Cinematic community

Movies from across the Asean Economic Community will be shown in the second edition of the Bangkok Asean Film Festival, which opens next Thursday at SF World Cinema.

The selection has recent acclaimed movies from the Asean member states plus three “Asean Classics”, films that date back to the 1950s and 1970s. They include gripping drama, romance, comedy, action and a moving documentary. 

“Every movie reflects the society, thoughts and attitude of each country,” says Thailand’s Culture Ministry. “The festival celebrates the official launch of the AEC at the end of 2015, and aims to promote the Asean film industry to be the leader in Asia and the world.”

The opener – an invite-only occasion on Thursday – will be “Distance”, a drama produced by Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen, director of the Cannes Camera d’Or winner “Ilo Ilo”. For “Distance”, Chen rounded up three indie talents – Xin Yukun from China, Tan Shijie from Singapore and Sivaroj Kongsakul from Thailand. They each take a crack at directing Taiwanese actor Bolin Chen, who plays different characters in three different segments that reflect on “the distances between us and how we live with them”. It opened last year’s Golden Horse Film Festival in Taipei and has been featured at other fests, notably Amsterdam’s CinemAsia fest.

The “Asean Classics” will bring rarely seen older films to the screen. Among them is 1972’s “Pous Keng Kang” (“The Snake Man”), an icon of Cambodian cinema’s lost “golden age”. Directed by Tea Lim Koun, it’s the tragic story of a snake goddess. Starring the doyenne of the Cambodian stage and screen Dy Saveth, the special-effects-laden “Pous Keng Kang” was wildly popular across Asia, including Thailand. Other classics are the social dramas “After the Curfew” (1954) from Indonesia and 1975’s “Manila in the Claws of Light”, directed by Filipino cinema titan Lino Brocka.

More social issues are covered in the 2015 Cambodian drama “3.50”, directed by Chhay Bora. It covers the country’s illegal sex trade, as seen through the eyes of a brash American woman who is making a documentary film and becomes determined to change Cambodia’s cruel ways.

Myanmar’s entry is by Taiwanese-schooled filmmaker Midi Z, who reflects on his estranged relationship with his brother in “City of Jade”, which follows a get-rich-quick quest into the gem-mining region of wartorn Kachin State.

Contemporary Indonesian cinema is represented by the country’s top indie filmmaker Joko Anwar, who has the romance “A Copy of My Mind”, in which a woman who works in a beauty salon falls for a subtitler of pirated DVDs. Their love turns problematic amidst turbulent politics.

Filipino director Brillante Mendoza offers his award winner from last year’s Cannes Film Festival, “Taklub” (“Trap”). With a cast led by veteran actress Nora Aunor, it’s the story of families after their community was devastated by Typhoon Yolanda in 2014. 

The Thai entry is Uruphong Raksasad’s “The Songs of Rice”, a tuneful documentary that covers the rites of rice cultivation across the Kingdom. Winner of prizes for its cinematography and best documentary at the Subhanahongsa Awards and the Bangkok Critics Assembly, Uruphong’s film vividly captures such unique scenes as the water buffalo races in Chon Buri and the rocket festival in Yasothon, along with parades, prayer ceremonies, alcohol-fuelled festivities and beauty pageants.

Importantly, there are entries from countries that aren’t known for making films – Brunei and Laos.

The Bruneian film is “Yasmine”, an unusual action drama that features the Malay martial art of silat. It’s about a young woman who goes against tradition to take part in a competition that has her in the ring with a man she has a crush on. The film has made waves on the international circuit, winning at the Asean Film Awards and named Best Asian Film at the Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival in Switzerland.

Lao director Anysay Keola taps into taboos with “Above It All”, a romance that has two characters named Noy. One is a medical student who is a closeted gay man. He is struggling to find the right time to tell his father the truth. The other Noy is a bright young Mon woman who has just graduated from university. She wants to follow her heart and continue a relationship with a hipster musician from Vientiane. But that goes against the wishes of her stubborn father, who wants to arrange a marriage for her with a wealthy Mon who lives in the US. A groundbreaking film from an emerging film industry in a very conservative society, “Above It All” had tongues wagging when it premiered at last year’s Luang Prabang Film Festival.

There’s a starry-eyed dreamer in Singapore’s “3688”, the latest from celebrated director Royston Tan, who has a story of a parking attendant who wants to be a singer just like her famous namesake, the Taiwanese “queen of hats” Fong Fei Fei. 

Vietnam’s Ham Tran has made a high-tech action thriller, “Bitcoins Heist”, which has a secret task force of thieves formed to combat a cyber-criminal who is holding computers for ransom and demanding bitcoins as payment.

And Malaysia has three stories in “Day and Night”, with segments by directors Ho Yuhang, Yeo Joon-han and Charlotte Lim Lay Kuen.

 

ASEAN  ON SCREEN

- The Bangkok Asean Film Festival is open to the public from April 22 to 28 at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld.

- The fest will then travel to SFC CentralPlaza Khon Kaen from April 28 to May 4, SFC CentralPlaza Surat Thani from May 6 to 12 and SFX Maya Chiang Mai from May 13 to 19.

- Films will have English and Thai subtitles.

- Admission is free, with tickets handed out 30 minutes before the shows. For the schedule and other details, check www.SFCinemacity.com.