Winning Malaysian documentary screens Saturday
“Absent Without Leave”, the Malaysian entry that won this year’s Salaya International Documentary Film Festival, will be screened at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, this Saturday (May 20).
The archive is at Buddha Monthon Sai 5. Two academics will discuss the film after the screening.
In his debut feature documentary, director Lau Kek-Huat attempts to reconnect with his absent father and gradually unravels the forgotten story of his grandfather, another absent father – but also a communist guerrilla martyred during World War II.
Born in Malaysia, Lau worked as a schoolteacher in Singapore for four years and enrolled at National Taiwan University in 2006. At the Taiwan Golden Harvest Festival he won the Best Short Film Award twice (2009, 2013) and Best Director (2009). He’s currently developing his first feature-length non-documentary film.
Saturday’s screening is set for 1pm, followed by the discussion at 3 with well-known academics Surachat Bumrungsuk, a political scientist, and Tanate Arpornsuwan, an historian who has studied the Malaya Communist Party. Rasami Paoluangthong will moderate.
Find out more at (02) 482 2013-4, extension 111.
