Seven-minute promo film on Thailand snubs military

Come to Thailand and you get to hug ’n’ stuff in front of all these wonderful attractions. 

The idea’s a bit cliche – a foreigner sees all these glorious “love en route” pictures of the Kingdom on Instagram and decides to check it out in person, only to discover true love while here. 

Mush, yes, but the short – co-produced by the Culture Ministry and Tourism Authority – is going to be “screened at Cannes”, Permanent Secretary for Culture Apinan Poshyananda promised, generating much excitement. “Not as part of any main programme at the festival,” a veteran of the Cannes Film Festival points out. 

Anyway, the short is a great whirl around Thailand in seven minutes, with nice shots from Chiang Mai, Lampang, Sukhothai, Trang and Bangkok. You don’t have to go to Cannes to see it, of course – it’s already all over the Internet and will be shown at schools and hotels and even in hospitals, and Bangkok Airways and Thai AirAsia will be “airing” it too. 

Basically, if you’re already in Thailand, you can’t miss it. That’s how these things work.

At the end of the mini-movie, the Thai woman who’s won the foreigner’s heart sees him off at Suvarnabhumi Airport – and he looks like he doesn’t really want to go. So we’ve got the makings of a sequel built right in. Apinan says that’s being considered, maybe with the woman taking her farang beau on a Wai Phra Kow Wat tour, paying respects at nine temples in the course of a single day. They might also visit various communities, soaking up the local wisdom. 

Heck, this might turn into a whole series, though Apinan has hinted that there’d be no more than three episodes.

 

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Slowly but surely, step by step

Since we’re on about promoting Thailand, let’s catch up with “Waterfall: The Musical”. With what? That’s what they’re now calling the stage play formerly known as “Khang Lang Phaab” or “Behind the Painting”, the one that’s been creeping toward Broadway (well, “in production”) for well over a year now.

You’ll recall director Takonkiet “Boy” Viravan announcing late last year that “Waterfall” – a co-production between his outfit, Scenario, and Broadway producer Jack Dalgleish – would open at the esteemed century-old Pasadena Playhouse in Southern California on May 29, with the run expected to continue through June. 

Then the show moves to Seattle’s Fifth Avenue Theatre, where hits like “Catch Me If You Can”, “Hairspray” and “Aladdin” had promising reviews on their march to the Great White Way. What happens in Pasadena and Seattle will dictate whether the musical is good enough for Manhattan. 

So for half of this year we won’t be seeing Boy or singer-actor Sukrit “Bie” Wisetkaew, who has the lead role as Nopporn in the musical. Hopefully their absence will translate into good news. If “Waterfall” reaches Broadway, we’re sure to see a lot of them in the showbiz press.