Another of my most favorite stage plays of all time is SIDA: SRI RAM?. The structure of this play reminds me of HITLER: A FILM FROM GERMANY (1977, Hans-Juergen Syberberg, A+), because each of them comprises many parts, and these parts come in various styles, though they talk about the same topic. Every part in SIDA: SRI RAM? talks about the status of women, though some parts come in the form of traditional dance, some parts come in monologues, some parts come in surrealistic stage play, and some parts come in dramatic stage play. Every part in HITLER: A FILM FROM GERMANY talks about Hitler, but some parts come in the from of theatrical play, some parts come in puppet show, some parts come in film parody, some parts come in monologue, and some parts can be called documentary.
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THESE GREAT FILMS/STAGE PLAYS HAVE BARELY CONNECTED STORIES. WHICH ONE DO YOU LIKE?
1.THE BURIED FOREST (2005, Kohei Oguri, Japan)
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Alone Again wrote a review of this film in Thai at
http://www.bloggang.com/viewdiary.php?id=aloneagain&month=03-2008&date=22&group=1&gblog=67
2.BUTTONERS (1997, Petr Zelenka, Czech)
3.DAY OF THE FULL MOON (1998, Karen Shakhnazarov, Russia)
4.ESCAPE FROM POPRAYA 2526 (2007, Paisit Panpruegsachat, Thailand)
Filmsick wrote a review of THE CRUELY AND THE SOY-SAUCE MAN (2000, Paisit Panpruegsachat) in Thai at
http://filmsick.exteen.com/20080507/entry
5.FAME WHORE (1997, Jon Moritsugu, USA)
6.FLUXES (1968, Arthur Lipsett, Canada)
You can watch this film at
http://www.ubu.com/film/lipsett_fluxes.html
You can read about Arthur Lipsett at Mubarak Ali’s blog:
http://supposedaura.blogspot.com/2006/08/arthur-lipsett.html
7.HOBBIT LOVE IS THE GREATEST LOVE (2007, Steve Reinke, USA)
I saw this film at the Bangkok Experimental Film Festival 5. The website of this film is at
http://www.myrectumisnotagrave.com/vidleos/hobbitloveis.html
Images from this film:
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8.LIFE IS SHORT 2 (2006, Tossapol Boonsinsukh, Thailand)
I wrote about this film in Thai here:
http://www.onopen.com/2007/02/1427
9.OBABA (2005, Montxo Armendariz, Spain)
Though the stories in this film are clearly connected to each other, what I think makes this film very exciting for me is that each story seems to belong to different genre—melodramatic, thriller, and psychological drama.
10.1/3 OF THE EYES (2004, Olivier Zabat, France)
11.OUR WAVES (2006, Tulapop Saenjaroen, Thailand)
12.THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY (1974, Luis Bunuel, France)
13.POISON (1991, Todd Haynes, USA)
14.THE POWER OF EMOTION (1983, Alexander Kluge, West Germany)
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Acquarello wrote about this film here:
http://filmref.com/notes/archives/2008/03/the_power_of_emotion_1983.html
15.SALAT (2004, John Torres, Philippines)
16.SIDA: SRI RAM? (2005, Pornrat Damrung, Thai play)
17.SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR (2000, Roy Andersson, Sweden)
18.TAKE THE 5:10 TO DREAMLAND (1976, Bruce Conner, USA)
Actually, this film has no story, but the various parts in this film are still very unconnected to one another.
Brian Darr wrote about EASTER MORNING (2008, Bruce Conner) here:
http://daily.greencine.com/archives/005972.html
19.VIDEO 50 (1978, Robert Wilson, West Germany)
20.WELCOME TO NOTHING (2008, Nophand Boonyai, Thai play)
You can cast multiple votes.
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--Another barely connected film which I like very much is RENDEZVOUS IN PARIS (1995, Eric Rohmer, France). I saw this film from a videotape, though this film was once shown in Bangkok in 1999 in LOW BUDGET FILM FESTIVAL. I attended only some parts of this film festival, because I was recovering from a surgery at that time.
A friend asked me recently about the program of this film festival in 1999. So I think I should answer his question by posting the program here, so that other people can see it too.
Since I didn’t attend the whole festival, I don’t know if the whole festival went as planned or not. The program of this festival as listed in the brochure is as follows:
JUNE 1999
SAT 5
10.00 TWO DAUGHTERS (1961, Satyajit Ray)
13.00 THE LAST BATTLE (1983, Luc Besson)
+ talking with Tanit Jitnukul
17.30 THE RIVER (1996, Tsai Ming-liang)
+ talking with Pen-ek Ratanaruang
SUN 6
10.00 BAD TASTE (1982, Peter Jackson)
+ talking with Sittirak Tulapitak, a film critic
13.00 EGG (1988, Danniel Danniel)
+ talking with Somching Srisupap, the director of 303 FEAR FAITH REVENGE (1998, A-).
17.30 KNIFE IN THE WATER (1962, Roman Polanski)
SAT 12
10.00 THE EVIL DEAD (1982, Sam Raimi)
+ talking with Manotham Theamtheabrat, a film critic
13.00 L’ARGENT (1983, Robert Bresson)
+ talking with Nonzee Nimibutr
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0632354/
17.30 FUNNY GAMES (1997, Michael Haneke)
+ talking with Adirek Wataleela (Uncle)
http://www.thaifilmdb.com/en/pp00132
SUN 13
10.00 RENDEZVOUS IN PARIS (1995, Eric Rohmer)
+ talking with Suthakorn Santitawat, the director of KWAN RIAM (2001, B)
http://www.nangdee.com/title/?movie_id=236
13.00 THE WHITE BALLOON (1995, Jafar Panahi)
+ talking with Euthana Mukdasanit, Wisut Poolworalak, Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Nantakwang Sirasuntorn, and Sananjit Bangsapan
It has been nine years since this film festival was held.
4 comments:
Big Thanks to you, CelineJulie. I am very grateful that you are the last survivor who’s still keeping track of our DK FILMHOUSE (filmvirus) program over those 9 years ago.
That film festival at the Alliance Francaise, Bangkok was actually called LOW BUDGET FILM IN COMBAT FILM FESTIVAL. It was also a miracle that all those guests in the list came (including many more in the film business appeared uninvited). We didn’t succeed in making the full awareness of the possibility of the Thai low budget films as we had hoped but the Alliance Francaise’s hall was packed almost every shows (except morning shows). Most of the titles in the fest were not available in Thailand then. A few like EGG (a dutch film) and Satyajit Ray's TWO DAUGHTERS probably haven't released on DVD yet.
Some issues about low budget films were raised but most of the film directors and producers didn’t seem to have faith or even the awareness of their existence (except Pen-Ek, of course). Visut, the producer (now GTH big beau) just simply claimed that THE WHITE BALLOON was not exactly a low budget film. He didn’t even care to watch all of it.
I also want to say that the brochure of this film festival is great, because it has a great article on Ray Carney in it. I first got to know Ray Carney via this brochure.
I love EI (EGG) very much. I’m glad I have a chance to see it in this festival. I think both EGG (Dutch film) and EGG (Turkish film) are very quiet and minimal films.
I’m still hopeful that Thailand has such filmmakers as Paisit Panpruegsachat, Tossapol Boonsinsukh, Uruphong Raksasad, Prap Boonpan, and Manussak Dokmai. I’m not sure about the budget for all of their films, but I assume they are very very low. I only know that many shorts made by Manussak Dokmai cost only 80 baht each. I hope they continue making films, and be the inspiration for younger generation of Thai directors.
Didn’t you find it a bit odd that we printed only the second part of Ray Carney’s interview in that brochure? The simple reason is that it was the first MOVIEMAKER magazine I’ve got. I could read only the first part until the rest of the text came up much later on the website. Is this magazine still exist, I wonder?
Ah, I didn’t notice that the interview is “part two”.
The Moviemaker magazine still exists. I found its website:
http://www.moviemaker.com/
There are some directors mentioned by Ray Carney in the interview, whose works I still haven’t had a chance to see, including
1.John Korty, who directed
1.1 RESTING PLACE (1986)
1.2 WHO ARE THE DEBOLTS? (AND WHERE DID THEY GET 19 KIDS?) (1977)
1.3 FAREWELL TO MANZANAR (1976)
1.4 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN (1974)
1.5 BREAKING THE HABIT (1964)
2. Lionel Rogosin, who directed
2.1 ON THE BOWERY (1957)
2.2 COME BACK, AFRICA (1960)
2.3 OYSTERS 'R' IN SEASON (1966)
3.Claudia Weill, who directed
3.1 THE OTHER HALF OF THE SKY: THE CHINA MEMOIR (1975)
3.2 GIRLFRIENDS (1978)
3.3 A CHILD LOST FOREVER: THE JERRY SHERWOOD STORY (1992)
4.Robert Kramer, who directed
4.1 THE GHOSTS OF ELECTRICITY (1997)
4.2 OUR NAZI (1985)
4.3 ICE (1970)
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