'Genius' wins a prize
This year’s teen caper movie “Charlard Games Gong” (“Bad Genius”) hasn’t just done well at the local box office but has also scored high in other Asean countries.
Now it’s picking up prizes further afield and has just won the Screen International Rising Star Asia Award for its actress Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying at the New York Asian Film Festival.
“Bad Genius” was the first film from South East Asia to be chosen to open the New York event and actress Chutimon and director Nattawut Poonpiriya headed to the Big Apple for the event.
“I was shocked when the director called me and told me the good news. I was thrilled to attend the festival and walking on stage to receive the award was the proudest moment of my life. I wouldn’t come this far without the cast and director. Lynn was the first character I played and she made me fall in love with acting,” the actress says.
And “Bad Genius” is not the only film to do well internationally. The short-film project “Kita Raja Nipon”, which transforms His Majesty the King’s famous songs into pictures, recently picked up the Best Audience Award at the East Winds Film Festival in Coventry, England.
Director Parkpoom Wongphoom was on hand to represent three other filmmakers.
“We were overwhelmed when the film was chosen for the event and very happy when we won the best audience award. I was so proud to portray the Royal compositions in a film in front of a foreign audience. I wondered whether the British public would find it as moving as Thai viewers and they did,” Parkpoom says.
