Thailand Voice

Slice , Mundane History , A Letter to Uncle Boonmee and Lumphini 2552 will be featured in the 34th Hong Kong International Film Festival , which opened for businss yesterday . Slice ( Cheun ), is a top nominee for both the Thailand National Film Association Awards and the Bangkok Critics Assembly , and… Read full story >>>

Directed by Thunska Pansittivorakul Starring Panuwat Wisessiri World premiere at 2010 International Film Festival Rotterdam; reviewed on screener DVD Wise Kwai’s rating: 5/5 I’ll never look at an orange the same way again. In fact, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to eat one. Traumatized by citrus fruit is what I am, all thanks to… Read full story >>>

Justin Thomas McDaniel, Gathering Leaves and Lifting Words: Histories of Buddhist Monastic Education in Laos and Thailand . Seattle and London, University of Washington Press, 2008. pp. xiii + 358. Reform of Theravada Buddhism occurred in different parts of Southeast Asia in different circumstances at different times. … Read full story >>>

I’ve listed my own decade and 2009 bests . And earlier there was the Time Out New York and TIFF Cinematheque lists. Here’s a look at others. Nanoguy Thai film blogger Nanoguy has a decade list . Among the alphabetical ordering of international releases are a few Thai films: Kongdej Jaturanrasamee’s… Read full story >>>

Earlier this week we went to the neighbouring amphur of Lue Amnat to watch a fashion show. We had not expected this to be the main event, but a supporting act to a sound and light show on the theme of the local Boun Khao Laan festival. It looked as though… Read full story >>>

That’s the beauty with cheating : you always find a bigger cheater than yourself. And this is exactly what is happening in Asia (and around the world). The crisis is worsening (see Dubai’s default ), tensions and imbalances are increasing, and all the clowns try the same thing : The Beggar thy neighbor policy , in… Read full story >>>

The end of 2009 not only means there will be an onslaught of year-end lists to pore over, but also lists of the best films of the first decade of the 21st century. We’ve already had the best of the decade list from the TIFF Cinematheque , that … Read full story >>>

The end of 2009 not only means there will be an onslaught of year-end lists to pore over, but also lists of the best films of the first decade of the 21st century. We’ve already had the best of the decade list from the TIFF Cinematheque , that was topped by Syndromes and a Century … Read full story >>>

Uruphong Raksasad’s experimental documentary Agrarian Utopia ( Sawan Baan Na ) continues its award-winning run, picking up the Unesco Award at the third edition of the Asia-Pacific Screen Awards, which were given out on Thursday in Gold Coast, Australia. … Read full story >>>

Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Syndromes and a Century has been named the best film of the decade in a critics poll by the Toronto International Film Festival Cinematheque . The movie that was censored in Thailand continues to be hailed by critics worldwide. In fact, three of Apichatpong’s … Read full story >>>

When Slovenian film programmer Nika Bohinc was in Bangkok at the end of July and early August for the Lav Diaz Retrospective , she handed a Slovenian film to World Film Festival of Bangkok programmer Pathompong “Big” Manakitsomboon. A month after that meeting, Nika was dead, killed along with her boyfriend Alexis Tioseco in … Read full story >>>

Censors have banned one of the Thai entries in this year’s World Film Festival of Bangkok , but there remains an exceptionally strong selection of experimental homegrown shorts and features. The short explanation is that Thunska Pansittivorakul’s controversial This Area is Under Quarantine went unrated … Read full story >>>

First this: AFP : “ Cambodia makes Thailand’s Thaksin adviser: government ” Cambodia said Wednesday it had appointed fugitive former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra economic adviser to premier Hun Sen in a move that adds to tensions between the countries. The appointment was announced on state television almost … Read full story >>>

Mundane History , the debut feature by “May” Anocha Suwichakornpong, will have its Thailand premiere as the opening film of the 7th World Film Festival of Bangkok . With around 100 features and shorts screening over 10 days, the WFFBKK is set for November 6 to 15 at Paragon Cineplex. Among the highlights announced … Read full story >>>

Sondhi Limthongkul has been elected leader of the PAD’s New Politics Party. Sondhi has been quoted by The Nation earlier this year as saying “Slap my face with your shoes if one day I take any political position”. He replaces Somsak Kosaisuk as NPP leader. Read full story >>>

I knew that back at the beginning of the sanitary districts in Thailand, there were two kinds of these districts created. At first the urban sanitary districts (สุขาภิบาลเมือง, Sukhaphiban Mueang ) in the urban areas, and the rural sanitary districts (สุขาภิบาลตำบล, Sukhaphiban Tambon ), both officially codified in law by the 1914 Local Administration … Read full story >>>

More than a week after film critics Alexis Tioseco and Nika Bohinc were gunned down in their home in Quezon City, Manila, police have rounded up one suspect in the killing. The Inquirer has the story ( cache ). Looking at the senselessness of the … Read full story >>>

The Merlion was designed as a logo for the Tourist Board by Fraser Brunner whereby the lion head alludes to Singapura (Singapore’s original name and meaning lion-city) and the fish body alludes to Temasek (the ancient fishing village which was to become Singapore). A local craftsman, Lim Nang Seng created Read full story >>>

Malaysia’s new Prime Minister is finding out the hard way that his efforts to rebrand his administration requires more than catchy slogans. A political aide of the oppostion controlled state of Selangor was found mysteriously dead while in custody of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission. It is the norm for the government to … Read full story >>>

While Midnight Madness got all the attention yesterday with Tony Jaa and Ong-Bak 2: The Beginning, the Toronto International Film Festival’s Wavelengths avant-garde program has been quietly finalized.Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s new short, A Letter to Uncle Boonmee will make its North American premiere as part of Wavelengths 4: … Read full story >>>

Finally the board meeting transcripts have received an update, as previously the latest files were those the meetings of last November. But like I anticipated from the lack of announcements in the Royal Gazette on the changed constituencies, there were much less meetings and decisions … Read full story >>>

Under the Absolute Monarchy (brought down by the revolution of 1932), responsibility for trade and industry was allocated to foreigners – Persians, Indians, Chinese and even Europeans were able to take high positions in the administration of the state. The Siamese (Thai) people themselves were expected Read full story >>>

Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s online short Phantoms of Nabua can be experienced as an art installation at the Wexner Center at Ohio State University in Columbus.Phantoms of Nabua is part of Apichatpong’s multi-platform Primitive project.The Columbus exhibition opened on June 1 and it’s running until June 30.Having seen… Read full story >>>

Today was another good day with nothing over exciting happening. I had homework due from my primary 5 class that has 35 students and primary 6 class, that has 33 students. 3 students from primary 5 and only 1 student from primary 6 didn’t hand their homework in at the … Read full story >>>

Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s new thriller Nymph ( Nang Mai ) is screening at the Cannes Film Festival today. It’s competing in the Un Certain Regard program. I’m looking for reviews, though I really don’t want to read them. Luckily, I haven’t found much yet. I did find an … Read full story >>>

Dear GTH GMM Tai Hub has a booth at the Marche du Film . Among the upcoming titles they are pushing is Dear Galileo , a story of teenager girls who want to travel to Europe by Nithiwat Tharatorn, one of the ” Fan Chan six” whose solo debut was 2007’s Seasons Change . The stars are … Read full story >>>