Thail Film Archive to rescreen two Asean classics
There is good news for film buffs who missed two Asean classics at the Bangkok Asean Film Festival that ended last week. The Thai Film Archive is bringing the two films -- Genghis Khan from Philippines and “Moon Over Malaya” from Singapore -- for a repeat show at the Film Archive on Buddha Monthon Sai 5 Road at Salaya. tomorrow.
Admission is free.
“Genghis Khan” will be screened at 1pm. The film, based on the life of the legendary Mongol conqueror, was made in 1950 and dramatises the daring exploits of Temujin, the 12th-century Mongol prince. Following a land rights feud, the young prince is unaware of tribal leader Burchou’s plans to massacre other chiefs during a feast. Though the prince makes a narrow escape, when he returns home he finds his village destroyed. Driven by the desire to seek revenge, Temujin competes in the “Man of Men” contest and plots a scheme to expose Burchou’s treachery while falling in love with the enemy commander's daughter. His path to become The Great Conqueror is strewn with blood and obstacles.
“Genghis Khan” premiered in 1952 at the Venice International Film Festival. The prints were thought to have been lost, but the international version made in the US were accidentally discovered. This version has an English track overlay on the original Tagalog track. A restoration process followed and the film was invited for screening in Venice again in 2012.
The film is dubbed in English with English and Thai subtitles.
Director Manuel Conde started his film career in “Mahiwagang Biyolin” in 1935. Later, he founded his own film company, Manuel Conde Pictures, in 1947. In 1950, he directed and starred in “Genghis Khan”, which was the first Filipino film to gain international recognition. Its success became a trail-blazer for the Filipino movie industry.
The second film to be shown is “Moon Over Malaya”, which tells the story of Ngok Ming, an idealistic young man who wants to develop the educational standards in Malaya. He approaches a wealthy Chinese businessman to raise funds for building schools and meets the young heiress, Cho-lin. After a whirlwind romance, they get married. However, Ngok Ming struggles to balance his passion for education and performing his duty of managing the family business. As conflicts between the characters escalate, Ngok Ming and Cho-lin make decisions that change their lives forever.
For more information, please call (02) 482 2013 – 14 or visit www.facebook.com/thaifilmarchivepage
The film was made in 1957 and is one of the “Nanyang Trilogy”. The film is in Cantonese with English and Thai subtitles and tells the story of overseas Chinese in the Malayan Peninsula.
According to sgfilmlocations.com, The Nanyang Trilogy started when film director Chan Man and his colleague Chun Kim, general manager and film director at Kong Ngee in Hong Kong, sought opportunities in Southeast Asia so they shot a series of films there. In 1956, a compact location-filming crew of about 10 members, including Chun Kim, Chan Man, scriptwriter/director Chor Yuen, actors Patrick Tse Yin and Patsy Kar Ling, arrived in Singapore with three film scripts tentatively titled “Blood Stains the Valley of Love” (released with the same title in 1957), “Quest for a Long-Lost Husband”, and “Moon Over Malaya”. These three films were labelled collectively as the Nanyang Trilogy and were all set in Malaya and Singapore and would feature film locations from major cities and townships across the Malayan Peninsula — Singapore, Johor Bahru, Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Ipoh and Taiping.
