Thai filmmakers received plenty of encouragement at the recent International Film Festival in Pusan, long regarded as the region's foremost cinema event
Story by KONG RITHDEE
Earlier this month an October monsoon swept in and threatened to dampen the spirits of Pusan, the scene of Asia's foremost film festival, known for its long days of freshly-picked Asian films and longer nights of parties and soju-fuelled partying. Despite the weather, from Oct 4-12 the 12th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) drew a huge gathering of international media and guests to its Haeundae beach venue.
As rain lashed the streets and threatened to flood the festival pavilion, and as question marks loomed over whether Pusan could hold on to its decade-long rule as Asia's number-one film festival, Thai participants felt anything but disheartened. This year a stream of talent from Thailand left a firm impression at the prestigious cinefest. Most significant was Aditya Assarat, a Thai filmmaker whose debut feature-length movie Wonderful Town was one of three films to win the New Currents Award, one of the most illustrious prizes for emerging talent in Asia. This is the first time that a Thai movie has received an award from PIFF.
But Pusan did more than just show the movie and give it a cash prize. As part of it commitment to supporting independent filmmakers the festival, through its Asian Cinema Fund project, granted Aditya post-production money that allowed him to transfer the movie from HD-video to 35mm film print, a process that costs around 3 million baht. They also flew him and his assistant to Seoul and put them up for two weeks as the filmmakers completed the sound mixing in a lab. Evidence, if it were needed, that the PIFF sees itself as more than just a festival that screens films, but as an essential component in promoting and looking after new talent.
"The grant was crucial in getting us to complete the film in the format in which the public saw it," says Aditya. "We shot on high-definition video, but it was still video. This is okay for watching on TV, but when it gets screened in a cinemas, the difference in quality becomes apparent.
Aditya Assarat's "Wonderful Town" was one of three films to win the New Currents Award.
"The fund allowed us to blow-up the HD to 35mm film and this means we were suddenly on the same playing field as the so-called 'real' movies in terms of technical quality. I think the mainstream audience is wary of indie films because they feel they're not 'real' films, because of the quality. But when the quality is okay, it allows the film to be judged on its own merits and allows your work to reach a wider audience."
Another Thai who has enjoyed the benefits of the PIFF's Asian Cinema Fund is documentary filmmaker Panu Aree, whose new project, called The Convert, was awarded US$5,000. Panu's project, which follows the life of a Buddhist Thai woman who marries a Muslim man from the South, was among the 13 (and the only one from Thailand) handpicked by the committee in Pusan to receive an Asian Network of Documentary grant. The Convert is now in the process of final editing. The filmmaker himself was invited to participate in a three-day workshop with leading Asian documentary filmmakers.
"The grant gave me a lot of breathing room," says Panu. "It's a great morale boost too, since there's not much support I could find in Thailand, and usually I've had to scrape through to finish each project.
"I believe that the Asian Cinema Fund will earn Pusan a lot of credit among independent filmmakers, whose lives are a constant struggle."
It has become a familiar story that when it comes to making movies that do not correspond to the market demand our local directors need to seek funding abroad. Grant-hunters usually set their sights on funding from governments in Europe, whereas in Asia, Korea is a principal benefactor.
As question marks loomed over whether Pusan could hold on to its decade-long rule as Asia's number-one film festival, Thai participants felt anything but disheartened
Besides actually awarding money to projects, the PIFF also features a film financing forum known as the Pusan Promotion Plan, or PPP. Filmmakers from around the world submit their scripts to a PPP selection committee that picks about 20 titles each year. The selected scripts, along with their directors, are then flown to Pusan where they have meetings with possible investors. The PPP doesn't hand out money to projects itself, but instead provides a matchmaking platform where people with money _ studios or investors _ meet people with ideas. This year, the PPP picked one Thai project, The Island Funeral by director Pimpaka Towira.
"We met with various investors, film distributors as well as government funding bodies in Pusan," says Pimpaka. "Though no deal was made on the spot _ nobody actually gave us any money to make the film _ it was a good opportunity to see what others think of our script. The kind of movie I want to make can hardly attract any money from Thai investors, so we need to go out to look elsewhere. At least the Ministry of Culture supported our travel costs."
Another two Thai talents have also made their presence felt in rainy Pusan this year. At the more glamorous end of things, Thai-born Australian-Laotian actor Anada Everingham represented Thailand in a campaign called "Star Summit", a congregation of rising actors from East Asia. The Star Summit was in part aimed at adding gloss to the film festival, but it was also an attempt by the PIFF to endorse the idea of acting as a serious profession that plays a crucial part in the development of the film industry.
On the academic front, Thai director Pen-ek Ratanaruang was invited to be one of the three instructors at this year's Asian Film Academy, yet another project attached to the PIFF. Pen-ek was in Pusan for nearly three weeks, when he oversaw a group of 24 students, plucked from a few hundred applicants across Asia, write, shoot, direct and edit two short movies. Again, this shows how the PIFF _ and Korea in general _ sees the paramount importance of grooming newcomers and ensures that they have the opportunity to grow. Indeed Korea is now exporting movies and TV series with the same industriousness that they export mobile phones, cars and computers.
"It was unprecedented for a film festival to set up a film academy for students," says Pen-ek. "For me, it shows that this is a film festival that really cares about cinema. Of course, they want the glitz and the red-carpet glamour, but I believe that Pusan puts cinema above everything else. That's why it has become the top festival of Asia. Surely we can learn a lot from them."
Story by KONG RITHDEE
Earlier this month an October monsoon swept in and threatened to dampen the spirits of Pusan, the scene of Asia's foremost film festival, known for its long days of freshly-picked Asian films and longer nights of parties and soju-fuelled partying. Despite the weather, from Oct 4-12 the 12th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) drew a huge gathering of international media and guests to its Haeundae beach venue.
As rain lashed the streets and threatened to flood the festival pavilion, and as question marks loomed over whether Pusan could hold on to its decade-long rule as Asia's number-one film festival, Thai participants felt anything but disheartened. This year a stream of talent from Thailand left a firm impression at the prestigious cinefest. Most significant was Aditya Assarat, a Thai filmmaker whose debut feature-length movie Wonderful Town was one of three films to win the New Currents Award, one of the most illustrious prizes for emerging talent in Asia. This is the first time that a Thai movie has received an award from PIFF.
But Pusan did more than just show the movie and give it a cash prize. As part of it commitment to supporting independent filmmakers the festival, through its Asian Cinema Fund project, granted Aditya post-production money that allowed him to transfer the movie from HD-video to 35mm film print, a process that costs around 3 million baht. They also flew him and his assistant to Seoul and put them up for two weeks as the filmmakers completed the sound mixing in a lab. Evidence, if it were needed, that the PIFF sees itself as more than just a festival that screens films, but as an essential component in promoting and looking after new talent.
"The grant was crucial in getting us to complete the film in the format in which the public saw it," says Aditya. "We shot on high-definition video, but it was still video. This is okay for watching on TV, but when it gets screened in a cinemas, the difference in quality becomes apparent.
Aditya Assarat's "Wonderful Town" was one of three films to win the New Currents Award.
"The fund allowed us to blow-up the HD to 35mm film and this means we were suddenly on the same playing field as the so-called 'real' movies in terms of technical quality. I think the mainstream audience is wary of indie films because they feel they're not 'real' films, because of the quality. But when the quality is okay, it allows the film to be judged on its own merits and allows your work to reach a wider audience."
Another Thai who has enjoyed the benefits of the PIFF's Asian Cinema Fund is documentary filmmaker Panu Aree, whose new project, called The Convert, was awarded US$5,000. Panu's project, which follows the life of a Buddhist Thai woman who marries a Muslim man from the South, was among the 13 (and the only one from Thailand) handpicked by the committee in Pusan to receive an Asian Network of Documentary grant. The Convert is now in the process of final editing. The filmmaker himself was invited to participate in a three-day workshop with leading Asian documentary filmmakers.
"The grant gave me a lot of breathing room," says Panu. "It's a great morale boost too, since there's not much support I could find in Thailand, and usually I've had to scrape through to finish each project.
"I believe that the Asian Cinema Fund will earn Pusan a lot of credit among independent filmmakers, whose lives are a constant struggle."
It has become a familiar story that when it comes to making movies that do not correspond to the market demand our local directors need to seek funding abroad. Grant-hunters usually set their sights on funding from governments in Europe, whereas in Asia, Korea is a principal benefactor.
As question marks loomed over whether Pusan could hold on to its decade-long rule as Asia's number-one film festival, Thai participants felt anything but disheartened
Besides actually awarding money to projects, the PIFF also features a film financing forum known as the Pusan Promotion Plan, or PPP. Filmmakers from around the world submit their scripts to a PPP selection committee that picks about 20 titles each year. The selected scripts, along with their directors, are then flown to Pusan where they have meetings with possible investors. The PPP doesn't hand out money to projects itself, but instead provides a matchmaking platform where people with money _ studios or investors _ meet people with ideas. This year, the PPP picked one Thai project, The Island Funeral by director Pimpaka Towira.
"We met with various investors, film distributors as well as government funding bodies in Pusan," says Pimpaka. "Though no deal was made on the spot _ nobody actually gave us any money to make the film _ it was a good opportunity to see what others think of our script. The kind of movie I want to make can hardly attract any money from Thai investors, so we need to go out to look elsewhere. At least the Ministry of Culture supported our travel costs."
Another two Thai talents have also made their presence felt in rainy Pusan this year. At the more glamorous end of things, Thai-born Australian-Laotian actor Anada Everingham represented Thailand in a campaign called "Star Summit", a congregation of rising actors from East Asia. The Star Summit was in part aimed at adding gloss to the film festival, but it was also an attempt by the PIFF to endorse the idea of acting as a serious profession that plays a crucial part in the development of the film industry.
On the academic front, Thai director Pen-ek Ratanaruang was invited to be one of the three instructors at this year's Asian Film Academy, yet another project attached to the PIFF. Pen-ek was in Pusan for nearly three weeks, when he oversaw a group of 24 students, plucked from a few hundred applicants across Asia, write, shoot, direct and edit two short movies. Again, this shows how the PIFF _ and Korea in general _ sees the paramount importance of grooming newcomers and ensures that they have the opportunity to grow. Indeed Korea is now exporting movies and TV series with the same industriousness that they export mobile phones, cars and computers.
"It was unprecedented for a film festival to set up a film academy for students," says Pen-ek. "For me, it shows that this is a film festival that really cares about cinema. Of course, they want the glitz and the red-carpet glamour, but I believe that Pusan puts cinema above everything else. That's why it has become the top festival of Asia. Surely we can learn a lot from them."
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น