Regional Premiere:
Tropical Malady (Sud Pralad)
, 7 pm
Introduced by Apichatpong WeerAsethakul
In this erotic, alluring film, Weerasethakul boldly reconstructs the narrative form with two stylistically different sections, each steeped in the physical and emotional pursuit of desire. In the lush opening section, a young soldier tries to woo a handsome local boy who is resistant to his romantic overtures. Suddenly, the setting is the jungle and the soldier’s prey takes on animal form. The lines between reality and fantasy blur as the object of the hunt morphs from man to beast. 2004, Thailand/France, color, 35mm, in Thai with English subtitles, 118 minutes.
With
Haunted Houses
, 9:15 pm
Nightly at 8 pm, millions of houses across Thailand are “haunted“ as television sets are tuned to the nation’s favorite soap opera. Mesmerized by the lifestyles of the rich, many people from the lower classes are entranced by a world they can only imagine. Enter Weerasethakul, who traveled around the countryside asking families to act out the familiar soap opera in their own homes, using actual scripts from the program. 2001, Thailand, color, video, in Thai with English subtitles, 60 minutes.
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