9 Temples to Heaven selected to represent Thailand at the 99th Oscars
Following award wins in Shanghai and New Zealand, Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s family drama will open the Bangkok International Film Festival before its nationwide release.
- The film "9 Temples to Heaven" has been chosen by Thailand's National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations to be the country's submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.
- Directed by Sompot Chidgasornpongse, the film was selected from a shortlist of eight contenders for its distinctiveness, quality, and profound content.
- Prior to its selection, the film gained significant international recognition, premiering at the Cannes Film Festival and winning awards for Best Director and Best Actor at the Shanghai International Film Festival.
- The movie's plot centers on a family's one-day pilgrimage to nine temples to "make merit" in hopes of changing the fate of their ailing grandmother.
9 Temples to Heaven has been selected by the National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations as Thailand’s submission for consideration in the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.
The decision was welcomed across the film industry, although it also prompted many people to wonder whether the film even existed.
The question arose because 9 Temples to Heaven, written and directed by Sompot Chidgasornpongse, followed in the footsteps of its producer, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, by screening at international film festivals before being released in Thailand.
Its journey began with its world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight at the 79th Cannes Film Festival.
It was the first Thai film to screen in the section for 19 years, following Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s Ploy in 2007.
As 9 Temples to Heaven was Sompot’s first feature-length film, he was also in contention for the Caméra d’Or.
The film went on to compete and screen at numerous international festivals.
It had its Asian premiere at the 28th Shanghai International Film Festival, where Sompot won Best Director and Sompop Songkampol received Best Actor in the Asian New Talent competition at the Golden Goblet Awards.
It then won the Fresh Competition Award for best film in the Fresh Competition at the New Zealand International Film Festival.
A ‘new’ director with 20 years’ experience
Although Sompot is a new director with only two films to his name, he has spent decades in the film industry as Apichatpong’s long-time assistant director on Tropical Malady (2004), Syndromes and a Century (2006), Cemetery of Splendour (2015) and Memoria (2021).
Before making 9 Temples to Heaven, described in the source as the first feature-length film of his career, Sompot made the documentary Railway Sleepers, which took eight years to shoot.
Filmed entirely aboard trains in Thailand, it records the daily lives of passengers and railway staff, as well as scenery along routes across the country, while reflecting on and recalling the history of Thailand’s railways.
Examining the belief in making merit at nine temples
In 9 Temples to Heaven, Sompot explores beliefs surrounding merit-making through the journey of a family whose nine members come together to ‘make merit at nine temples’ in a single day.
They hope the ‘merit points’ accumulated during the pilgrimage will change the fate of their grandmother, who has been told that she will die before long.
Although the synopsis appears deeply rooted in a Thai context, the film has found international success.
Sompot believes its themes are universal in several respects, including family, belief, faith and hope.
In his view, all religions share the same purpose of providing people with an emotional anchor during times of suffering or anxiety.
Thailand’s Oscar submission
In 2026, the National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations appointed a committee to select a Thai film for consideration in the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.
Its members were experts from across the film industry, including directors, producers, distributors and cinema operators.
Under the eligibility criteria stated in the source, a Thai film must have been produced outside the United States, run for more than 40 minutes and received a commercial theatrical release in its country of origin for at least seven consecutive days between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026.
This year, 51 Thai films met the stated criteria.
The committee narrowed them to a shortlist of eight films: 9 Temples to Heaven, Gohan, Morte Cucina, Human Resource, The Undertaker 2, 4 Tigers, Regretfully at Dawn and In the Name of Love.
After several rounds of debate and discussion, the committee resolved to select 9 Temples to Heaven, written and directed by Sompot, as Thailand’s submission for this year’s Academy Awards.
It cited the film’s distinctiveness across every element, including its quality and creative, profound content, which had impressed critics and audiences internationally.
Those interested in seeing Thailand’s Oscar submission can watch 9 Temples to Heaven at the Bangkok International Film Festival on September 13, when it will open the festival.
It is then scheduled for nationwide release on September 17.
Source: Bangkokbiznews
