Photos courtesy of AFP and Bangkok Post
A novice Thai film-maker’s low-budget, experimental production shared top honours at Asia’s largest film festival, which drew to a close on October 13.
Read the following story from the Bangkok Post to learn more about this exciting award.
The panel of jurors for the New Currents award at South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival described Thai director Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit’s film 36 as breathtaking. The film was co-winner of the award with the also highly-acclaimed Kayan, directed by Maryam Najafi.
WONDERFUL WIN
Both productions received $30,000 (920,000 baht) as part of the award, which offers two first prizes and is open for all Asian filmmakers.
Nawapol’s film, which was made with a budget of just $20,000 (615,000 baht), is set around 36 static images and tells the story of a young female film-location scout who enters into a relationship with an art director. A year later, the art director has left her and the only keepsake she has of their time together is a portable hard drive filled with photos. When the hard drive crashes, she tries to relive those lost moments.
“The first time I screened the film it was in a conference room for about 20 people, so I was honoured to be invited to Busan,” Nawapol said. “My film is about how there are many different ways to look at the way we live our lives.”
ORIGINAL IDEAS
The New Currents jury, headed by the veteran Hungarian director Bela Tarr, celebrated Nawapol’s work for the way that the director created his own film language. The jury said in a statement that they found the writing of the film breathtaking, artful and economical, with no unnecessary words used.
PERSONAL PUBLICITY
Nawapol eschewed the conventional channel of movie theatres and screened the 68-minute long 36 at a room he rented at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. He also made use of social media to get the word out about his film, including a particularly strong presence on Facebook.
“Facebook is free, and that’s what I used to promote my film,” Nawapol told the Bangkok Post in an interview in June. “It’s hard work though, since I have to monitor and update the film’s page every day.”
Exercises
Read the story. Then, decide whether the following statements are true or false.
1. The two winning filmmakers received 920,000 baht as part of the award.
2. The recent Busan International Film Festival was held in North Korea.
3. Nawapol spent 6,150,000 baht on making 36.
4. Bela Tarr is from Hungary.
Vocabulary
- novice (adj): a person who is new and has little experience in a skill, job or situation
experimental (adj): based on new ideas, forms or methods that are used to find out what effect they have
breathtaking (adj): very exciting or impressive
static (adj): not moving, changing or developing
keepsake (n): a small object that somebody gives you so that you will remember them
portable (adj): that is easy to carry or to move
relive (v): to experience something again, especially in your imagination
artful (adj): designed or done in a clever way
economical (adj): using no more of something than is necessary
eschew (v): to deliberately avoid or keep away from something
