exhibition network," he said.
Suvit added that under the strategic partnership, consumers would be able to buy Nok Air tickets at all 11 SF Cinema's box offices in Bangkok and another two in Phuket.
"We have conducted a soft launch for Nok Air ticketing service since the beginning of this month, getting a very good response from customers. About 300 Nok Air tickets, worth Bt500,000 in total, have been sold so far through our box offices," said Suvit.
Patee Sarasin, CEO of Nok Air, said a cinema represented a good location because it is where family members spend time together. At theatres, they can discuss holiday plans and make final decisions on where they want to take a weekend trip together - and can now also buy air tickets immediately.
Nok Air provides domestic routes to seven provinces: Chiang Mai, Udon Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Hat Yai, Phuket, Trang and Surat Thani.
Suvit said SF Cinema City provided its own theatre ticketing services via four major channels - box office, online service, mobile telephone and call centre.
"We expect to sell 1.2 million movie tickets this year, which is up 20 per cent over last year," he said.
"It is a good sign that many of our strategic locations like SF World Cinema at CentralWorld, which has 15 theatre screens, have performed very well with 20-per-cent year-on-year growth in ticket sales so far this year."
He added that the company had opened SF Cinema complexes in six new locations this year. The latest complexes will be opened on October 28 in Bang Saen, and at CentralPlaza Khon Kaen on December 3.
"We will also open cinemas in two or three new locations in Bangkok and upcountry next year. The investment will be between Bt20 million and Bt30 million per theatre," said Suvit.
He added that the company would also renovate theatres at MBK shopping centre, Central Lat Phrao and The Emporium.
Suvit said SF Cinema City had achieved year-on-year growth of between 12 and 13 per cent in ticket sales in the first nine months of the year.
The company, however, expects to achieve better growth of more than 30 per cent year on year in the fourth quarter, driven by a strong line-up of expected Thai and Hollywood blockbusters, such as "2012", "The Twilight Saga: New Moon", "Avatar", "Yam Yasothorn 2" and "Ong-Bak 3".
The overall cinema industry is expected to grow about 10 per cent this year in terms of ticket sales, Suvit said.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Beauty from an age ago resurfaces
Naturally we wonder, what finally lured the ageing princess out of her padlocked bedchamber?Petchara Chaowarat, now 64,was last seen on screen in the tragic mother-and-son drama Ai Khun Thong in 1978, before Thailand's most celebrated actress in history, the cervineeyed sovereign of our 16mm cinema,chose to flick the light off and pull the curtain over her own illustrious career.At that time Petchara, the Siamese beauty with the most glistening of eyes, was going blind. The irony - the misfortune - couldn't have been harsher.
For 30 years Petchara totally withdrew from public life, her privacy severely guarded by herself and her family. When the National Film Archive asked for her handprints as a keepsake for the Thai FilmMuseum, the staff were requested to go to her house in Ramkamhaeng with a block of wet cement, so she didn't have to travel to the premises and risk being photographed. The extent of her public activity was limited to a brief stint as host of a country-music show nine years ago, and she only gave an interview to the journal published by the Thai Film Foundation.
"[In the 1960s] I shot 20 films a month,and I had no day off," she recalled her life in the interview."Then after 1978, I devoted my time trying to cure my eyes,but it didn't work... I didn't allow anybody to see me... Sometimes I wanted to gouge my eyes out... Why couldn't I see? How could I live like this?"
Yet she lives, and in the past week Petchara came back with a bang. The petite actress, who appeared in a few hundred movies between 1962-1978, has made a surprising comeback as TV presenter of a local cosmetic brand. She appeared on the buzz-brewing television commercials, looking precious, happy and old. Robed in elegant gowns, she even posed for the fashion pages of a popular glossy, with the digital marvel complimenting her classical polish. On TV or in those photos, the first thing you'd look at are her eyes. And you'd be disappointed if you expected to see two lightless caves of faded glory. Those eyes,slightly vacant, remain fabled.
Whatever lured the ageing legend out of her hermetical void, this must be considered a successful case of modern PR. It's a triumph of advertising to turn - or at least try to turn - a legend into a living ad, a myth into a material campaign. But despite the cynical fact that the goal of all ads is to sell stuff, the return of Petchara to national media may have had a few cultural implications.Here's the legendary actress whom everybody under 40 only heard their parents talk about but never actually saw. Petchara is the missing link between generations that has now resurfaced. And despite the nature of her reappearance in a cosmetics ad - her story, now being retold in several articles, is a reminder of the day when "stars" weren't just pretty faces with aristocratic surnames and big attitude, but were hard-working professionals trying to make a living.
Petchara was the biggest star in the pre-television, pre-multiplex, pre-tabloid age - her rare public appearances during her heyday in the 1960s, when she costarred with the late Mitr Chaibancha in over 100 films, could create an earthquake of excited humanity. She came from a humble family; she used to work in the rice fields in Rayong, an experience that benefited many of her roles. When she began her acting career, in Bantuek Rak Pim Chawee in 1962, Petchara found herself in a labourintensive industry that demanded her to work non-stop, literally, for over a decade. Shooting movies in those days required the actors,apart from being good-looking, to be Petchara very disciplined, very diligent, and very professional. It was a career that needed to be taken seriously,and not with the kind of colourful caprice that overweening Thai stars seem to subscribe to.
Of course a lot has changed since Petchara's halcyon years. Actors now have to work in TV, where they waste their talent engaging in prime-time slap parties, while audiences have become more voracious about the secret lives of their tabloid stars. Fame has become so transient that it's worthless, and most actors are after superstardom rather than professional integrity. Maybe it was a good thing that Petchara had quit in 1978. It's nice to see her back, happy and confident, and hopefully that's that.Hopefully she won't be dragged out into the showbiz jungle and sensational talk shows. That would be another irredeemable misfortune.
For 30 years Petchara totally withdrew from public life, her privacy severely guarded by herself and her family. When the National Film Archive asked for her handprints as a keepsake for the Thai FilmMuseum, the staff were requested to go to her house in Ramkamhaeng with a block of wet cement, so she didn't have to travel to the premises and risk being photographed. The extent of her public activity was limited to a brief stint as host of a country-music show nine years ago, and she only gave an interview to the journal published by the Thai Film Foundation.
"[In the 1960s] I shot 20 films a month,and I had no day off," she recalled her life in the interview."Then after 1978, I devoted my time trying to cure my eyes,but it didn't work... I didn't allow anybody to see me... Sometimes I wanted to gouge my eyes out... Why couldn't I see? How could I live like this?"
Yet she lives, and in the past week Petchara came back with a bang. The petite actress, who appeared in a few hundred movies between 1962-1978, has made a surprising comeback as TV presenter of a local cosmetic brand. She appeared on the buzz-brewing television commercials, looking precious, happy and old. Robed in elegant gowns, she even posed for the fashion pages of a popular glossy, with the digital marvel complimenting her classical polish. On TV or in those photos, the first thing you'd look at are her eyes. And you'd be disappointed if you expected to see two lightless caves of faded glory. Those eyes,slightly vacant, remain fabled.
Whatever lured the ageing legend out of her hermetical void, this must be considered a successful case of modern PR. It's a triumph of advertising to turn - or at least try to turn - a legend into a living ad, a myth into a material campaign. But despite the cynical fact that the goal of all ads is to sell stuff, the return of Petchara to national media may have had a few cultural implications.Here's the legendary actress whom everybody under 40 only heard their parents talk about but never actually saw. Petchara is the missing link between generations that has now resurfaced. And despite the nature of her reappearance in a cosmetics ad - her story, now being retold in several articles, is a reminder of the day when "stars" weren't just pretty faces with aristocratic surnames and big attitude, but were hard-working professionals trying to make a living.
Petchara was the biggest star in the pre-television, pre-multiplex, pre-tabloid age - her rare public appearances during her heyday in the 1960s, when she costarred with the late Mitr Chaibancha in over 100 films, could create an earthquake of excited humanity. She came from a humble family; she used to work in the rice fields in Rayong, an experience that benefited many of her roles. When she began her acting career, in Bantuek Rak Pim Chawee in 1962, Petchara found herself in a labourintensive industry that demanded her to work non-stop, literally, for over a decade. Shooting movies in those days required the actors,apart from being good-looking, to be Petchara very disciplined, very diligent, and very professional. It was a career that needed to be taken seriously,and not with the kind of colourful caprice that overweening Thai stars seem to subscribe to.
Of course a lot has changed since Petchara's halcyon years. Actors now have to work in TV, where they waste their talent engaging in prime-time slap parties, while audiences have become more voracious about the secret lives of their tabloid stars. Fame has become so transient that it's worthless, and most actors are after superstardom rather than professional integrity. Maybe it was a good thing that Petchara had quit in 1978. It's nice to see her back, happy and confident, and hopefully that's that.Hopefully she won't be dragged out into the showbiz jungle and sensational talk shows. That would be another irredeemable misfortune.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Contentious film opens "green" festival
The Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) opened on Saturday with the debut screening of a USmade documentary about a traditional dolphin hunt in Japan - a contentious inclusion at the week-long event.
Since last year, the festival has taken on the theme of the environment, with international movie stars, film-makers and other dignitaries walking up a ceremonial green carpet instead of the usual red.
Stars attending the opening ceremony of the 22nd edition of Tiff, which runs through October 25, include Sigourney Weaver and Sam Worthington, star of James Cameron's new film Avatar .The hard-hitting The Cove , a late inclusion at the festival, will be shown for the first time publicly in Japan, with some saying it casts Japanese tradition in a negative light.
It focuses on the annual dolphin hunt in the coastal town of Taiji, a long-time practice for local fishermen but condemned internationally by animal rights activists for being cruel.
The film shows angry confrontations between residents and the lead activist,Ric O'Barry, who in the 1960s trained dolphins for the US hit television show Flipper but now argues the animals should be free to roam the oceans.
The film has won numerous international prizes, including the Sundance Festival's audience award.
Tiff has aspired to be the top festival in Asia for international films with the same prestige as Cannes, Venice or Berlin,although it faces tough competition from rivals in Bangkok and Busan, South Korea.
In addition to The Cove and Avatar ,other special screenings include Drag Me to Hell , directed by Sam Raimi, as well as the Japanese remake of the 2004 Oscar-winning Sideways . Fifteen movies ranging in theme and style will compete for the Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix, the top prize. New premier Yukio Hatoyama,sporting a green bow tie in a nod to the environmental theme, and his wife Miyuki were among those who attended the opening event.
Since last year, the festival has taken on the theme of the environment, with international movie stars, film-makers and other dignitaries walking up a ceremonial green carpet instead of the usual red.
Stars attending the opening ceremony of the 22nd edition of Tiff, which runs through October 25, include Sigourney Weaver and Sam Worthington, star of James Cameron's new film Avatar .The hard-hitting The Cove , a late inclusion at the festival, will be shown for the first time publicly in Japan, with some saying it casts Japanese tradition in a negative light.
It focuses on the annual dolphin hunt in the coastal town of Taiji, a long-time practice for local fishermen but condemned internationally by animal rights activists for being cruel.
The film shows angry confrontations between residents and the lead activist,Ric O'Barry, who in the 1960s trained dolphins for the US hit television show Flipper but now argues the animals should be free to roam the oceans.
The film has won numerous international prizes, including the Sundance Festival's audience award.
Tiff has aspired to be the top festival in Asia for international films with the same prestige as Cannes, Venice or Berlin,although it faces tough competition from rivals in Bangkok and Busan, South Korea.
In addition to The Cove and Avatar ,other special screenings include Drag Me to Hell , directed by Sam Raimi, as well as the Japanese remake of the 2004 Oscar-winning Sideways . Fifteen movies ranging in theme and style will compete for the Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix, the top prize. New premier Yukio Hatoyama,sporting a green bow tie in a nod to the environmental theme, and his wife Miyuki were among those who attended the opening event.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Jen,we still believe in you
How has a brilliant comic actress managed to star in so many unfunny
romcoms? As another Jennifer Aniston film gets panned, many are
ready to defend her By Ben Walsh
Jennifer Aniston stars as Elinor Dashwood in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility ... no, of course she doesn't. Aniston doesn't do period drama. She is a defiantly modern, all-American actress; a L'Oreal and ... wait for it ... the woman who lost Brad Pitt to Angelina Jolie.
And it doesn't matter one jot how much worthy UN work Jolie does, most of us are still stubbornly Team Aniston. Why?Because she's so ordinary, that's why. So very ordinary and accessible with her engaging, genial comments like:"I couldn't have found a better man than Brad. He still opens doors for me and brings me flowers. He's the sweetest goofball on the planet."Ouch. That has to hurt now.
The sleek, perma-tanned 40-yearold from Sherman Oaks, California,started out so deliciously perky, all glossy hair and clean teeth, as Rachel in the defiantly upbeat sitcom Friends , but Aniston's face appears to become progressively more downcast in every film she appears in.She's morphing into a sort of female Buster Keaton. Her smile is growing fainter and her film choices - or the parts she is being offered - are getting steadily shoddier.
The Independent's film critic, Anthony Quinn, described her latest one-star film,the unfortunately titled Love Happens ,starring Aaron Eckhart, where Aniston plays an archery champion turned florist,as a "cry-baby romantic drama" in which "Aniston just about passes muster".The Times went further, saying:"The formula they've come up with is to remove all the comedy, which is a bold choice."
The Scotsman goes further still:"Love Happens ... there's just not much evidence of it in this dreary romantic drama."Previous Aniston films have been described as follows:"From the start it misfires on all cylinders"(The Observer on Rumour Has It );"There is something wildly odd about a film that measures human happiness with the whims of a dog"(The Times on Marley & Me ); and "A heavy-handed and charmless psychological thriller"(The Guardian on Derailed ).
Aniston began her movie career relatively late (let's not count the abysmal 1992 horror Leprechaun ) at the age of 27 in 1996 with Edward Burns' winning She's the One and Tiffanie DeBartolo's less winning Dream for an Insomniac . She now has more than 20 films under her belt, mostly in a leading role and mostly as the droll, unlucky-in-love romantic see He's Just Not That into You ,Picture Perfect and The Object of My Affection for evidence. She may be a one-trick pony,but she's a veritable Derren Brown when it comes to romantic comedies.
These cynical, quite often facile films may lack depth, subtlety and, well,imagination, but Aniston never lets anybody down. In fact, now that Meg Ryan appears to have imploded,Aniston is probably - and this is a tad bold - the most gifted American comic actress of her generation. Her comic timing is immaculate and she could muster up playful sexual chemistry with a sideboard. And while her acting range isn't huge,she's never less than compelling.
For instance, in Ken Kwapis'wretched He's Just Not That into You - which focuses on various grating Baltimore couples hooking up and emoting - it's Aniston's endearing Beth that stands out above the likes of Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson and Drew Barrymore. We don't care two hoots for their dreary characters, but we do for Aniston's. How does she do it? And why can't she do it in superior films? Why haven't the likes of Martin Scorsese cast her in a gangster flick, Steven Spielberg in a fantasy spectacular or Ken Loach in a gritty drama? Why can't we see Aniston let rip? Play Shakespeare? Play a flesheating alien?
Well, there have been small attempts to widen her scope, and two low-budget films -Office Space and The Good Girl - are, by some distance, her finest films.Both films are set in small-town,"middle"America with an intense absence of glamour, culture or opportunity. In Mike Judge's exquisite satire on working life,Office Space , Aniston plays a bored waitress who is forced to don items of "flair" on her unsightly work attire. Her bone-dry delivery and resolutely stern demeanour are pitch perfect. It's a defiantly unglamorous role - although she's never looked prettier and her character even loves kungfu.
Miguel Arteta's downbeat The Good Girl could have been Aniston's moment,like Erin Brockovich was for Julia Roberts.Sort of. Once again she plays bored, this time as a supermarket checkout worker trapped in a sexless marriage to a dimwitted husband (John C Reilly) in mun-dane suburban hell in Texas. To escape the extreme monotony of her life, she falls for a JD Salinger-fixated teenage fantasist (Jake Gyllenhaal). And she's excellent; her down-turned mouth permanently drooped in gloom, her eyes deadened with tedium.
It's the exact opposite of her animated,glamorous and kooky Rachel in Friends and her performance is all the better for it. However, the film made very little money and her chance to bag juicy acting roles seemed to have slipped away with the film's fortunes. She followed up The Good Girl with the lurid Jim Carrey vehicle Bruce Almighty , wasting her talents opposite the great gurning ham, and sleepwalked through the underwhelming Along Came Polly , which one critic described as "lame and unfunny and unoriginal".
Most recently, she once again tried dowdy and downbeat, in Stephen Belber's Management - a film so appalling it was shuffled out on to DVD with indecent haste. She plays a glum, uptight sales rep who pitches up at a motel in an American backwater and meets Steve Zahn's earnest suitor. It's the sort of territory in which Aniston usually excels, but here she just
looks especially, well, sad.It looks as if she needs a great big bear hug, followed by a night in watching a comedy boxset. Ideally, early Friends , a place where people are "there for you",where men (David Schwimmer's nerd and Matt LeBlanc's hunk) fight over her and her hair is shiny and her smile is shinier.
"I don't get sent anything strange like underwear. I get sent cookies," Aniston once confessed. Maybe it's time for this persuasive actress to cut loose, get a bit kinky and stretch herself.Because I, for one, still believe that she has it in her to act. It would be a pity, if only a slight one, if she's remembered solely as the gorgeous one on Friends and for "losing" Brad Pitt to Angelina Jolie. Come on Jen, some of us (me) are still on your side.
romcoms? As another Jennifer Aniston film gets panned, many are
ready to defend her By Ben Walsh
Jennifer Aniston stars as Elinor Dashwood in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility ... no, of course she doesn't. Aniston doesn't do period drama. She is a defiantly modern, all-American actress; a L'Oreal and ... wait for it ... the woman who lost Brad Pitt to Angelina Jolie.
And it doesn't matter one jot how much worthy UN work Jolie does, most of us are still stubbornly Team Aniston. Why?Because she's so ordinary, that's why. So very ordinary and accessible with her engaging, genial comments like:"I couldn't have found a better man than Brad. He still opens doors for me and brings me flowers. He's the sweetest goofball on the planet."Ouch. That has to hurt now.
The sleek, perma-tanned 40-yearold from Sherman Oaks, California,started out so deliciously perky, all glossy hair and clean teeth, as Rachel in the defiantly upbeat sitcom Friends , but Aniston's face appears to become progressively more downcast in every film she appears in.She's morphing into a sort of female Buster Keaton. Her smile is growing fainter and her film choices - or the parts she is being offered - are getting steadily shoddier.
The Independent's film critic, Anthony Quinn, described her latest one-star film,the unfortunately titled Love Happens ,starring Aaron Eckhart, where Aniston plays an archery champion turned florist,as a "cry-baby romantic drama" in which "Aniston just about passes muster".The Times went further, saying:"The formula they've come up with is to remove all the comedy, which is a bold choice."
The Scotsman goes further still:"Love Happens ... there's just not much evidence of it in this dreary romantic drama."Previous Aniston films have been described as follows:"From the start it misfires on all cylinders"(The Observer on Rumour Has It );"There is something wildly odd about a film that measures human happiness with the whims of a dog"(The Times on Marley & Me ); and "A heavy-handed and charmless psychological thriller"(The Guardian on Derailed ).
Aniston began her movie career relatively late (let's not count the abysmal 1992 horror Leprechaun ) at the age of 27 in 1996 with Edward Burns' winning She's the One and Tiffanie DeBartolo's less winning Dream for an Insomniac . She now has more than 20 films under her belt, mostly in a leading role and mostly as the droll, unlucky-in-love romantic see He's Just Not That into You ,Picture Perfect and The Object of My Affection for evidence. She may be a one-trick pony,but she's a veritable Derren Brown when it comes to romantic comedies.
These cynical, quite often facile films may lack depth, subtlety and, well,imagination, but Aniston never lets anybody down. In fact, now that Meg Ryan appears to have imploded,Aniston is probably - and this is a tad bold - the most gifted American comic actress of her generation. Her comic timing is immaculate and she could muster up playful sexual chemistry with a sideboard. And while her acting range isn't huge,she's never less than compelling.
For instance, in Ken Kwapis'wretched He's Just Not That into You - which focuses on various grating Baltimore couples hooking up and emoting - it's Aniston's endearing Beth that stands out above the likes of Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson and Drew Barrymore. We don't care two hoots for their dreary characters, but we do for Aniston's. How does she do it? And why can't she do it in superior films? Why haven't the likes of Martin Scorsese cast her in a gangster flick, Steven Spielberg in a fantasy spectacular or Ken Loach in a gritty drama? Why can't we see Aniston let rip? Play Shakespeare? Play a flesheating alien?
Well, there have been small attempts to widen her scope, and two low-budget films -Office Space and The Good Girl - are, by some distance, her finest films.Both films are set in small-town,"middle"America with an intense absence of glamour, culture or opportunity. In Mike Judge's exquisite satire on working life,Office Space , Aniston plays a bored waitress who is forced to don items of "flair" on her unsightly work attire. Her bone-dry delivery and resolutely stern demeanour are pitch perfect. It's a defiantly unglamorous role - although she's never looked prettier and her character even loves kungfu.
Miguel Arteta's downbeat The Good Girl could have been Aniston's moment,like Erin Brockovich was for Julia Roberts.Sort of. Once again she plays bored, this time as a supermarket checkout worker trapped in a sexless marriage to a dimwitted husband (John C Reilly) in mun-dane suburban hell in Texas. To escape the extreme monotony of her life, she falls for a JD Salinger-fixated teenage fantasist (Jake Gyllenhaal). And she's excellent; her down-turned mouth permanently drooped in gloom, her eyes deadened with tedium.
It's the exact opposite of her animated,glamorous and kooky Rachel in Friends and her performance is all the better for it. However, the film made very little money and her chance to bag juicy acting roles seemed to have slipped away with the film's fortunes. She followed up The Good Girl with the lurid Jim Carrey vehicle Bruce Almighty , wasting her talents opposite the great gurning ham, and sleepwalked through the underwhelming Along Came Polly , which one critic described as "lame and unfunny and unoriginal".
Most recently, she once again tried dowdy and downbeat, in Stephen Belber's Management - a film so appalling it was shuffled out on to DVD with indecent haste. She plays a glum, uptight sales rep who pitches up at a motel in an American backwater and meets Steve Zahn's earnest suitor. It's the sort of territory in which Aniston usually excels, but here she just
looks especially, well, sad.It looks as if she needs a great big bear hug, followed by a night in watching a comedy boxset. Ideally, early Friends , a place where people are "there for you",where men (David Schwimmer's nerd and Matt LeBlanc's hunk) fight over her and her hair is shiny and her smile is shinier.
"I don't get sent anything strange like underwear. I get sent cookies," Aniston once confessed. Maybe it's time for this persuasive actress to cut loose, get a bit kinky and stretch herself.Because I, for one, still believe that she has it in her to act. It would be a pity, if only a slight one, if she's remembered solely as the gorgeous one on Friends and for "losing" Brad Pitt to Angelina Jolie. Come on Jen, some of us (me) are still on your side.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Men on pointe
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlois set to entertain Bangkok audiences with a classical laugh-fest ballet performance
There's something about men "en pointe" that tickles the funny bone and no one gets the point better than this very unusual all-male company that specialises in the comic aspect of classical ballet.One look at the male dancers dressed up to the nines as ballerinas and you'll begin to get the idea. At the heart of the performances by Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, New York, lies a ballet company upholding the traditions of classical ballet. But they have chosen to add another dimension to the classics by finding comedy where you'd think none existed. Something that will not only appeal to adults but also children.
The dancers portray both male and female roles as they blend cliches of ballet and physical comedy with straight off classical pieces.Founded in 1974 by a group of ballet enthusiasts, the company, fondly referred to as "The Trocks",first performed in Off-Broadway lofts. A year later they were noticed by critics in the most positive of terms. By the '80s they were established as a ballet company and have performed in the US, in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South America, South Africa and Europe. The Trocks have two separate programmes in store for Bangkok:Swan Lake Act II ,Pas De Deux ,Vivaldi Suite ,Dying Swan and Majisimas on October 16, and Swan Lake Act II ,Patterns In Space ,Pas De Quatre ,Dying Swan and Majisimas on October 17.
Tory Dobrin, the artistic director of The Trocks explains,"Basically we are very good ballet dancers and good comedians. We combine the two using drag as a vehicle to bring out the comedy.People who know The Trocks come because they want to have fun with ballet."
He adds,"We take classical and modern ballets and change them to create an entertaining aspect of these art forms.All kinds of humour, from subtle parody to outright slapstick. In a way we are just borrowing from existing tradition ... there are many great theatre art forms that have used drag as a vehicle, including Shakespeare and kabuki ... and comedy has been around since the earliest times of life.
Explaining their creative process Dobrin says,"We stage a ballet like any other ballet company does in the early stages. After the work is completely choreographed, we start to improvise in the studio to see how it develops in a comedic way. Slowly we change the ballet to bring out the comedy. A choreography that truly reflects our philosophy is Swan Lake Act II , which will be performed in Bangkok. It has all the elements of great choreography, the chance to develop a character in a comedic fashion, it has drama!" What else can one ask for, except that with The Trocks, there is always more in store than you expect.
Asked about what influences The Trocks, Dobrin says,"Mostly the Russian ballet stars of yesteryears such as Alla Sizova, Irina Kolpakova, Lubov Kunakova and Maya Plisetskaya. The 19th century music works best for The Trocks, although we have a large modern wing to our repertory. Also, comedians such as Lucille Ball, Bea Arthur, Gracie Allen and Dame Edna. I would say that we as a company are inspired by fun-loving,nice, energetic people and we are motivated by people's enjoyment of what we do."
And how do they deal with purists,Dobrin is dismissive,"We don't deal with purists. We deal with people who are interested in the show. Only a very narrow-minded person is unable to enjoy the show. Clement Crisp, who is perhaps the most famous dance critic in the world and who is the ultimate purist, loves the company."
One thing is for sure The Trocks are the perfect introduction to ballet, not just for the children but the adults as well. If you have avoided ballet before,make sure you see The Trocks. Explains Dobrin,"I would have to say that an allmale comedy ballet company is something that would appeal to just about everyone. So, yes, you could say that we make ballet more universal rather than elitist."
Bangkok's 11th International Festival of Dance & Music is sponsored by Bangkok Bank, B. Grimm, Bangkok Post, Dusit Thani Hotel, King Power Group, SCG,Thai Airways International, Tourism Authority of Thailand and Toyota Motor Thailand Co, Ltd.
Performances are at Thailand Cultural Centre on October 16 and 17 at 7:30pm. Tickets are 600,1,200,1,600,2,000 and 2,500 baht,available at Thai Ticket Major on 02-262-3456 or visit www.thaiticketmajor.com.
There's something about men "en pointe" that tickles the funny bone and no one gets the point better than this very unusual all-male company that specialises in the comic aspect of classical ballet.One look at the male dancers dressed up to the nines as ballerinas and you'll begin to get the idea. At the heart of the performances by Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, New York, lies a ballet company upholding the traditions of classical ballet. But they have chosen to add another dimension to the classics by finding comedy where you'd think none existed. Something that will not only appeal to adults but also children.
The dancers portray both male and female roles as they blend cliches of ballet and physical comedy with straight off classical pieces.Founded in 1974 by a group of ballet enthusiasts, the company, fondly referred to as "The Trocks",first performed in Off-Broadway lofts. A year later they were noticed by critics in the most positive of terms. By the '80s they were established as a ballet company and have performed in the US, in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South America, South Africa and Europe. The Trocks have two separate programmes in store for Bangkok:Swan Lake Act II ,Pas De Deux ,Vivaldi Suite ,Dying Swan and Majisimas on October 16, and Swan Lake Act II ,Patterns In Space ,Pas De Quatre ,Dying Swan and Majisimas on October 17.
Tory Dobrin, the artistic director of The Trocks explains,"Basically we are very good ballet dancers and good comedians. We combine the two using drag as a vehicle to bring out the comedy.People who know The Trocks come because they want to have fun with ballet."
He adds,"We take classical and modern ballets and change them to create an entertaining aspect of these art forms.All kinds of humour, from subtle parody to outright slapstick. In a way we are just borrowing from existing tradition ... there are many great theatre art forms that have used drag as a vehicle, including Shakespeare and kabuki ... and comedy has been around since the earliest times of life.
Explaining their creative process Dobrin says,"We stage a ballet like any other ballet company does in the early stages. After the work is completely choreographed, we start to improvise in the studio to see how it develops in a comedic way. Slowly we change the ballet to bring out the comedy. A choreography that truly reflects our philosophy is Swan Lake Act II , which will be performed in Bangkok. It has all the elements of great choreography, the chance to develop a character in a comedic fashion, it has drama!" What else can one ask for, except that with The Trocks, there is always more in store than you expect.
Asked about what influences The Trocks, Dobrin says,"Mostly the Russian ballet stars of yesteryears such as Alla Sizova, Irina Kolpakova, Lubov Kunakova and Maya Plisetskaya. The 19th century music works best for The Trocks, although we have a large modern wing to our repertory. Also, comedians such as Lucille Ball, Bea Arthur, Gracie Allen and Dame Edna. I would say that we as a company are inspired by fun-loving,nice, energetic people and we are motivated by people's enjoyment of what we do."
And how do they deal with purists,Dobrin is dismissive,"We don't deal with purists. We deal with people who are interested in the show. Only a very narrow-minded person is unable to enjoy the show. Clement Crisp, who is perhaps the most famous dance critic in the world and who is the ultimate purist, loves the company."
One thing is for sure The Trocks are the perfect introduction to ballet, not just for the children but the adults as well. If you have avoided ballet before,make sure you see The Trocks. Explains Dobrin,"I would have to say that an allmale comedy ballet company is something that would appeal to just about everyone. So, yes, you could say that we make ballet more universal rather than elitist."
Bangkok's 11th International Festival of Dance & Music is sponsored by Bangkok Bank, B. Grimm, Bangkok Post, Dusit Thani Hotel, King Power Group, SCG,Thai Airways International, Tourism Authority of Thailand and Toyota Motor Thailand Co, Ltd.
Performances are at Thailand Cultural Centre on October 16 and 17 at 7:30pm. Tickets are 600,1,200,1,600,2,000 and 2,500 baht,available at Thai Ticket Major on 02-262-3456 or visit www.thaiticketmajor.com.
Monday, October 12, 2009
"Alien" star promotes gorilla rescue project in DR Congo
Actress Sigourney Weaver said on Saturday that orphaned gorillas desperately need a permanent rescue and rehabilitation centre that's currently being built in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Center (Grace) is set to open in March, about a year after construction began. It's a joint project of the Atlanta-based Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and several other organisations.
Fossey, a Californian who was killed in 1985, made researching and rescuing the African gorilla population her life's mission. She lived among the rare mountain gorillas and observed their behaviour over roughly 10 years at Karisoke, a research camp she established in Rwanda.
Ms Weaver played Fossey in the 1988 movie Gorillas in the Mist and is honorary chair of the fund. While filming, Ms Weaver said she spent many days with gorillas.
"These little gorillas just steal your heart. They're very sensitive creatures,"she said."So it's no surprise that this is a very demanding and ambitious project,the Grace Center, but we need it."
Ms Weaver was at Atlanta's Woodruff Arts Center Saturday to talk about the project.Gorilla's in the Mist will be shown on a big screen for the first time in about 20 years at Woodruff on Oct 17 as part of fundraising efforts.
The centre will house orphaned gorillas who may have behavioural, develop mental, physical or psychological problems after being rescued from poachers.
Ms Weaver said the centre aims to care for and rehabilitate the gorillas to the point that they may be able to survive in the wild, instead of living out their lives in captivity.
The other organisations partnering with the gorilla fund in this project are the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance, Disney's Animal Kingdom, the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the national park authorities of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
The Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Center (Grace) is set to open in March, about a year after construction began. It's a joint project of the Atlanta-based Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and several other organisations.
Fossey, a Californian who was killed in 1985, made researching and rescuing the African gorilla population her life's mission. She lived among the rare mountain gorillas and observed their behaviour over roughly 10 years at Karisoke, a research camp she established in Rwanda.
Ms Weaver played Fossey in the 1988 movie Gorillas in the Mist and is honorary chair of the fund. While filming, Ms Weaver said she spent many days with gorillas.
"These little gorillas just steal your heart. They're very sensitive creatures,"she said."So it's no surprise that this is a very demanding and ambitious project,the Grace Center, but we need it."
Ms Weaver was at Atlanta's Woodruff Arts Center Saturday to talk about the project.Gorilla's in the Mist will be shown on a big screen for the first time in about 20 years at Woodruff on Oct 17 as part of fundraising efforts.
The centre will house orphaned gorillas who may have behavioural, develop mental, physical or psychological problems after being rescued from poachers.
Ms Weaver said the centre aims to care for and rehabilitate the gorillas to the point that they may be able to survive in the wild, instead of living out their lives in captivity.
The other organisations partnering with the gorilla fund in this project are the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance, Disney's Animal Kingdom, the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the national park authorities of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
HOLLYWOOD COMES TO BANGKOK
An international star-studded event to promote Thailand's annual film festival, gems and tourism By Usnisa Sukhsvasti
It was literally a red carpet night when Beauty Gems hosted a gala dinner at Chatrium Suites Bangkok in conjunction with the National Film Association.
Titled "Hollywood Night in Bangkok", the evening was held to welcome actors attending
the Bangkok Film Festival 2009, as well as to
promote Thailand's gems industry as well as
film and tourism industries.
Among the Hollywood faces were RachelNichols (Scarlett in G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra ),Olivia Thirlby (Leah in Juno ) and Sung Kang Fast and Furious, Knight Rider, Forbidden Warrior Guests walked the red carpet in their full regalia of glittering jewellery, stopping en route to view Beauty Gems' latest Stars of Hollywood collection created specially for this event, with such evocative names as Chicago, Dream Girl and the highlight, Moulin Rouge, this last set being a diamond and ruby creation valued at 65 million baht.
These and other sparkling baubles worth 500 million baht were finely presented by Thailand's leading models: Pi-chanat Sagakorn, Yosawadee Hasadeewichit, Marisa Annita,Pakaramai Potranant, Rasri Watcharapolmek and Michel Wagot.Security was tight, to say the least.
During the dinner, which comprised an East-meets-West menu, guests also enjoyed a mini concert by Suthasinee "Pat" Buddhinan and Puvanart Kunplin, both of whom were splendidly accessorised by Beauty Gems as well.A few lucky guests went home with additional items to add to their jewellery boxes after winning the lucky dip.
It was literally a red carpet night when Beauty Gems hosted a gala dinner at Chatrium Suites Bangkok in conjunction with the National Film Association.
Titled "Hollywood Night in Bangkok", the evening was held to welcome actors attending
the Bangkok Film Festival 2009, as well as to
promote Thailand's gems industry as well as
film and tourism industries.
Among the Hollywood faces were RachelNichols (Scarlett in G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra ),Olivia Thirlby (Leah in Juno ) and Sung Kang Fast and Furious, Knight Rider, Forbidden Warrior Guests walked the red carpet in their full regalia of glittering jewellery, stopping en route to view Beauty Gems' latest Stars of Hollywood collection created specially for this event, with such evocative names as Chicago, Dream Girl and the highlight, Moulin Rouge, this last set being a diamond and ruby creation valued at 65 million baht.
These and other sparkling baubles worth 500 million baht were finely presented by Thailand's leading models: Pi-chanat Sagakorn, Yosawadee Hasadeewichit, Marisa Annita,Pakaramai Potranant, Rasri Watcharapolmek and Michel Wagot.Security was tight, to say the least.
During the dinner, which comprised an East-meets-West menu, guests also enjoyed a mini concert by Suthasinee "Pat" Buddhinan and Puvanart Kunplin, both of whom were splendidly accessorised by Beauty Gems as well.A few lucky guests went home with additional items to add to their jewellery boxes after winning the lucky dip.
Friday, October 9, 2009
THE KOREAN CONNECTION
Fourteen years ago not many souls believed that the sombre port city of Pusan would make it. But it did. Today, the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) is arguably Asia's leading film festival in terms of influence, image and business impact. Every October the PIFF is an un-skippable rendezvous for Asian filmmakers and investors who congregate to watch new films and sniff out new deals. In short, it has become a success story - albeit with internal politics and regular complaints - of carefully mapped-out cultural and economic policies that many cities, Bangkok included, look at with admiration and envy.
This year the PIFF runs from October 8 to 15, and its ties with the Thai film community seem most pronounced.
This weekend new films and new projects from Thailand are making their debut in the Korean seaside city, evidence that the sometimes aggressive, tirelessly assiduous strategy of Pusan has established the place as a centre of film activities, artistic and financial, that nobody would want to miss out on. Its constant network-expansion and cultivation of personal friendship with leading figures in the Thai - and Asian film community also strengthen its position, and again this is the development that Bangkok still fails to pursue seriously.
The main budget of PIFF comes from the city of Pusan, plus various sponsors drawn by the starry profile of the event. The festival also organises a funding body that supports young filmmakers from around Asia, which emphasises its aura of a benevolent brother. Below are previews of new, exciting Thai projects that have been invited to be part of this year's PIFF.
PHUKET INPUSAN
Honestly the Hae-Un-Dae beach in Pusan isn't nearly as pretty as those sandy stretches in Phuket.But that's another story: this weekend the new Thai film called Phuket will enjoy the honour of having its world premiere at Pusan International Film Festival, held a sandbox's throw away from South Korea's most popular beach, before the film finds its way to into souvenir bags as one of the knick-knacks to promote our Andaman jewel.
"It's a film made to promote Phuket, but it also has a story, and I believe it's a good story," says Aditya Assarat, a well-known director who was asked to shoot this short movie by the Phuket Tourism Association."I had the freedom to come up with a story, and since Koreans represent a large proportion of foreign tourists in Phuket, I thought it was a good idea to make a movie that relates to them."
Though a short film,Phuket has the formidable calibre of a feature production. For a start, it stars Sorapong Chatri, recently crowned National Artist and inarguably Thailand's most respected actor.Then the film had the fortune of casting Lim Soojung, one of Korea's most popular actresses (from I'm a Cyborg But That's OK , in which she costarred with Korean superstar Rain), which automatically raises the profile of this otherwise little movie. In the film, Sorapong plays a limousine driver who develops a bond with a young Korean tourist over her week-long stay on the island.
"When we got Lim Soo-jung, who's a big star,we knew that we had to match her with a major Thai star, and we were lucky to get Sorapong,"says Aditya. It helped that Aditya, though an independent filmmaker, just won the Subhannahongsa award for best director for his Wonderful Town .Sorapong was there at the star-studded event, and Aditya was not a complete unknown to him."Phuket is a two-hander- it relies solely on the performances to two people - so it's important that we get skilled actors to play them."
Despite the "tourism" purpose of the film, Aditya is a director with such a delicate touch that nothing ever seems explicit in any of his films.Phuket isn't about the beaches or the bars; it's about Phuket as a place of memories. After the Pusan premiere, the film is likely to find a slot on television, then the investors - the Phuket Tourism Association plans to screen it on flights coming into the island.The DVD of the film will also become a souvenir for sale. Other tourism-driven provinces, if finance allowed, should feel free to copy the idea.
"Phuket is part of a promotion campaign," says the director,"but I'm sure the film also has a true worth of its own."
MUNDANE HISTORY INPUSAN
Probably the most-anticipated feature debut of the year, Anocha Suwichakornpong's Jao Nok Krachok (English title:Mundane History ) secures its deserved spot in the New Current Competition at Asia's premier movie jamboree that's taking place this minute in South Korea.
Among the batch of fresh-blood Thai filmmakers, Anocha's string of impressive,ambitious short movies have teased our cinematic palates through their serious conceptual formations. Anocha doesn't just direct; she seems to sculpt her films. Now with an allegorical story about a troubled household and a direct flashback to our recent political lunacy,Mundane History , her first long film, is a socially-relevant work that represents the consciousness of our troubled times.
"The idea was to tell a story about father and son, and I began by writing it as a short story," says Anocha, whose short film Graceland was the first from Thailand to be chosen by Cannes Film Festival in 2006."Over two years I revised the story and soon there were so many versions of it. Then the political things came up and they found their way into the story."
Mundane History takes place principally in a house where a sick, bedbound son maintains a tense relationship with his domineering father. By telling this simple family drama, Anocha manages to mould the narrative to include a weighty discussion about the state of our country and the human condition that we find inescapable - the condition that's biological, psychological and even universal.
"Politics is part of our condition at the moment," says Anocha."With the film, I intend to talk about society by using the family as a starting point. Either at the individual level or the larger social level, we're facing problems that come from the structure of our society, and we're not sure how to deal with it. Part of my idea came from the story of my friend who's very frustrated with her dominating father, while her mother was meek and quiet. The issue of seniority conditions the way we live in this society."
In other words, Anocha is telling a big story through a small story, and that makes Mundane History a genuinely challenging debut. The film was completed with the postproduction support from Pusan International Film Festival, which is why it has to premiere in Pusan rather than in Bangkok.
Yet in truth, this is a film whose genealogy was spawned from specific social codes so that only Thai viewers will grasp its deeper genes. The good news is,Mundane History will have its Thai premiere as the opening film of World Film Festival of Bangkok on November 6. Later Anocha will also try to release the movie in theatres, though no details have been confirmed.
Main picture: Korean actress Lim Soo-jung stars in a Thai short film,Phuket , which is having its premiere at Pusan International Film Festival this weekend.
ISAN INPUSAN
Once a well-known child star, Pramoj Sangsorn, a man with dark glasses and unkempt charisma, has been toiling in the murky waters trying to find money to launch his feature film project for years. This weekend Pramoj's script - not the film, not now - will make its presence felt in Pusan, highlighting the fact that this Korean movie event sees as part of its job the task of supporting young filmmakers from less rich countries.
Pramoj's project,Tham Rasi Salai , was awarded a generous script development fund (300,000 baht) from Pusan International Film Festival.With a screenplay steeped in narrative arcana and Third-World surrealism it's hard to imagine Pramoj getting a nod from local producers. The story takes place in the titular Northeastern village, Rasi Salai in Si Sa Ket, where the government is building dams that threaten to wipe out the people's livelihoods. Inside this socio-political frame, the drama happens in a small family where the father believes that his dead son has been reborn as a monitor lizard, the blasphemous reptile deemed as the ultimate bad omen in Thai beliefs.
"When I submitted the script to one of the Thai producers, they asked if I could change the lizard to a bird," Pramoj says in a deadpan tone."Of course I couldn't."
Pramoj's father came from Rasi Salai, though he himself was born and raised in Bangkok."When I went back to my dad's village, I met old people there who told me stories," he says."That inspired me to write something. The idea of the film began as a family drama, but along the way, I realised that politics slowly became part of my consciousness, with what's happening in the country and the planned Rasi Salai dams.
"Once I thought politics was something that happened somewhere else. Now I know that it's happening right here and its impact is personal."
In 2006 Pramoj's short film,Tsu , made to remember the aftermath of the tsunami that struck Phuket in 2004, was the first Thai short to be invited by the Venice International Film Festival. That helped raise his profile internationally. And now, Pusan is embracing the young Thai, or at least his unusual script."It's still a long way to go. But I'm hopeful that the film will happen."
ENEMIES INPUSAN
Thai director Ekachai Uekrongtham is unveiling his new project,called Enemies , at Pusan Promotion Plan (PPP), a financing forum which is part of PIFF.
Enemies tells the story of two teenage brothers and their journey to Bangkok after their father was killed during the war on drugs.
PPP is a forum where directors have a chance to meet potential investors. Every year, a few hundred scripts are sent to PPP, but only 20 are be picked to participate. Ekachai's project is the only one from Thailand that got a slot in the final round.
BANGKOK INPUSAN
After premiering as the closing programme of last week's Bangkok International Film Festival, four films from the ensemble Sawasdee Bangkok will find their international audience in Pusan. The anthology is actually made up of nine short films, but Pusan decided to screen only four helmed by Thai directors with international clout.
The four shorts are Silence by Pen-ek Ratanaruang (who also serves on a Pusan jury this year),Sightseeing by Wisit Sasanatieng,Bangkok Blues by Aditya Assarat (see "Phuket in Pusan", above),and Pi Makham by Kongdej Jaturanrasmee. The four films, made on the theme of Bangkok, were initiated by Local Colour and TV Thai. They're scheduled to be broadcast on TV Thai (formerly Thai PBS) very soon.
This year the PIFF runs from October 8 to 15, and its ties with the Thai film community seem most pronounced.
This weekend new films and new projects from Thailand are making their debut in the Korean seaside city, evidence that the sometimes aggressive, tirelessly assiduous strategy of Pusan has established the place as a centre of film activities, artistic and financial, that nobody would want to miss out on. Its constant network-expansion and cultivation of personal friendship with leading figures in the Thai - and Asian film community also strengthen its position, and again this is the development that Bangkok still fails to pursue seriously.
The main budget of PIFF comes from the city of Pusan, plus various sponsors drawn by the starry profile of the event. The festival also organises a funding body that supports young filmmakers from around Asia, which emphasises its aura of a benevolent brother. Below are previews of new, exciting Thai projects that have been invited to be part of this year's PIFF.
PHUKET INPUSAN
Honestly the Hae-Un-Dae beach in Pusan isn't nearly as pretty as those sandy stretches in Phuket.But that's another story: this weekend the new Thai film called Phuket will enjoy the honour of having its world premiere at Pusan International Film Festival, held a sandbox's throw away from South Korea's most popular beach, before the film finds its way to into souvenir bags as one of the knick-knacks to promote our Andaman jewel.
"It's a film made to promote Phuket, but it also has a story, and I believe it's a good story," says Aditya Assarat, a well-known director who was asked to shoot this short movie by the Phuket Tourism Association."I had the freedom to come up with a story, and since Koreans represent a large proportion of foreign tourists in Phuket, I thought it was a good idea to make a movie that relates to them."
Though a short film,Phuket has the formidable calibre of a feature production. For a start, it stars Sorapong Chatri, recently crowned National Artist and inarguably Thailand's most respected actor.Then the film had the fortune of casting Lim Soojung, one of Korea's most popular actresses (from I'm a Cyborg But That's OK , in which she costarred with Korean superstar Rain), which automatically raises the profile of this otherwise little movie. In the film, Sorapong plays a limousine driver who develops a bond with a young Korean tourist over her week-long stay on the island.
"When we got Lim Soo-jung, who's a big star,we knew that we had to match her with a major Thai star, and we were lucky to get Sorapong,"says Aditya. It helped that Aditya, though an independent filmmaker, just won the Subhannahongsa award for best director for his Wonderful Town .Sorapong was there at the star-studded event, and Aditya was not a complete unknown to him."Phuket is a two-hander- it relies solely on the performances to two people - so it's important that we get skilled actors to play them."
Despite the "tourism" purpose of the film, Aditya is a director with such a delicate touch that nothing ever seems explicit in any of his films.Phuket isn't about the beaches or the bars; it's about Phuket as a place of memories. After the Pusan premiere, the film is likely to find a slot on television, then the investors - the Phuket Tourism Association plans to screen it on flights coming into the island.The DVD of the film will also become a souvenir for sale. Other tourism-driven provinces, if finance allowed, should feel free to copy the idea.
"Phuket is part of a promotion campaign," says the director,"but I'm sure the film also has a true worth of its own."
MUNDANE HISTORY INPUSAN
Probably the most-anticipated feature debut of the year, Anocha Suwichakornpong's Jao Nok Krachok (English title:Mundane History ) secures its deserved spot in the New Current Competition at Asia's premier movie jamboree that's taking place this minute in South Korea.
Among the batch of fresh-blood Thai filmmakers, Anocha's string of impressive,ambitious short movies have teased our cinematic palates through their serious conceptual formations. Anocha doesn't just direct; she seems to sculpt her films. Now with an allegorical story about a troubled household and a direct flashback to our recent political lunacy,Mundane History , her first long film, is a socially-relevant work that represents the consciousness of our troubled times.
"The idea was to tell a story about father and son, and I began by writing it as a short story," says Anocha, whose short film Graceland was the first from Thailand to be chosen by Cannes Film Festival in 2006."Over two years I revised the story and soon there were so many versions of it. Then the political things came up and they found their way into the story."
Mundane History takes place principally in a house where a sick, bedbound son maintains a tense relationship with his domineering father. By telling this simple family drama, Anocha manages to mould the narrative to include a weighty discussion about the state of our country and the human condition that we find inescapable - the condition that's biological, psychological and even universal.
"Politics is part of our condition at the moment," says Anocha."With the film, I intend to talk about society by using the family as a starting point. Either at the individual level or the larger social level, we're facing problems that come from the structure of our society, and we're not sure how to deal with it. Part of my idea came from the story of my friend who's very frustrated with her dominating father, while her mother was meek and quiet. The issue of seniority conditions the way we live in this society."
In other words, Anocha is telling a big story through a small story, and that makes Mundane History a genuinely challenging debut. The film was completed with the postproduction support from Pusan International Film Festival, which is why it has to premiere in Pusan rather than in Bangkok.
Yet in truth, this is a film whose genealogy was spawned from specific social codes so that only Thai viewers will grasp its deeper genes. The good news is,Mundane History will have its Thai premiere as the opening film of World Film Festival of Bangkok on November 6. Later Anocha will also try to release the movie in theatres, though no details have been confirmed.
Main picture: Korean actress Lim Soo-jung stars in a Thai short film,Phuket , which is having its premiere at Pusan International Film Festival this weekend.
ISAN INPUSAN
Once a well-known child star, Pramoj Sangsorn, a man with dark glasses and unkempt charisma, has been toiling in the murky waters trying to find money to launch his feature film project for years. This weekend Pramoj's script - not the film, not now - will make its presence felt in Pusan, highlighting the fact that this Korean movie event sees as part of its job the task of supporting young filmmakers from less rich countries.
Pramoj's project,Tham Rasi Salai , was awarded a generous script development fund (300,000 baht) from Pusan International Film Festival.With a screenplay steeped in narrative arcana and Third-World surrealism it's hard to imagine Pramoj getting a nod from local producers. The story takes place in the titular Northeastern village, Rasi Salai in Si Sa Ket, where the government is building dams that threaten to wipe out the people's livelihoods. Inside this socio-political frame, the drama happens in a small family where the father believes that his dead son has been reborn as a monitor lizard, the blasphemous reptile deemed as the ultimate bad omen in Thai beliefs.
"When I submitted the script to one of the Thai producers, they asked if I could change the lizard to a bird," Pramoj says in a deadpan tone."Of course I couldn't."
Pramoj's father came from Rasi Salai, though he himself was born and raised in Bangkok."When I went back to my dad's village, I met old people there who told me stories," he says."That inspired me to write something. The idea of the film began as a family drama, but along the way, I realised that politics slowly became part of my consciousness, with what's happening in the country and the planned Rasi Salai dams.
"Once I thought politics was something that happened somewhere else. Now I know that it's happening right here and its impact is personal."
In 2006 Pramoj's short film,Tsu , made to remember the aftermath of the tsunami that struck Phuket in 2004, was the first Thai short to be invited by the Venice International Film Festival. That helped raise his profile internationally. And now, Pusan is embracing the young Thai, or at least his unusual script."It's still a long way to go. But I'm hopeful that the film will happen."
ENEMIES INPUSAN
Thai director Ekachai Uekrongtham is unveiling his new project,called Enemies , at Pusan Promotion Plan (PPP), a financing forum which is part of PIFF.
Enemies tells the story of two teenage brothers and their journey to Bangkok after their father was killed during the war on drugs.
PPP is a forum where directors have a chance to meet potential investors. Every year, a few hundred scripts are sent to PPP, but only 20 are be picked to participate. Ekachai's project is the only one from Thailand that got a slot in the final round.
BANGKOK INPUSAN
After premiering as the closing programme of last week's Bangkok International Film Festival, four films from the ensemble Sawasdee Bangkok will find their international audience in Pusan. The anthology is actually made up of nine short films, but Pusan decided to screen only four helmed by Thai directors with international clout.
The four shorts are Silence by Pen-ek Ratanaruang (who also serves on a Pusan jury this year),Sightseeing by Wisit Sasanatieng,Bangkok Blues by Aditya Assarat (see "Phuket in Pusan", above),and Pi Makham by Kongdej Jaturanrasmee. The four films, made on the theme of Bangkok, were initiated by Local Colour and TV Thai. They're scheduled to be broadcast on TV Thai (formerly Thai PBS) very soon.
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