A VIP invite to the Thai film awards reveals the feature film business in South East Asia is growing.
Often when travelling to another country for work, it’s easy to get so caught up in the preparation, flight-transfer-time-zone-zonk that you can find yourself stuck, alone and bored, searching for dinner and something to do.
On this trip, I lucked-in. I’d been invited to Thailand by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) to run a filmmaking masterclass and judge a pitching competition and arrived in Bangkok the same weekend the Thai film awards (Suphannahong National Film Awards). This is Thailand’s night-of-nights in the screen industry. Luckily I’d brought a fancy silver jacket and blue tie with gold flowers… and gold was the theme of the night. Nice. I’d scored VIP tickets, however my plus-one for the evening wasn’t able to attend and the idea of trying to tackle an entire awards night on my own, where I wouldn’t know a soul, nor understand a word spoken was a tad daunting.
Again, I lucked-in and one of Thailand’s up-and-coming directors Thanika Jenjesda [see pic above], whom I’d met at Bangkok University the day before, was able to join me. As we crawled through the infamous Bangkok peak-hour traffic cram Thanika gave me a quick overview of the feature film business and who to look out for. Like the rest of South East Asia Thailand has a long, rich history and every year a number of local films break out commercially and critically and others make it on to the international festival circuit.
On arrival, my VIP status didn’t seem to quite cut it and instead of pulling up at the red carpet, we were directed to a dirt carpark next to a building site from where we jumped puddles and made our way over to reception. Then I saw the red carpet ahead… all 300 feet of it. Now I’m pretty gregarious, and can even be a tad cheeky at times, but the prospect of running the gauntlet of a cluster-muck of 200 photographers and news cameras to get through the door was even beyond my chutzpah. We agreed to sneak round the back… and instead made a quick appearance at the photo wall.
My strategy of going with a local paid off. Thanika seemed to know just about everyone. “Meet Adam, he’s a director… oh, and his dad is a super famous movie director and member of the royal family.” Adam (Chalermchatri Yukol); super good looking, slick threads, super nice, Australian educated and a talented young director. Too much! “This is Paul, he’s just made a movie.” Cool.
And then… “I can’t believe it, it’s Florence Faivre, she just starred in my latest film.” Kiss, kiss, hug, hug. What can I say… the mesmerising Florence Faivre (The Expanse), a French Thai actress who has enjoyed considerable success in the USA, floated out of a Maserati in her gold-threaded trailing dress, down the red carpet and in to a frenzied blaze of paparazzi hysteria. [See pic above] Yep, the red carpet is best left for those who wear gold well and for whom the camera lenses swoon.\
Waiting for the awards to get started in the rather grand theatre of the Thailand Cultural Centre, Thanika continued her introductions with a charming director who she had worked for as a DOP. Yanyong Kuruaungkoul’s comedy App War follows two young entrepreneurs who fall for each other, then end up competitors in a competition for a $5m start-up prize. [See trailer below] Such fair nicely reflects the kind of energy and can-do of the modern Thai middle class and are generally commercially successful in the local box office.
The evening saw some wonderful films pick up awards across the various craft, but one film dominated with a clean sweep ‘Malila – The Farewell Flower’ directed by Anucha Boonyawatana. [See trailer below] It picked up Best Director, Best Film and Best Screenplay. An elegant, beautifully told story that spoke to the sophistication of the Thai screen industry, and the tolerance of their culture, a “sensitive spiritual drama that unusually fuses gay romance with Buddhist healing.” (It turned out producer Donsaron Kovitvanitchawas was a fellow judge with me for the MPA pitching competition.)
Amongst the nominees across several categories was an animation ‘The Legend of Muay Thai – 9 Satra’ that picked up Best Song. [See trailer below] They were probably hoping for more having been nominated in several categories. As a filmmaker I felt for them, knowing they had slogged it through the gut-wrenching emotion that comes with sitting through the roll-call of nominations including your own, the hope, anticipation, rehearsed speech and then… the loss. Coming 5th sucks. And there is only 1st and 5th when it comes to awards. Nothing in-between.
Finding good material for a film is hard. Really hard. In the break Thanika was running me through her ideas for next project when I suggested she have a look at the work of talented, internationally known Thai writer Pradba Yoon. Before my trip to Thailand I dived in to some research on contemporary Thai literature and ended up reading a collection of short stories The Sad Part Was. It included a fantastically vivid and quirky story Something in the Air about a couple who inadvertently witness a giant billboard crushing a thief whilst making love. Yep, very quirky, but very well written.
Just as I was recounting the plot, Thanika cut me off… “That’s him!! Right in front of you. That’s Pradba Yoon in the seat in front.” You’re kidding. So in a fan stalking moment that you could probably only get away with as a foreigner in Bangkok, I managed to snap a photo with the author, scriptwriter, artist, graphic designer, magazine editor and media personality… a true renaissance man indeed. [See pic above]
A few of the filmmakers I met suggested the feature film business had struggled in the last five years, but was at least starting to grow again. Despite that, the awards revealed plenty of talent, plenty of ideas and no shortage of opportunity in the broader South East Asian market.
They were pretty slick, not too long and really well run. However, there was one thing that was big let-down. “Where’s the after-party?” I innocently asked Thanika. What? No afterparty? For whatever reason – too tight, wrong kind of venue, not the cultural thing – there was no afterparty.
So it was back to the building-site-carpark and a then a late-night glide along the traffic-free tangled freeway system that hovers above the neon city streets, back to my super-cheap Airbnb and a sneaky midnight dip in the 30m infinity pool to cool off.
This article was originally published here.