'So Be It', 'W' among Thai premieres
An new feature by Kongdej Jaturanrasmee and the debut of Chonlasit Upanigkit will have world premieres at the Busan International Film Festival, alongside international debuts for two other Thai films and more.
Following up his award-winning “Tang Wong”, Kongdej’s boyhood drama “So Be It”, which was backed the festival’s Asian Cinema Fund, is about a pair of boys, one a seven-year-old Thai-American who wants to be a monk and an 11-year-old hill-tribe kid who was forced to spend his entire life at a provincial temple. “From radically different backgrounds, the two look to find themselves through Buddhism.”
Chonlasit, a film editor on past-year Busan entries “Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy” and “36”, makes his feature debut behind the lens with “W”, in which three university pals face their uncertain futures.
“Director Chonlasit’s graduation project taps into the anxieties of contemporary twenty something and best friends struggling with choices they didn’t always want to make,” says the festival synopsis.
Both “So Be It” and “W” are in the Window on Asian Cinema programme, alongside two other Thai entries, indie director Parm Rangsri’s “Fah Gam Toh” and Nithiwat Tharatorn’s hit GTH romance “The Teacher’s Diary” (“Kid Tueng Wittaya”), which is Thailand’s submission to the Academy Awards.
Parm, following up his drama “Daddy’s Menu”, reteams with comedian Ping Lumpraplerng for a fatherhood drama about a faded veteran singer who is struggling to recapture his stardom.
More Thai films are in the Wide Angle line-up, with the coming-of-age drama “That Day of the Month” by Jirassaya Wongsutin making its debut in the Asian Short Film Competition.
Another world premiere will be “The Singers”, a new work by Nonzee Nimibutr, in the Short Film Showcase.
And in the Documentary Showcase, it’s “Y/our Music”, a UK-Thai production by Waraluck Every and David Reeve that surveys nine non-mainstream musicians, from “rice field to leftfield”.
