Local film wins award at India's top festival

Thailand News - Outlook - Wednesday December 12, 2007

INDIAN FILM FESTIVALS THAI CINEMA RECOGNISED

Local film wins award at India's top festival

Thai film Khaw hai rak jong jaroen (Me ... Myself), seasoned scriptwriter Pongpat Wachirabunjong's feature directing debut, has won the Silver Peacock Award for Best Promising Director at the International Film Festival of India (Iffi), which concluded at the beach town of Goa on December 3.

The award from India's top film festival came with an impressive cash prize of 500,000 rupees (388,000 baht).

The award citation reads ''The film depicts a story of hope for a world without discrimination, while recognising the difficulties of coping with being different. Debut director Pongpat Wachirabunjong has made a deeply affecting film that expresses something of the essence of the human spirit. We look forward to seeing many more films from this talented new director.''

The film, portraying the story of a transsexual (played with great sensitivity by Ananda Everingham) falling in love with a young girl, deeply moved the jury, which included eminent directors Martha Meszaros from Hungary, Paolo Caesar from Argentina, Robert Sarkies from New Zealand and Shaji Karun from India as well as actress Meltem Cumbill from Turkey (who served on the jury of the World Film Festival of Bangkok last year).

''The jury loved this film and were amazed to discover it was the first feature of the director,'' raved Sarkies.

''The film constantly surprises its audience. It has weighty themes but is treated with a light touch that makes it both funny and profoundly human. And by the end it packs an emotional punch that left the jury in stunned silence.''

The Thai film was one of 14 in competition for the prize it won at India's oldest and best-known film festival, which this year boasted 176 films from 46 countries .

The festival's top award, the Golden Peacock, was won by The Wall from Taiwan, while the Special Jury Prize was shared by Swopnodanay (On the Wings of Dreams) from Bangladesh and Ma{aac}s que a nada en el mundo (More Than Anything in the World) from Mexico, both from first-time directors.

Local actor Everingham had been keen to attend the festival but could not make it as he was busy shooting his new movie with Ekachai Uekrongtham.

Incidentally, Ekachai won the Silver Peacock at Iffi in 2004 for his film Beautiful Boxer.

Director Pongpat was also busy shooting his new film and could not attend the festival. His studio, Mono Films, said they were delighted by the award.

The award was presented by world-famous Indian director Buddhadeb Dasgupta and received by Somkiat Vithuranich, co-director of another Thai film that was screened at the festival, Ma mha 4 khaa khrap (Mid Road Gang).

Somkiat said his first trip to India was exciting and unforgettable, especially as the festival attracted top Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Dev Anand, Sekhar Kapoor and others.

''We hope we will continue getting such interesting Thai films for our next festival,'' said Iffi director Neelam Kapoor.

Khaw hai rak jong jaroen will also be shown at India's Kerala International Film Festival and Chennai International Film Festival.

The Kerala festival will screen two other noteworthy Thai films, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Sang sattawat (Syndromes and a Century) and Pan-ek Ratanaruang's Ploy.

The latter film won the Fipresci award at the Osian-Cinefan festival held in the Indian capital of New Delhi in July, while the former film, not released in Thailand due to censorship problems, created waves at the same festival where its director served on the jury.

''After seeing the passion for cinema in India, I wish I could stay in the country for a few months and understand it better,'' said Apichatpong.

Yet another Thai film to be noticed in India this year was the animated feature Khan Kluay, which was the opening film of the Children's International Film Festival of India, held at Hyderabad last month.

''It's a stunning movie, and would have easily won the top award if it had been in competition,'' said Nafisa Ali, chairman of the Children's Film Society of India, which organises the festival.

Ali said that the society would like to buy the rights of the film from Kantana Studios, dub it in Hindi and screen it at schools in India.

Overall, it seems to have been a good year for Thai cinema in India, the world's biggest producer of films.

Bangkok Post