Eyeballs all set for a workout?

With “Cinema Potion No 9” as its theme, the fest is at the Paragon and Esplanade cineplexes from November 4 to 13.
Festival director Kreangsak “Victor” Silakong has already lined up three of the Thai movies that premiered at the Venice Film Festival last month – Rirkrit Tiravanija’s must-see documentary “Lung Neaw Visits His Neighbours”, Kongdej Jaturanrasamee’s debut indie feature “P-047” and Wattanapume laisuwanchai’s short film “Passing Through the Night”.
“Lung Neaw” is graphic artist Rirkrit’s first foray into movies. He calls his portrait of farming life “semi-documentary, semi-fictional”.
Also showing at the Busan fest in South Korea, “P-047” is about two guys who burglarise apartments – “borrowing” stuff, mind you, not stealing it.
“Beside these three Thai films from Venice, we’ll screen more from the Cannes Film Festival,” Victor says.

Films, schmilms
Now for the bad news: RS is drifting away from the moviemaking business because the boss, Surachai “Hia Hor” Chetchotesak, says it’s just too risky.
“We won’t stop producing films, but we’re kind of fading out,” he says without a great deal of clarity.
“Bangkok Kung-fu”, the latest flick from RS, fell short of earning expectations even as another side of the business – satellite TV – was cranking out profits.
Sabai Dee TV has turned out to be a wallet-stuffer. Its soap opera “Look Sao Chao Por” has 300,000 viewers. All of its advertising time gets gobbled up. China wants to buy it.
With that kind of potential, Hia Hor says, RS is investing in top-of-the-line production. Its next soap series, “Thongprakai Sad”, will star Savika “Pinky” Chaidej, whose off-screen scandals make her an onscreen magnet.
And if the production values are high, other countries will be keen to see it. Pinky just finished a movie in India, in fact, so count them in.