Something exciting is happening in Thailand: the country appears to be the new center of Asian film, and a new wave of Thai films is showing up around the world. The Walker Art Center is pleased to present
New Language from Thailand: A Regis Dialogue and Film Retrospective with Apichatpong “Joe” Weerasethakul
(A-pich-at-pong Wair-a-seth-ical) Thursday-Saturday, November 18-20. The series includes screenings of the filmmaker’s internationally acclaimed films Blissfully Yours and Mysterious Objects at Noon, both screening on Thursday, November 18, at 7 pm, as well as the regional premiere of Tropical Malady and _Haunted House_s, screening on Friday, November 19, at 7 pm. All films are being shown at The Bell Museum of Natural History on the University of Minnesota’s East Bank campus. Weerasethakul will also participate in a Regis Dialogue at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design on Saturday, November 20, at 8 pm, to discuss his career with Chuck Stephens, a writer-critic who is chronicling this Thai renaissance.
Trained first as an architect, Weerasethakul later studied film at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Addressing the hybridization of genre in his work, he says, “I am interested in the possibilities of involving both fact and fiction in one film, with each of them intersecting and supporting each other. I was not thinking much about revolutionizing the narrative method.” Yet Joe (the name he commonly goes by) has done just that. Making their way rapidly to the world stage, his works are shaking the foundations of the narrative film. His genre-shifting includes documenting rural people making up stories to create a new fiction, or mixing the reality of social conditions of immigrants with the allegory of primeval forests. His first three features have earned him global acclaim; Blissfully Yours received the Prix Un Certain Regard award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, and at the 2004 festival he won the Cannes Jury Prize for Tropical Malady. His films have scored atop the Village Voice’s “Best of” polls. Just as he explores shape-shifting in Thai myths, Weerasethakul shifts viewers’ expectations while creating a new language of cinema.
Major support for the Walker’s presentation of this Regis Dialogue and Retrospective has been provided by a grant from the Regis Foundation.
New Language from Thailand: A Regis Dialogue and Film Retrospective with Apichatpong “Joe” Weerasethakul
Film Retrospective at University Film Society
The Bell Museum of Natural History, 10 Church Street S.E.,
University of Minnesota East Bank campus, Minneapolis
Tickets: 612.375.7622 or www.walkerart.org/tickets
All films directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Thursday, November 18
Double Feature: $7 ($5 Walker and MFA members)
Blissfully Yours (Sud Sanaeha), 7 pm
A road movie reminiscent of Jean Renoir’s rueful idyll A Day in the Country, Blissfully Yours is unconscionably happy. Min is an illegal immigrant from Burma who skips work in a factory that makes Flintstones knickknacks. His companions, two Thai women, happily play hooky with him and head to the jungle for a picnic and romance. In a scenic spot, each finds an erotic moment. “I didn’t want to focus on Burmese people’s hardships,” says the director,” but instead on how they can find happiness. I pushed the political element into the background. I wanted to convey the pleasure of life, the precious things of life that we are born for in this world, no matter how difficult it is.” 2002, Thailand, color, 35mm, in Thai with English subtitles, 125 minutes.
with
Mysterious Object at Noon, 9:15 pm
Early on in this hybrid documentary a young woman relates a horrible incident. The off-camera director then asks her a peculiar question: “Now, do you have any other stories to tell us? It can be real or fiction.” This inquiry leads Weerasethakul to traverse Thailand, where a cross section of people pick up the new story and add their own details. Like the “exquisite corpse” exercise in which assorted writers each contribute a sentence, or sometimes a chapter, in order to build a single narrative, the people offer local myths and fables that give viewers a beguiling look at this country. 2000, Thailand, BW, 35mm, in Thai with English subtitles, 83 minutes.
Friday, November 19
Double Feature: $7 ($5 Walker and MFA members)
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.
Saturday, November 20
Regis Dialogue: Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Chuck Stephens, 8 pm
$7 ($5 Walker members)
Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 2501 Stevens Avenue South, Minneapolis
In an evening punctuated with excerpts from his films, Apichatpong Weerasethakul discusses his experimental style and filmmaking in Thailand with writer-critic Chuck Stephens, a contributing editor to Film Comment, film critic for the S_an Francisco Bay Guardian_, and occasional contributor to the LA Weekly, the Village Voice, and Cinema Scope. Stephens, who lives and works in Bangkok, writes frequently about Thai film.
