Showing 1 - 7 of 7
Reforming Thai cinema
Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 03/06/2024
» It has been eight months since the National Soft Power Strategy Committee was established under the government of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin. Meanwhile, the Thai film industry, supported by the Thailand Creative Culture Agency, has not seen any significant changes.
Revisiting Wong's dance of desire
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 30/10/2020
» Drenched with desire, Wong Kar-wai's In The Mood For Love feels like a plush, vivid dream lodged in the deepest recess of a lover's heart. Now, the heart is beating again and the dream is being projected on the big screen some 20 years after the film first stunned audiences at Cannes and launched a wave of copycats around Asia.
What’s trending and happening this week
Muse, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 21/04/2018
» 1 Feel like putting your strength to the test? Under Armour is bringing back its annual urban fitness challenge Test Of Will, to be held on April 28 and 29 at CentralWorld. Participants will complete physical challenges -- Over and Under (hurdles), Deadball Squats, Kettlebell Farmer Walks and Bear Crawls -- in a four-minute circuit challenge. Contestants will be divided into age categories: 18-34, 35-44 and 45+. Each will be scored based on the maximum number of correct repetitions they can achieve within one minute. A cash prize of 50,000 baht is up for grabs for the male and female competitors who achieve highest overall score. Register to compete, for 500 baht, at testofwill.com. Available only for Thai residents over the age of 18.
A new vision on Siam's enduring symbol
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 26/04/2017
» The elephant and the man, walking down the road to redemption and encountering the wounded and the marginalised, the madmen and the prostitutes. In the film Pop Aye, which will kick off Bangkok Asean Film Festival 2017 this evening (see sidebar), the fine-tusked beast accompanies the lost soul as the duo find their way home from Bangkok to the Northeast.
Colourful journey into Thailand's soul
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 20/01/2017
» The train clangs ahead, moving people and dreams, as it has done since 1893. In Railway Sleepers, a minutely observed film shot entirely on-board a Thai train, we see kids on school trips, young men travelling north and south, hawkers selling food and horoscope books, families and lovers, vacationers who turn the sleeping car into a party venue. They're passengers, and they're also humans. They are, as director Sompot Chidgasornpongse says, a collection of faces that make up a portrait of Thailand.
A song of kings
Life, Kanin Srimaneekulroj, Published on 28/06/2016
» Much like the National Anthem, Thailand's Royal Anthem, known as Pleng Sansoen Phra Barami, is an iconic tune that every Thai person knows by heart. Most commonly heard before the beginning of state occasions, movies, theatre or music performances, the cultural and musical significance of the Royal Anthem, which celebrates the monarch's glory, can't be understated.
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.