The HEARTBEAT of cinema

THE CORE OF the World Film Festival of Bangkok is the Cinema Beat programme, which is curated by festival director Kriangsak “Victor” Silakong, who annually heads out to the prestigious movie confabs in Cannes, Berlin and elsewhere, looking for movies to show back home.
This year, for the Bangkok festival’s 13th edition, Victor has picked “Arabian Nights”, which was a critically acclaimed sensation during Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, and “Dheepan”, which was the winner of the French fest’s top-prize Palme d’Or, as well as “Marguerite and Julien” and “The Search”. And from Berlin, there’s the Russian teen romance “14+” and the German drama “Like a Cast Shadow”.
Directed by Miguel Gomes, “Arabian Nights” is a six-hour-long fantasy that sets the “One Thousand and One Nights” tales against the backdrop of contemporary Portugal. It’s broken up into three parts, with “Volume 2 – The Desolate One” being picked as Portugal’s submission to next year’s Academy Awards. All three will screen back-to-back in Bangkok.
Thai movie-goers might experience familiarity while viewing “Arabian Nights”, which features the sure and steady hand of Thai cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, well known for his work with Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
“Dheepan” is also inspired by literature, in this case the “Persian Letters” of Montesquieu, which was about Persian noblemen travelling in France. Directed by Jacques Audiard, “Dheepan” has three Tamil refugees of the civil war in Sri Lanka coming to France to make a fresh start. Stars include Sri Lankan novelist Antonythasan Jesuthasan, a former child soldier.
French films are always a staple course in the World Film feast, and this year’s selection includes a classic, 1963’s “Contempt”, directed by Jean-Luc Godard and starring the astonishing Brigitte Bardot. Set in Italy, it follows an American producer (Jack Palance) trying to make a movie with his actress wife (Bardot), who takes up with the writer her husband has hired to iron out the script. It includes a landmark tracking shot of Bardot and Michel Piccoli in an apartment, alternately arguing and making up.
Also from the Cannes fest, another French highlight is “Marguerite and Julien”, about the incestuous relationship of a brother and sister. A nominee for the Palme d’Or, director Valerie Donzelli’s drama is based on an old screenplay written by Jean Gruault for Francois Truffaut, which was inspired by the historical account of aristocratic siblings who were executed in the 17th century.
And yet another French Palme d’Or nominee is “The Search”, the much-anticipated new feature from Michel Hazanavicius. A departure from the director’s Academy Award-winning comedy “The Artist”, “The Search” is a grim drama about the epic adventure of a nine-year-old boy and his infant brother, searching for surviving family members in the Second Chechen War. Berenice Bejo, lead actress from “The Artist”, portrays a helpful humanitarian-aid worker.
French people are in peril in Italy in “Madeleine”, a brand-new film by Italians Lorenzo Ceva Valla and Mario Garofalo, about teenage sisters vacationing at their grandparents’ house in the north of Italy. They go on the run after a disagreement with a local doctor.
The French also chip in with animation, for the second edition of the Franco-Thai Animation Rendezvous, with “Mune, the Moon Guardian”, “The Days of the Crows” and “Yellowbird”.
The Berlin fest selection “14+” is the star-crossed tale of teen love, following a boy as he looks at a girl online and then attempts to approach her in the real world, only to be beaten by boys from a rival school. Directed by Andrei Zaitsev, the Russian drama was a Crystal Bear nominee in Berlin, and won an award at the Sochi Open Russian Film Festival.
Also from Berlin this year is “Like a Cast Shadow”, a drama by Michael Krummenacher, which has a woman going through a mid-life crisis after she witnesses a suicide while on vacation.
Israel contributes to the Cinema Beat with a strong trio of films from recent years. From 2010, “The Human Resources Manager” is a dark comedy about the manager of an industrial bakery fighting to save his business and prevent the publication of a damaging newspaper article, while 2012’s “The Matchmaker” has a teenager going to work for a professional matchmaker against the backdrop of Haifa in the swinging 1960s. And from last year is the comedy “Zero Motivation”, about bored female Israeli army recruits at a remote desert post, counting down their last days in uniform before their return to civilian life.
And the Cinema Beat has “Suffragette”, a UK drama that is being touted as a possible Oscar nominee. The closing entry of the 13th World Film Festival of Bangkok, it stars Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep as foot soldiers during the early days of the women’s rights movement in Britain.
The 13th World Film Festival of Bangkok is co-organised by the Culture Ministry, Nation Broadcasting Corporation and SF Corporation.

REEL WORLD
The 13th World Film Festival of Bangkok runs from next Friday until November 22 at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld. All films will have English subtitles.
Tickets are Bt120. For more details, check www.WorldFilmBkk.com.