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  • News & article

    2023 ROUNDUP A vintage year for Thai cinema?

    Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 25/12/2023

    » There were cheers of jubilation and gasps of disbelief as Thai cinema found itself awash with excitement in 2023. This has been the most successful year for mainstream Thai movies in a decade, a box-office triumph far exceeding all expectations. To many, the 2023 coup de theatre calls for celebration. "We are back!" cried optimistic pundits. But also: "Really? Is it just a one-time cinema party and can we keep the ball rolling?"

  • News & article

    Nang Nak at 20

    Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 26/07/2019

    » Thai cinema saw a new horizon open 20 years ago up this month. On July 23, 1999, a little film called Nang Nak opened in cinemas. An adaptation of the country's most popular ghost tale about a wife who died in childbirth but stuck around as a spirit waiting for her husband to return from war, the film arrived carrying high hopes -- and exceeded all of them. Nang Nak, directed by Nonzee Nimibutr and written by Wisit Sasanatieng, unleashed an unprecedented momentum of enthusiasm and became the first Thai movie to blaze past the 100-million-baht mark at the box office.

  • News & article

    It's alive!

    Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 21/12/2021

    » Doomsayers will have to hold out a little longer. Cinema -- as in people sitting in the dark taking in a communal experience of audiovisual sensations -- is still breathing, moving, enlightening.

  • News & article

    Will the best films win the Oscars?

    Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 26/02/2016

    » The Oscar night is also the Oscar-bashing night. It was always the night (or morning, in our time zone) of constant bemoaning and condescension, because the Academy voters, like most voters, always get it wrong, at least to million others around the world who believe, in our collective delirium, that we have a stake in this pageant taking place somewhere in Los Angeles. Things have taken a turn for the worse with the snap judgement made possible by social media; now the outrage and disbelief are so raw since they're aired in real time, on Facebook and Twitter, like I did last year when I was convinced that it was against every law of nature that Birdman, a well-crafted display of pretension and self-obsession, won over the more delicate Boyhood.

  • News & article

    Thai project wins at Doc By The Sea

    Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 15/09/2021

    » An important gathering of documentary filmmakers in Southeast Asia "Doc By The Sea" this year had to move online, though it remains a rich, stimulating event that contributes to the documentary community in the region. Usually held in Bali -- thus the "by the sea" moniker -- DBTS this year was titled "Doc By The Sea Accelerator 2021", with a week-long event that ran from Aug 16 to Sept 4 consisting of workshops, masterclasses and pitching sessions for new documentary projects from around the region, while mentors also logged in from Europe, the US and Asia to give commentary and guidance.

  • News & article

    Be my guest

    Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 13/12/2019

    » Some arrived by boat, others by air. Some came when the British still ruled their homeland, others were driven by the bloodshed of The Partition. Some came with numerous gods, others with the one and only Allah. Some came from near Bombay, others from in and around Madras. Some came with the intention of returning, others arrived knowing that there was no going back.

  • News & article

    A nation of millions can't hold them back

    News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 29/10/2018

    » Rhymes and misdemeanours. Yo, yo. Rappers are threatened to be thrown in a slammer.

  • News & article

    The pastoral romance returns

    Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 19/09/2018

    » The star-crossed lovers coo. They ride their buffaloes through a verdant field, splash mud, evade spiteful parents, and make a vow at the shrine of the banyan tree. But their romance, like all memorable romances in books and life, is doomed by the circumstances of fate, tragic and scarred, and their destiny is one of the most heartbreaking in the canon of Siamese literature and film.

  • News & article

    Windows on the world

    Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 28/09/2017

    » As Hussain Currimbhoy sees it, this is a golden age for documentary filmmaking, a time when the criss-crossing narratives of the world tangle with audiences' growing suspicion over traditional media. The emergence of streaming services has also revolutionised distribution philosophy and connected doc-makers with audiences in ways unseen before, especially with audiences who once had little interest in documentary titles.

  • News & article

    That precious gold statuette

    Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 24/02/2017

    » The Oscars takes place Monday morning Thailand time. We pontificate and prognosticate the results

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