Thai filmmaker wins award at Rotterdam film festival

The award was announced on Friday night, with the two other winners ‘La Obra Del Siglo’ from Cuba and ‘Vidophilia (And Other Viral Syndromes)’ from Peru.

Each year a renowned international jury gives a Tiger Award to makers of the three best feature films at the festival. The film must be either their first or second feature film. The winners each received 15,000 euros (Bt554,000).

‘Vanishing Point’ is independent filmmaker Jakrawal Nilthamrong’s first narrative feature film after he earned recognition from his short and documentary films and video installations including the film ‘Man and Gravity’, which was in the Tiger competition in 2008. 

“I was here in 2007 for the first time with my thesis film, and years later I come back and stand on the stage and receive the award. But this achievement would be impossible without the help from my best friends,” Jakrawal said. His work has been shown in other international festivals including the Berlin International Film Festival and the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival.

According to the film’s website, ‘Vanishing Point’ was influenced by a car accident involving the director’s parents 32 years ago. 

It is the story of two men who try to run away from their torment. One is a young idealistic journalist who cannot stand injustice, the other a middle-aged man who turns away from his past and lives a meaningless life as a motel owner.

Jakrawal graduated from the Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Printing at Silpakorn University before studying at Chicago’s School of Art Institute.

He was an artist in residence at the Rijksakademie Van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, and is a film lecturer at Thammasat University’s Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication.

This year four Thai short films were selected for the Tiger Awards – ‘Dao Indie’ (‘Auntie Maam Has Never Had a Passport’) by Sorayos Prapaphan; ‘Thursday’ by Anocha Suwichakornpong and Sejla Kameric; ‘Endless, Nameless’ by Pathomphon Mont Tesprateep; and ‘Deleted’ by Nitas Sinwattanakul.

Previous Thai films to win a Tiger are Aditya Assarat’s ‘Wonderful Town’ in 2008, ‘Jao Nok Krajok’ (‘Mundane History’) by Anocha Suwichakornpong in 2010 and ‘Thee Rak’ (‘Eternity’) by Sivaroj Kongsakul in 2011.

 

* Read our story on Jakrawal and the International Film Festival Rotterdam in Tuesday’s XP section on page 16B.