ENGROSSING and highly entertaining, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which opens on Thursday, is a joyful and moving celebration of Queen. Directed by Bryan Singer, the movie is infused with indelible Queen hits, from “We Are the Champions” to “Love of My Life”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and, of course, “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Known for their innovative music and theatrical productions, the band released more than a dozen albums, becoming a cross-generational, cultural phenomenon. Their hits are as popular now as they were when they were first released.

Following the band from their student days in London to the height of their success when they were filling stadiums around the globe, there’s a focus on the extraordinary life and career of frontman Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991, aged 45, of bronchopneumonia resulting from Aids. The Emmy-winning actor Rami Malek stars as Freddie. Playing Brian May is Gwilym Lee, with Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor. Also starring is Joe Mazzello as bass guitarist John Deacon.

WHAT PROMPTED YOU TO GET INVOLVED WITH THE FILM?

May: In truth, we were a little reluctant to get involved at the beginning, because we thought it would be difficult to make a film that would do Freddie justice. The idea had been suggested to us a lot over the years and eventually we realised that if we didn’t get to participate, somebody else would do a film without us and we wouldn’t be able to protect Freddie’s legacy, so we eventually got involved.

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS THAT MAKE THE FILM WORK WOULD YOU SAY?

May: Casting Rami Malek in the role of Freddie had a lot to do with it. Rami blew us away the first time we met him. We kind of saw Freddie in him and we could sense Rami’s passion. But, also, the other guys who play us are phenomenal, and I think the performances you see in the film reflect the fact that they completely lived it all, they became us, and they believed that they were us. It wasn’t just an acting job for them. The same is true for Lucy Boynton who plays Mary Austin [Freddie’s girlfriend, then close friend]. Actually, all the way down the cast and the whole production team, you can feel the enthusiasm. Visiting the set, there was an amazing feeling of loyalty and passion.

Taylor: The actors got very close to us. And it was particularly uncanny for us to watch them acting. They are phenomenal.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE WHEN YOU FIRST SAW THE ACTORS IN MAKEUP AND COSTUME AS QUEEN?

May: Well, we first saw them when they were on stage to practice musically. And at that point, I already sensed a kind of chemistry between them – and a sense of camaraderie. We didn’t get to see them in full costume, dressed as us, until that first moment when the cameras rolled on the Live Aid scenes, which just sent shivers up my spine, because the re-creation was so perfect, the venue, and everything about it. And then these guys, Rami and the others, come in, and they were us! They plunged in at the deep end. That was the pinnacle performance that they had to pull off right at the beginning of the shoot, which was tough, but they had it down.

CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE MORE ABOUT RAMI’S PORTRAYAL OF FREDDIE?

May: The first time we saw him was actually in Roger’s flat. It must have been horrible for him, having us watching him for the first time. But we were |really blown away by him and his ability to perform – he’s incredible.

Taylor: He has the charisma required to play Freddie. You can’t get any bozo coming in and playing Freddie Mercury, you know. I remember watching him in “The Pacific” [the TV drama series], and he stood out. He really does have an innate charisma. And he brings out the timbre, the tone of Freddie’s voice!

WHEN YOU FIRST MET FREDDIE, DID YOU REALISE HIS POTENTIAL?

May: The simple answer is no, we did not know. He was full of dreams, full of mad fancies and insecurities – and ebullience and flamboyance.

Taylor: He sort of invented himself by an act of pure willpower and intelligence, and turned himself into Freddie Mercury.

CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LIVE AID AND WHAT IT MEANT FOR QUEEN?

May: Well, as you will see in the movie, it was crucial for us. It was a pivot point. I think it was good for our self-esteem at a time when we’d fragmented quite a bit. I don’t think we knew if we could pull it off at the time. We also went on without any of the lights and shenanigans that we thought were essential for us as a band. We thought the production aspect was part of us. But we went out wearing jeans and in daylight – and it worked. We believed in the essence of Queen in a way we never had before.

Taylor: I remember it being the most incredible day. First of all, there was the unlikely event of the sun actually shining in a British summer (laughs). The whole day was quite magical and went very well for us all round. I just remember the atmosphere was so great and there was so much cooperation backstage. Also, it was the first time that “music” had really stood up and done something good in the world to save lives, which was mainly down to Bob Geldof.

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH YOUR SET LIST FOR LIVE AID?

May: “We put as many of our instantly recognisable songs into a medley as possible. They were slightly shortened, and dovetailed together … and we rehearsed. That was unusual for us in those days (laughs).

THE SONG ‘BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY’ OF COURSE ENDED UP BEING GROUNDBREAKING. HOW DID FREDDIE, WHO WROTE THE SONG, INTRODUCE THE INITIAL CONCEPT?

Taylor: I remember the first thing Freddie played on the piano was “Mama, just killed a man”. And I thought, “Oh, that’s good, it’s catchy”. But then he said, “There are some more bits”. In fact, there were a lot more bits and some of them didn’t make sense at the time. He was conducting and orchestrating everything and we just went along with it.

May: But it wasn’t actually unusual for Queen. If you listen to the album “Queen II”, there’s a lot of stuff on there, which is quite similar in terms of its outrageous construction. We were into making things that were unusual, creating things that were outside the norm. We just enjoyed it.

THERE WAS RELUCTANCE AT YOUR RECORD COMPANIES TO PUT OUT “BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY”?

May: We had two record companies and they were both shocked and said, “You can’t do that song, it won’t get played on the radio”. And it just took us being dogged and precocious boys, as we were. We said, “That’s what you’re getting”. And in the end we were lucky because it worked out. Some people stood up and championed our cause, like Kenny Everett [the British DJ].

FINALLY, WHAT DO YOU THINK AT ITS HEART “BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY” IS ALL ABOUT AND WHAT DO AUDIENCES HAVE IN STORE?

May: Obviously, we wanted to make a bad-ass movie, but the centre of it is Freddie of course. We all felt we wanted to portray Freddie’s humanity, portray him as the human being he was – and as a musician. The film had to be truthful and not too indulgent and watchable. I think Freddie would have agreed that, number one, it had to be entertaining. And I think we wanted people to laugh and to cry, and I believe that is what people will do when they see this movie.

Taylor: The movie is broadly true and at the same time it really is entertaining. That’s quite a balance to strike and I think that everyone involved in this film has pretty much got that right.

“Channel Zero: The Dream Door” is set to continue the anthology series’ reign of terror beginning with the premiere last Friday on iflixVIP, followed by one new episode dropping daily, culminating with the finale on Wednesday, Halloween night. New customers can watch “Channel Zero: The Dream Door” during their 30-day iflixVIP trial period, while existing iflixFREE users can upgrade for a very low fee of Bt100 per month.

Each instalment of the series draws inspiration from a different “creepypasta” (user-generated horror stories published online). Based on the “creepypasta” short story “Hidden Door” by Charlotte Bywater, “Channel Zero: The Dream Door” follows newly-weds Jillian and Tom, who have each brought secrets into their marriage. When they discover a strange door in their basement, those secrets start to threaten their relationship … and their lives.

“We are thrilled to introduce another direct from the US exclusive, and one as well-loved as Channel Zero. iflix now has more than 1.1 million people on the platform and we remain committed to our dream to bring the very best in global entertainment to our users, staying true to our vision to redefine television for one billion people by putting the entertainment they want in their hands – 24/7,” said Artima Suraphongchai, country manager for iflix Thailand.

    “Channel Zero: The Dream Door” is produced by Universal Cable Productions and stars Brandon Scott as Tom Hodgson, Maria Sten  as Jillian Hodgson, Steven Roberston as Ian, Steven Weber  as Abel Carnacki, and scream queen Barbara Crampton  as Vanessa Moss. Creator Nick Antosca returns as executive producer, showrunner and writer for the fourth instalment with director Evan Katz, who will also executive produce.  Previous seasons of the series are all available on iflixVIP.

Now available to over one billion consumers throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa, iflix has established itself as the clear market leader in video streaming. Offering consumers a vast library of top Hollywood, regional, and local TV shows and movies, including many first run exclusives and award-winning programs, and now news, each subscription allows users to access the services on up to five devices, including phones, laptops, tablets, and television sets, for viewing wherever, whenever.

Watch the trailer for Channel Zero: The Dream Door at https://youtu.be/NN8tWuA0gLo

Launched in December last year as replacement for the free TrueVisions Anywhere app, TrueID app has recorded at least 5 million downloads from Android among TrueVisions’ 4 million subscribers.

The shift in lifestyles of TV viewers has meant they want to catch the shows regardless of when and where they are at the time.

However, watching TV at home with families is still preferred, she said.

TrueVisions supplies content to subscribers through several devices and platforms, thus customers will not miss anything they want to |watch anytime, anywhere, Kittima said.

However, competition in the pay-TV sector is growing with the emergence of subscription-based streaming media services such as Netflix, but Kittima says TrueVisions has a lot more to offer.

TrueVisions , a subsidiary of True Corporation whose services range from Internet to mobile communication, allows subscribers to stream content on TrueVisions to a smart phone or tablet through the TrueID app which also features music and games, she said.

True Corporation is the parent company of the country’s largest cable-TV provider TrueVisions; Thailand’s largest Internet service provider True Internet; as well as TrueMove H, one of the top three mobile phone operators.

Kittima said TrueVisions recently became the first TV operator in Thailand to beam and stream with a 4K Ultra HD system to viewers.

Beginning with the broadcasting of World Cup matches from Russia, the new system is four times clearer than HD and 20 times clearer than the old system.

“Our strategy is to keep up with our viewers’ lifestyle. We will deliver what interests our customers,” she said.

Now, there is little difference or none in the release dates of foreign TV series in Thailand and abroad. Some foreign series and entertainment programmes were released here at almost the same time as that in the countries where they were produced, Kittima added.

“There is no boundary in the timely supply of content. If a series or movie is released late in Thailand, most viewers would have watched it on other platforms,” she said.

The next three years could pose a challenge for TrueVisions, as it may lose the rights to broadcast the world’s most-watched football league on its channels.

TrueVisions acquired the sub-licensing rights to the English Premier League [EPL] for the 2016-18 seasons from Qatar-based BeIN Sports but the Qatari sport channel has failed to extend the rights for the next three years.

Instead, Facebook has clinched the exclusive broadcast rights of the EPL in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos for the 2019-21 seasons in a 200-million pound (Bt8.5 billion) battle.

This means the social media giant will livestream all EPL matches, after outbidding traditional television networks such as BeIN Sports and Fox Sports Asia in an auction.

Kittima said TrueVisions is ready to discuss with the new rights holder on the possibility of sub-licensing, adding that she has no idea as to the regulations and conditions.

“We cannot guarantee anything but will try our best to keep the matches on our sports channels,” she said.

In her view, football fans in Thailand will be able to watch EPL matches on one of the three platforms: television, online, or live streaming.

Football fans were left bitterly disappointed last month after staying up for the opening match of the Champions League, but were met with a blank screen instead.

In previous seasons, TrueVisions’ subscribers watched the matches on beIN Sports, the rights holder of the Champions League and Europa League, but it failed to retain these rights in addition to the EPL for the next three seasons.

European football’s ruling body, UEFA, said Thai fans could watch the games live on goal.com of the new rights holder, after it was awarded to beIN’s parent company, DAZN. But as of now, Thai fans are still denied access to the stream from the website.

As for the continuous broadcasting of the Champions League and Europa league to Thai viewers, Kittima said it now depends on the new rights holder.

A biopic of war correspondent Marie Colvin, who died in Syria in 2012, is a celebration of journalism as it increasingly comes “under attack”, according to the filmmakers. “A Private War”, released in US cinemas next month, chronicles the harrowing career of Colvin – played by “Gone Girl” star Rosamund Pike – who was an award-winning journalist for Britain’s The Sunday Times.

The feature film debut of director Matthew Heineman – an Oscar nominee in 2016 for his documentary “Cartel Land” – shows the reporter’s struggles to cope with the impact of reporting from the world’s conflict zones.

For Heineman, whose mother was a journalist, it is a “homage” to both Colvin and an increasingly besieged profession.

“It’s so important right now in this world of fake news and soundbites, where journalists are under attack, to celebrate journalism and to celebrate people like Marie,” he said during a London Film Festival screening at the weekend.

The movie, which got its world premiere in Toronto last month, hits screens as reporters face ever more threats, from US President Donald Trump labelling them “the enemy” to the killing this month of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Actor Jamie Dornan – of the “Fifty Shades” franchise – who plays freelance photographer and long-time Colvin colleague Paul Conroy, said the work felt “timely”.

The late journalist Marie Colvin

“This is a film about telling the truth,” he said. “Anything that can try to show true journalism in its finest light – the people who will go to these places to risk everything to tell us the truth – that’s a good thing.”

American Colvin died aged 56, alongside French photographer Remi Ochlik, in an alleged government bombardment of a media centre in the warravaged Syrian city of Homs.

“A Private War”, adapted from a Vanity Fair article following her death, depicts her decades-spanning career and the psychological and physical toll it took on her.

It captures Colvin losing the sight of one eye – leading to her wearing a signature eyepatch – while covering Sri Lanka’s civil war, and interviewing former Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi shortly before his death in 2011.

The film also shows her retreating into heavy drinking and battling likely post-traumatic stress disorder in between assignments.

Oscar-nominated Pike said she was attracted to the part by Colvin’s complexity.

“I wanted to put a woman out there on the screen who is admirable but not every quality she has is admirable,” she said.

“There was something about… the fierceness of passion in what she did that I related to.”

Photographer Conroy, who was injured by the bombing that killed Colvin but made a full recovery, said he was eager to advise on the film in part because of Heineman’s background in documentaries.

“His idea of the truth carried through from that – it wasn’t just ‘lets make this frothy Hollywood film’,” he said at the screening. “The attention to detail is extraordinary.”

Heineman said he spent months researching the story, including watching practically every war film ever made.

He also enlisted locals rather than actors to play the parts of extras in the war zones portrayed.

“Those are real Syrian women shedding real tears and telling real stories,” he explained of scenes showing Colvin interviewing civilians in Syria.

“That was really important to me to try to bring an authenticity to this experience.”

The director said making “City of Ghosts”, a 2017 nonfiction film about a Syrian media activist group in Raqqa, and other conflict-driven documentaries helped him emphathise with Colvin.

“I just felt enormous kinship with her, and also her desire to put a human face to poor innocent civilians who are caught in the crossfire of these geopolitical conflicts,” he added.

 New episodes premiere on subsequent Mondays at the same time. The series will also be available on HBO GO via AIS Play and AIS Playbox.

“Being Serena” will give viewers unprecedented access to Williams during her pregnancy, new motherhood and marriage, while documenting her journey back to supremacy on the court. Viewers will experience her life from every angle as the intimate first-person show delves into her landmark career, family life and expanding role as a businesswoman and investor in the worlds of tech, fashion, fitness and philanthropy.

Serena Williams, 36, is one of the most dominant forces tennis has ever seen, with 39 Grand Slam titles, four Olympic Gold Medals and the most women’s singles match victories in Grand Slam history. Her supremacy on the court earned her Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year honours in 2015 and made her a four-time winner of the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year, first in 2002 and most recently in 2015.

In January 2017, Williams bested her sister Venus in the final match of the Australian Open, marking her seventh time winning that singles event. Four months after her historic victory, Williams revealed that she and her fianceAlexis Ohanian, were expecting their first child, confirming that she was eight weeks pregnant when she won her 23rd Grand Slam singles title. On September 1, Williams gave birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.

Williams and Ohanian wed soon after in a stunning ceremony before family and friends in New Orleans on November 16.

The first week of October sees filmmakers from all over Asia and other parts of the globe descend on South Korea to participate in the Busan International Film Festival, Asia’s biggest movie event.

Many titles from Thailand were screened in the recently ended 2018 edition, among them Phuttiphong Aroonpheng’s “Manta Ray” and the anthology “Ten Years Thailand”, both making their Asian debut, plus Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit’s ‘BNK 48: Girls Don’t Cry’ and the newly restored version of Cherd Songsri’s 1977 classic “The Scar”.

Another two Thai films also had their international premieres in Busan. “The Stain”, the new short by Nuntanat Duangtisarn, was shown in the Wide Angle Asian Short Film Competition, while “Nakorn-Sawan”, the debut feature of young female filmmaker Puangsoi “Rose” Aksornsawang screened out of competition in the A Window on Asian Cinema section.

“Nakorn-Sawan”, Rose’s thesis film for her master’s degree at the University of the Arts Hamburg, is produced by veteran filmmaker Anocha Suwichakornpong and Purin Pictures.

A graduate of Chulalongkorn University’s Communication Arts faculty, Rose worked as an assistant director on a few Thai independent films including Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit’s “36” and Sopawan Boonnimitra and Peerachai Kerdsint’s “The Isthmus” before going to Germany to learn more about arts and filmmaking.

“I wanted to study abroad. I was accepted into many schools, but unfortunately the tuition fees were very high at all of them. Finally I was accepted by a German university that gives scholarships to Southeast Asian students,” Rose tells XP.

“I first went to study in Bremen, which is an art school, but the course wasn’t really what I wanted. However film schools in Germany are quite conventional, and require German language skills, which made admission difficult. While I was there, I saw a film directed by Angela Schanelec, who teaches at University of the Arts Hamburg. I sent my portfolio to the professor there, and I was accepted,” she explains.

Rose went on to study with Schanelec, a well-known filmmaker whose 1998 film “Places in Cities” was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes Film Festival, and whose latest work “The Dream of Path” was in competition at the 2016 Locarno Film Festival.

Rose’s success is all the more remarkable given that she did not expect to become a filmmaker. “I actually wanted a career in advertising,” she laughs. “But by studying film, I understood that what I really wanted was to tell stories through visuals,” she says.

Film students at Chulalongkorn’s Communication Arts faculty hold the annual “Gangjor” festival to showcase their thesis shorts or features. Rose’s film was screened at the 18th Gangjor in 2011, and later won her an award that would shape her career as a filmmaker. “My short film called ‘Swimming Pool’ won the Vichitmatra Award and the White Elephant Award from Thai Short Film and Video Festival. It gave me hope that I could carve out a niche for myself.

“During Gangjor, we invite filmmakers like Anocha and Lee Chatametikool to act as mentors. Nawapol is also one of the mentors. My job was to collect the films and send them to the mentors, so they could watch the films before the actual screening. That’s how I got to know Nawapol. I met him again after I graduated and he asked me if I wanted to help him make his feature film.”

Rose readily agreed and that film – “36” – was one of the surprise hits of 2012, cementing Nawapol’s place in the ranks of best-known young Thai filmmakers.

“After the success of ‘36’, people knew my name and other directors contacted me to work with them,” says Rose.

“I was very homesick during my time in Germany. I would regularly contact my mother and started collecting the photos that my mother sent thinking that maybe I should turn them into something. That led to my decision to make a film about myself through my family’s story.

“I submitted this project to the Southeast Asian Film Lab at Singapore International Film Festival in 2016. Back then, it was called ‘Rahula’.”

Rahula is based on the name of the only son of the Buddha though also means “impediment”.

“The film would have a documentary part in which I recorded my mother and my father, as well as a fictional part about my family, which I developed from a photo of my parents holding hands. Sadly, just after I had finished the casting, my mother was taken into hospital.”

Rose’s mother died not longer afterwards. Traumatised, she dropped the project and went back to Germany.

“Then I was asked to write a short story. The act of writing made me think that I should try to develop it into a film and include all the footage I had collected.”

As originally planned, “Nakorn-Sawan” is part fiction and part documentary. In the fictional part, we see the main character Aoey (Prapamonton Eiamchan) boarding the boat with her father to scatter her mother’s ashes into the river at Pak Nam Po. In the documentary part of the film, we watch the videos made of the director’s father and mother.

Actress Prapamonton and actor Phumipat Thavornsiri attended the screening of “Nakorn-Sawan” and the Q&A session that followed. Feedback was good and Rose says she was relieved.

“It went much better than I thought. I was not sure about the result of my film, but after the Q&A, I could see that many members of the audience had related to it. There was an American soldier who came to see the film because he read the synopsis and found it interesting. He later talked to me about himself and his mother and how they don’t live together.”

“Nakorn-Sawan” is now all set to screen at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival before going off on the film festival circuit.

It is slated for release in Thailand next year.

After Hollywood studio Universal Pictures was reported acquiring the rights to make a movie about the Tham Luang cave rescue, the Culture Ministry is insisting that no such rights have been granted to anyone.

Culture Minister Vira Rojpojanarat said on Wednesday that the “Creative Media Panel” the government established for the purpose would hold an open call from November 15-23 for submissions for rights to make movies about the cave drama, as well as for depictions in all other media.

Several Hollywood-based and Thai studios were swift to pitch plans for feature and documentary films about the cave rescue, with games-makers joining in the frenzy to depict an event that caught the world’s attention.

Vira said the government was “representing” the 12 youngsters rescued from the Chiang Rai cave, along with their coach and their parents, to protect their intellectual property rights. The panel, set up in July, has officials from the culture, tourism, foreign affairs and human development ministries and reputable figures from the Thai film industry.

To date there are 22 movies, a TV series, animated games, music videos and books in the works, Vira said. Five foreign film studios and five in Thailand are proposing feature movies and 10 documentary projects have been touted by companies at home and abroad. Three projects involve books and music videos, and Thai and foreign news media have extended invitations to the boys and their coach to be interviewed on 27 different TV programmes.

Vira said local moviemakers could make their pitches to his Culture Ministry, while foreigners have to submit their proposals to the Tourism and Sport Ministry. The Creative Media Panel is also tasked with screening the information flow to and from the boys and safeguarding both their privacy and the country’s image. Once rights are granted to specific film projects, it will also oversee production.

The panel will help the families negotiate contracts with foreign studios, Vira said, with careful attention paid to their intellectual property rights. The restrictions on rights do not apply to the use of information already in the public domain, he said. Vira did not name any studios interested in the Mu Pa story, but it was widely reported that Universal Pictures had sealed a deal with the boys and their coach, Ekkaphol Chantawong, as well as Australian cave divers Dr Richard Harris and Craig Challen.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Universal had offered $1.5 million (Bt49 million) to be split among the boys and Ekkaphol. It listed Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca as producers, a duo previously associated with box-office hits “Fifty Shades of Grey”, “Captain Phillips” and “The Social Network”.

Despite the report, panel members have insisted that no studio had as yet been granted the rights to produce a film about the cave rescue. Ekkaphol has also been quoted as saying he has accepted no such deal. “But we are not sure if Universal Pictures bought the rights from the Australian divers,” panel spokesman Lt-General Weerachon Sukondhapati-pak said.

At least three other major foreign studios have expressed interest in producing movies. De Warrenne Productions, headed by Thai-Irish producer-director Tom Waller, recently announced plans for a movie titled “The Cave”. He was looking for distributors at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was Waller who made the award-winning films “Mindfulness and Murder” and “The Last Executioner”.

Pure Flix managing partner Michael Scott and co-producer Adam Smith interviewed people around the cave in the immediate aftermath of the rescue in early July. Their firm is known for Christian-theme movies like “Do You Believe?” and the “God’s Not Dead” series and they hope to focus on the inspirational aspects of the rescue operation. “Now You See Me 2” director Jon M Chu and Ivanhoe Pictures meanwhile announced they were teaming up for a movie about the incident. “There’s a beautiful story here about human beings saving other human beings,” Chu said on Twitter.

The cave rescue drama that began on June 23 held people across the world spellbound as efforts to locate the Wild Boar team were repeatedly stymied by rising water levels and strong currents. Thai Navy Seals, joined by a slew of foreign professional divers including Australians Challen and Harris, coordinated the complicated operation. One former Navy Seal, Lt-Commander Saman Kunan, lost his life in the operation. The boys and their coach were all safely extracted by July 10.

The film will be screened tomorrow (October 20) at 4pm at TK Park.

Directed by Philippe Falardeu, the story is set in icy winter at a Montreal elementary school, and has a shock opening with the unexpected suicide of a popular teacher. The young students are deeply affected, the staff try to help them out, while the Principal looks desperately for a replacement. That’s when the pleasant Bachir Lazhar walks in.

He’s an Algerian immigrant, who says he has plenty of teaching experience and proceeds to start taking classes almost immediately. The rest of the film portrays the bitter-sweet moments, as Bachir tries to forge a relationship with his young students, in particular, two youngsters– the traumatised Simon, who thinks he’s responsible for the teacher’s suicide, and Alice, who becomes his favourite pupil.

The icy winter outside is a sharp contrast to the warmth of emotions in the classroom where with the barriers from culture to education and age, it is a learning experience for both the Canadian students and their Algerian teacher.

What the students don’t know, is that Bachir has suffered a great loss himself.

The movie offers many insights into the problems of migrants and is a heart-warming portrait of Canada’s diverse and inclusive society.

The film-event is supported by the Canadiaa, who will serve snacks and drinks, after the screening. Ambassador Donica Pottie, will introduce the movie.

The Film Auditorium will open at 3pm and the entry fee is Bt20. For reservation, please visit https://goo.gl/forms/cGinYtJ8iM2r3pP92 or email filmforum17@gmail.com.

 The English language series chronicles the story of a group of unlikely individuals who lead a rebellion against a brutal governor and suddenly find themselves in control of a Dutch garrison town called Grisse. The story revolves around a number of unique characters, each from diverse backgrounds and creeds who unite for the chance to break the yoke of tyranny and write their own destiny.

“Grisse” premieres on Sunday, November 4 at 8pm exclusively on HBO with new episodes showing at the same time every Sunday. The series will also be available on HBO GO via AIS PLAY and AIS PLAYBOX.

Developed and produced by HBO Asia together with Singapore-based Infinite Studios, “Grisse” will feature an ensemble cast of actors who are based in Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Europe, Australia and the US. They include Adinia Wirasti (HBO Asia’s “Halfworlds Season 1”), Marthino Lio (“Sayang You Can Dance”), Michael Wahr (“City Homocide”), Edward Akbar (“Air Terjun Pengantin”), Jamie Aditya (“Sync or Swim”) and Toshiji Takeshima (HBO’s “True Blood”).

HBO has also recently announced that select HBO Asia Original productions will be available to audiences in HBO Europe’s territories. These HBO Asia Original titles include “Grisse”, the horror anthology series “Folklore”, Japanese drama series “Miss Sherlock” and the first two instalments of the Chinese language martial arts anthology movie series, “Master of the Drunken Fist: Beggar So and “Master of the Shadowless Kick: Wong Kei-ying”. These titles will be available in territories including Spain (on HBO Espana), Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark (on HBO Nordic), and in Central European territories including Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Croatia (on HBO Europe). “Grisse” will also be available to HBO’s US subscribers across the channel’s platforms.