The festival, which continues through July 8, opens with Indonesian drama “Memories of My Body” by veteran director Garin Nugroho, who will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. Nugrohoo’s movies combine Javanese tradition and aesthetics with socio-political messages and sometimes poetic language and offer a fascinating overview of the visible and invisible transformation of Indonesia in the past three decades.

“Memories” centres on Juno who was abandoned by his father as a child. Growing up in a Javanese village, he joins a Lengger dance centre where men shape their feminine appearance and movement. But the sensuality and sexuality that come from dance and bodies mixed with the violent social and political Indonesian environment, force Juno to move from village to village.

And while he receives attention and love from his dance teachers, his weird aunt, his old uncle, a handsome boxer and a Warok, he is alone in facing the battlefield that his body is becoming.

The screening is by invitation only.

“Memories of My Body”

Organized by the Ministry of Culture in cooperation with the National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Association as well as other state agencies and private partners, and programmed by Pimpaka Towira, the Asean Competition section will feature 10 films, two from Thailand – “Kraben Rahu” or “Manta Ray” and “Hope Frozen”, two from Cambodia (“Funan”, “Last Night I Saw You Smiling”), one from Indonesia (“Ave Maryam”), two from the Philippines (“Gusto Kita with All My Hypothalamus”, “Balangiga: Howling Wilderness”), one from Singapore “A Land Imagined”), one from Malaysia (“Fly by Night”), and one from Vietnam (“The Third Wife”).

“Funan”, the only animation in the competition, is a collaboration between Cambodia, Belgium and France and is set in 1975 during the Khmer Rouge revolution. Fighting for her own survival, Chou, a young Cambodian mother, looks for her 4-year-old son who was taken away from her by the regime.

Three prizes are up for grabs – Best ASEAN Film, Jury Prize and Special Mention. The first sees its director take home a trophy and $10,000 while the other two receive trophies and $5,000 and $2,000 respectively. A panel of three will judge the 10 films in the competition, namely filmmaker Phan Dang Di from Vietnam, Curator and Coordinator of the Brave Talk from the International Film

Festival Rotterdam Muge Demir from the Netherlands and filmmaker Anucha Boonyawatana from Thailand.

Sixteen more films will be screened in the showcase section including blockbuster Thai movie “Friend Zone” and “Malila” (“The Farewell Flower”), the Thai animation “Ramavatar Murals Brought to Life”, “The Only Mom” a Myanmar film directed by a Thai filmmaker, “Surau dan Silek” from Indonesia and “Song Lang” from Vietnam.

“A Land Imagined” from Singapore

This year’s Classic Film segment shows “Moon Over Malaya” from Malaysia and Singapore; “Genghis Khan” from the Philippines and “Ai Tui” from Thailand. Audiences can also enjoy “Every Day a Good Day” from Japan, China’s “Running to the

Spring” and “A Boy and Sungreen” from South Korea.

Despite the wide variety and earlier screenings, Thai films are proving the most popular this year with several of them already fully booked, namely “Friend Zone”, “Manta Ray”, which won Orizzonti award from the Venice International Film Festival last year, and “Hope Frozen” – an award-winning documentary about two-year-old Einz, who became the youngest person in the world to undergo cryo-preservation. After her death from brain cancer, her family stored her remains in an American lab. Her head and brain now rest inside a tank in Arizona. “Hope Frozen” follows the family who made this unorthodox decision. The girl’s father, a laser

scientist, yearns to give Einz the opportunity to experience a rebirth inside a regenerated body.

The opening ceremony will take place on July 3 at Infinicity Hall, Paragon Cineplex, while the award ceremony and closing event will be on July 8 at the Sky Lobby, SF World Cinema. Another highlight is a program called Roundtable, a talk and workshop series organized by Purin Pictures Foundation featuring sessions with leading filmmakers from the region. Some of the highlights are the female cinematographer’s eye, “Path Forward for Documentaries” and a spotlight on Phuttipong Aroonpheng and his eight-year journey making the film “Manta Ray”.

The roundtable will take place at the auditorium of Alliance Francaise Bangkok from July 4 to 7.

For more details about the talk and workshop, visit http://www.PurinRoundtable.org

All films will be screened with Thai and English subtitles and tickets must be reserved in advance at Facebook: BangkokAseanFilmFestival and collected 30 minutes before show time.

Admission is free.

For more information and festival updates, call (02) 643 9100 or visit Facebook.com/BangkokAseanFilmFestival.

    Screams rang out as actor Jirayu “James” Tangsrisuk, who rose to fame in Channel 3’s hit 2013 TV series “Suparburoot Juthathep”, came out on stage.  Looking smart and relaxed in casual gear, he delighted fans with his impersonation of Peter Parker.

James Jiraryu web-shoots during the show.

“I like Peter. He’s funny and playful and he’s a really cool dude,” said the 26-year-old actor, who says he has been a fan since seeing Tom Holland portray Peter Parker in “Spider-Man: Homecoming”.

“Spider-Man: Far From Home” is the sequel to the 2017 movie and sees Holland reprise his role as Parker and Spider-Man, alongside Samuel L Jackson as Talos, A Skrull hired by Nick Fury to impersonate himself, the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D, Zendaya as Parker’s classmate Michelle or MJ, Jacob Batalon as Parker’s best friend Ned Leeds, and Jake Gyllenhaal as Quentin Beck or Mysterio, a master of trickery and illusion and an expert on the Elementals who claims to be from Earth-833 in the Multiverse.

Dujdao Promobol and James Jirayu talk about the latest instalment in the “Spider-Man” franchise – “Far From Home”

In the film, Parker is recruited by Nick Fury and Mysterio to face elemental threats from another dimension while he is on a school trip to Europe. The movie was shot in England, the Czech Republic, Italy, and the New York metropolitan area.

“Peter Parker wears four Spider-Man suits in this latest sequel including one created by Tony Stark,” revealed Dujdao Promobol, marketing executive director of Sony Pictures Thailand. “They all have names too, namely the ‘Original Stark Suit’, the ‘Iron Spider Suit’, the ‘Stealth Suit’ and the ‘Red-and-Black Suit’.

From left, Major Cineplex’s marketing director Narut Jiasanong, Rachot Dhiraputra, Dujdao Promobol, and James Jirayu.

“You’ll be on the edge of your seats from the first few seconds of the first scene until the two post-credits scenes,” she added.

And while “Avengers: Endgame” may have “end” in the title, it’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” that will be the finale to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 3.

“Spider-Man: Far From Home” opens on Wednesday at cinemas nationwide.

TALKING pictures

THE FILM INDUSTRY IS UNDERGOING YET ANOTHER MONUMENTAL CHANGE WITH

THE ADVENT OF STREAMING. THREE DIRECTORS DISCUSS WHETHER IT CAN SURVIVE

  PARINYAPORN PAJEE

THE NATION

EVER SINCE the Lumiere brothers showed their moving pictures to the public in 1895, the movie world has itself been on the move. The industry has constantly evolved across all dimensions from storytelling to camera type, crew size and even the audience. Indeed, big screen entertainment has been disrupted so many times that studios have lost count, weathering such storms as the advent of television, the age of the video tape and DVDs to today’s digital technology and now they face new challenges – streaming and the tiny screen of the smartphone.

“Moving forward for me doesn’t only mean going forwards, it means change all the time, forwards as well as backwards,” says director Sophon Sakdaphisit, who was behind such hit horror flicks as “Laddaland” and “Phuan Thee Raluek” (“The Promise”). Sophon is now working on “Khweng” (“The Stranded”), the first Thai original Netflix series.

“When I think of ‘moving forward’ in the Thai film industry, I see that many filmmakers are shifting to work for online streaming and also for television. Even though there is more demand thanks to the increase in digital television channels and online content like Line TV, demand and supply are badly out of sync. The budget is tight and consequently, the outcome is not as good as it should be,” says director Kongdej Jaturanrasmee.

But the transformation isn’t just related to platform choice. Content also plays a role.

Trends, at least in the Thai film industry, travel in a circle. For example, sometimes horror stories with a twist are really popular and studios release a slew of films with that kind of plot. Then the audience gets bored and so the productions shift to horror dramas. But before long, boredom sets in again and it’s back to horror with a twist. The other aspect is the platform, with new ways of watching catching the audience’s attention and filmmakers struggling to find ways to adapt their work to survive.

Yet there’s nothing new about having to adapt to change. Remember how filmmakers protested the move from reel film to digital formats and how they insisted that the reel film had an intrinsic beauty that digital couldn’t provide? Audiences were less troubled by the switch and soon got used to it.

These days though, the biggest challenge comes from the shift in going to the cinema to catch films on the big screen to watching content on a tablet or smartphone.

“The emerging of streaming is another major disruption. In the past, watching a movie in the cinema was bliss. I love the magic of the big screen so watching a movie in the cinema is still my first choice. But when you ask younger generation who grew up watching on tablets and smartphones, they don’t feel the same way at all,” Sophon says.

Sophon adds that for a long time he couldn’t understand how anyone could watch a movie on such a small screen but sees why many people prefer to watch films in the comfort of their homes by casting them on the television screen.

“Young people only go the cinema with a friend if it’s a special occasion,” he says.

Kongdej agrees, adding that the whole movie process needs to be adjusted while acknowledging that it won’t be easy.

“The movie is a cumbersome medium throughout its entire process and requires a lot of manpower at every step right up until the release. Other media are on-demand and resource light. Sure there are platforms that are less dependent on others like cinema owners but you need to fight to survive on your own,” he says.

“And because the movie is so big, the investment risk is greater too, meaning that producers and filmmakers tend to play safe.” adds director Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit.

“Working for the small screen is less of a profit risk so we can focus more on creativity. But I don’t the studio movie is becoming extinct. Adjustments are always being made, and successfully too. Hollywood studios are staying relevant by creating more IMAX films that give off a sensation that a small screen simply can’t provide.”

Nawapol believes that the biggest disruption to the movie is not the growth of streaming but the amount of entertainment choices available today.

“Young people love watching YouTube or playing online games instead of going to a cinema. It’s fun and free because they can stay home enjoying it. Those forms of entertainment distracts them from movies,” says Nawapol.

All three are adamant that when marketed properly, the magic of the movie still attracts, citing Hollywood and Marvel Studio use of the “event movie” like “Avengers: Endgame”. By drumming up so much hype around the release, audiences rush to see the movie on the very first day for fear of being left out of what people are talking about

“Studios like Marvel plan many years ahead and they have a new ‘event’ film every year. Unfortunately for our industry, the nearest thing we have had to an event film was ‘Pee Mak Phrakhanong’ and that was released six years ago. It happens once in a while, every 10 years or so which is not enough to boost the Thai movie industry as a whole,” says Nawapol.

“People of my age still love the cinema, but we can’t stop the fast development of technology or force the audience to only watch movies at the cinema. The only thing that we as filmmakers can control is make good content no matter what kind of platform we are catering to – big screen or streaming.”

So is it possible that streaming will replace cinema?

“Ask people of my generation and is answer is ‘I don’t think so’. But for the generation growing up with the small screen, of course it’s possible. We know from what has changed in the past, from film to digital, from the big screen to the small screen, that anything can happen. All we can do is be ready to adapt,” says Sophon.

1. Can you please tell us a bit more about yourself and your background? 

I was born in Florida, to a Puerto Rican mother and Asian father. We moved to Jamaica when I was younger, I fell in love with the island and its culture, people and beauty… and didn’t want to leave. I’ve been involved with the automotive industry both professionally and personally my entire life and have faught tooth and nail for respect in the community for years. I love my multicultural background and I find I see things a bit differently in most occasions. I’ve been a Tomboy my entire life, I would play video games… and compete when I was younger- Counter Strike, Warcraft and now DOTA/HON so I’ve always been somewhat of the only woman. I’ve learnt to be tough over the years and more understanding of disagreements, egos and having to respectfully earn your place in something you love.

2. What first sparked your interest in driving?

My grandfather was a classic car enthusiast. He collected classic Jaguars, and our favorite times together were fixing things then taking them out for a spin.

But it wasn’t until my friend Joel invited me to drive a go-kart that I was hooked. Since that day- I’ve never looked back. I’ve done and raced in almost every genre of racing.

3. What were some of the challenges you faced along the way? 

Being a tomboy from an early age was easy… the difficulty started when I was a teenager. I always laughed that I looked like a Chinese boy until I was 16- At that point a lot of things changed. It became hard being a Tom boy loving cars and video games, I was constantly having to prove that the things I’ve loved all my life wasn’t for attention.

People would say that I liked cars because I was young and wanted to be in the “Crowd.” But I knew that this was a love that would stay with me forever, It would just grow and change with me… and so it has. Even with racing in my adult life, being a woman or a minority in anything you do comes with added work and effort. It may not be right or wrong, but it is what it is… I’ve learnt to love the challenge. My parents always said to me- you show up early to anywhere you’re going, with respect and class- eventually people will listen and respect you.

4. What continues to motivate you to excel in this sport? 

I’ve given racing a break once in my life- I was miserable. Racing is something that you crave… that euphoric feeling when I’m in the car.

I’m super competitive, so I can never do something half way. With racing, there’s never the same race, never the same car. I’ve had amazing opportunities in my life to drive great cars, but there’s only forward.

5. How long have been you been racing? 

Pretty late actually- I started go-karting at 18.

I may look like 19 now… but that was a LONG time ago.

6. Do you currently face any challenges being in a male dominated sport? 

When I just started yes. I wasn’t taken seriously, people would bully me and say I didn’t belong. But I always took it with a smile.

As an adult, not so much. Women have made leaps and bounds in racing and have proven that we can do it to. Motor racing is the ONLY sport in the world that men and

women can compete in equally. So I always say- I’m a drive like any other…. and i probably know more about cars than most.

7. What is your routine when preparing for a race? 

When I was younger, I would put on a great playlist sit in my room alone and paint my nails. I took it as a form of meditation, just to be able to relax and not think about

anything else other than what I was doing in that moment.

Recently I do the same… minus the nail painting.

8. What spurred you on to take up this Guinness World Record challenge? 

Well….. I didn’t think too hard on the actually Guinness World Record- my fiance and I are always up for new adventures, traveling around the world and meeting new people.

For me, this wasn’t just about a world record. It was the adventure of it all… and it did NOT disappoint!

9. How was your experience on Record Rides?  

Unbelievable. Never did I think I would have the opportunity to do something this cool.

To travel across the world, for a National Geographic show doing such amazing things going on such amazing adventures.

My co-host, the guys behind the camera… everyone was wonderful to work and just hang out with!

Not to mention- I’ve found a new respect for the TV industry…. that was a lot harder than I would have ever imagined.

Watching the show… All i hear when I see me on camera is my goofy laugh and see how dorky I really am. But I’ve embraced it and over the years I’ve learnt what I think is very important. The ability to laugh at yourself.

***************

Record Rides premieres in South East Asia, and Hong Kong on National Geographic (In Thailand, the show can be viewed on True Visions Ch. 558 / AIS Playbox / TOTiptv Ch. 510) on June 23 and June 30 2019, at 7.00 PM and on Fox Thai (True Visions Ch. 246 / AIS Playbox Ch. 150 / TOTiptv Ch. 303 / Good TV Ch. 48) on June 25, 2019 at 8.55 PM, with its concluding episode airing on July 2, 2019 at 8.55 PM.

The automotive reality entertainment series pits adrenaline junkie and radio DJ, KC Montero, against race car driver Natasha Chang, also known as Chiney Dolly, according to its press release.

The gambit is simple: KC and Natasha aim to write their names into the record books as the fastest ascent of Doi Chang mountain by car.

The catch: there will be no rocket ships or supercars: KC and Natasha will need to prove their ingenuity in sourcing and souping up their own speedsters for the showdown on an impossible timeline. Whether or not they end up with their name in the record books, the pair will be breaking new ground – there is no such existing record, and indeed, no similar effort made in an everyday car.

Chiang Rai was the historical administrative center of the old Lanna Kingdom: home to misty mountains, colourful hill tribes and picture-postcard ancient Thai temples framed by blue skies and lush greenery.

Doi Chang mountain in this Thai province is the location of the showdown. It will bear witness to feats of ingenuity, of power, control, and of speed, as KC and Natasha hurtle up the slopes in a battle to carve their names in the record books as the fastest ascent of Doi Chang mountain by car.

KC is a car nut with a need for speed and Natasha is no slouch in the driver’s seat either, bringing her racing experience to the table, but neither will attempt the record ride alone. They will get local help on their quest for the Guinness World Records™ attempt from Phat aka ‘Golf’, an expert of the Chiang Mai racing scene, and his motorhead crew at Phat Garage – plus a boost from Caltex with Techron® fuel as they race up the mountain and into the record books.

“National Geographic has always believed in adventure, exploration and pushing boundaries. With Record Rides, we are pleased to be a part of this attempt at a new world record. Coupled with the natural beauty of Chiang Rai, Record Rides is definitely a spectacle that is exciting and entertaining, all at once,” says Con Apostolopoulos, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific & Middle East, National Geographic Partners.

“As a leading visual storyteller, National Geographic’s programming pillars of exploration, education and science resonate well with the Caltex brand. Hence, we are proud to partner with the channel to create Record Rides for our viewers and motorists in Asia,” says Brian Fisher, Caltex Brand Manager. “This show will demonstrate how Caltex with Techron® fuels can power an engine towards achieving an extraordinary journey.”

Record Rides premieres in South East Asia and Hong Kong on National Geographic (True Visions Ch. 558 / AIS Playbox / TOTiptv Ch. 510) on June 23 and June 30 2019, at 7.00 PM and on Fox Thai (True Visions Ch. 246 / AIS Playbox Ch. 150 / TOTiptv Ch. 303 / Good TV Ch. 48) on June 25, 2019 at 8.55 PM, with its concluding episode airing on July 2, 2019 at 8.55 PM.