My first Cannes Film Festival
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Fresh from dinner at the Carlton Hotel with director Nicholas Winding Refn and the producers and distributors of "Only God Forgives", I stepped out of the limousine onto the red carpet.
I strolled along, taking photos of the whole scene. It was amazing. It was a sea of flashing camera lights. I walked up the stairs of the Palais theatre, where people pushing to get in to see the movie. I made my way inside and sat down to watch my dad, Vithaya Pansringarm, on the big screen, walking with Refn, Kristen Scott Thomas and Ratha “Yaya Ying” Phongnam.
It was strange seeing my father up on the screen in front of so many other people. I took lots of photos of the screen while he was in the scene.
My parents and I were attending the Cannes Film Festival because “Only God Forgives”, which has Ryan Gosling in the lead, was in competition. The premiere was on June 22.
The movie was really good and it was exciting to see my dad. I liked the soundtrack – my father even sings some of the songs. The movie is pretty violent, but I liked it because my father was giving some very evil people what they deserved! The other actors were quite good too. I liked the story line and overall really enjoyed the film.
When it ended there was a brief moment of silence before the applause began. Some 2,800 people stood and cheered and the camera flashes began again. Afterward we attended a party, but we were all tired and left early. We had much more to see the next day.
At the festival’s closing ceremony at the end of the week we sat in Row 5 with clear views of jury members Steven Spielberg, Nicole Kidman and Ang Lee. My dad’s movie didn’t win any prizes, but it was top of the box office in France that week.
There’s been a lot of controversy among the critics – they seem to either love it or hate it. As the director Nicholas said to me, that’s what you want when you create art!
“Only God Forgives” opens in Thailand on July 18.
