Bangkok Post : On a roll

MOVIE Review

Tropfest

It's a weekend ruled by many, many short films. The highlight is on Sunday, July 12, when Tropfest 2009, Australia's flagship short film festival, will screen 16 finalists at Scala Theatre in Siam Square. Admission is free, call 02-344-6315 for reservations, or turn up early before the 6:30pm showtime.

Tropfest was started in 1993 by Australian actor/director John Polson. Over the years it has grown in size and scope to become a major cultural/entertainment event in Australia. This year Tropfest was featured as part of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Apparently the fest has garnered enough popularity to be dubbed "the Olympics of Short Film" (though truth be told, the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in France is also very influential and hugely-attended).

Tropfest differentiates itself by having its own guidelines for films to be submitted into the competition. Every year, the festival will designate a "Tropfest Signature Item", or TSI, meaning that filmmakers must include the specified object in their short films. Another rule is that every film must be no longer than seven minutes - a rather swell idea considering that short films these days are getting unnecessarily longer and longer.

The TSI object for the 2009 competition is "spring"; it's up to the filmmakers to interpret it whichever way they like. This year, the 16 finalists were picked from 650 entries.

Besides the screening, the Australian Embassy will organise a kind of fair in the lobby of Scala this Sunday, with raffles and Australian products on sale. So join.

- Marathon

The Thai Short Film and Video Festival - the longest running movie festival in this country - is probably the only film festival in the world that screens every film submitted to them. When it started out 13 years back, at a more innocent time when digital video cameras hadn't yet turned nearly everyone into a filmmaker, the fest had fewer than 30 people submitting their movies. This year, the organiser, the Thai Film Foundation, received over 600 films in their mail box - and as usual they'll screen them all.

The "Marathon Screening" is taking place now on the 4th floor of Bangkok Art and Culture Centre at Pathumwan (opposite MBK). It is a long overture before the actual festival starts in August 13, when about 50 films will be picked to enter the final competition.

Admission is free. All you have to do is show up. All entries, at this point, are Thai films made by either students or the general public, and many of them do not have English subtitles. However, in the climax of the festival next month, there will also be an international competition section - likewise with a growing number of entries.

On weekends the screening starts at 11am and goes on into the evening. On weekdays it starts at 5pm. No screening on Monday. Drop by.

 

- Obama

On a different note, WorkPoint Entertainment, the TV and film studio which specialises in making comedies, is calling for those who think they look like Barack Obama for a role in a new and film. Rumour has it that it's a comedy involving the popular Thai TV bozos, Teng Terdterng and Nong Cha-cha-cha, and their quest to meet the US President. Now who says Obama is so cool that he's beyond parody?

It doesn't say if candidates have to be Thai or foreigners, so both should be qualified. If interested, contact WorkPoint at 99 Moo 2 Tambon Bangpoon, Pathumthani, 12000, or call 02-833-2702.

- Nymph

In case you haven't noticed, Pen-ek Ratanaruang's new movie is still screening in the multiplexes, though the brutal, survival-of-the-fittest precept as practiced by cinema owners is shortening the life span of one of the most notable Thai films of the year. What's new?

Nang Mai, or Nymph, has been released in two versions. The original cut that was screened at Cannes Film Festival in May is showing at SF CentralWorld and Paragon Cineplex. While the "Thai version" is playing everywhere else.

So which version is better? Pen-ek himself said on several occasions that he's happier with the new, or "Thai", version, which is roughly 15 minutes shorter than the original, which he rushed to finished to meet the Cannes deadline.

 

"The new cut is more balanced," he told me.

While the Cannes cut is hushed and haunting, I think the new version adds accent to the infernal mystery of the jungle by using multi-layered sound effects - it feels more like a ghost story, and more accessible.

It's likely that Nymph will survive only one more week in the cinema, so catch it fast. The film won't look and feel as good on DVD.

Relate Search: Tropfest 2009, the Olympics of Short Film, Siam Square