Talented filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul heads to Italy next week for the premiere of "Sang Satawat" ("Syndromes and a Century"), the first Thai movie to make it into the main competition of the Venice International Film Festival.

"Syndromes" is the most light-hearted film the 36-year-old director has made to date, an exploration of memory  that is entertaining and often humorous.

Divided in two parts and set in two hospitals 40 years apart, the stories sometimes echo each other, with a female character dominating the first part and a male character taking charge for the latter.

The film opens with Toey (Nantarat Sawaddikul), a female physician at a rural hospital interviewing the new male physician Nong (Jaruchai Iamaram). We also meet a dentist (Arkanae Cherkam) obsessed with singing, and a monk Sakda (Sakda Kaewbuadee) who is concerned with his past life.

Nong is the lead character in the second half of the film, and his colleagues include a senior physician who enjoys a drink before a TV appearance. The audience also witnesses a romantic interlude between the doctor and his girlfriend.

Winning the Special Jury Prize at Cannes two years ago for his film "Tropical Malady" has translated into financial backing for Apichatpong, who credits a rash of romances on the set for the laid-back ambience on the screen.

"We had two or three couples hook up and their happiness infected us all. That is why it's so light compared to my previous works," he says.

The director had intended to tell the story of his parents from the time they first met. Both were doctors who worked in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen after graduating from medical school in Bangkok.

"My father died before I finished 'Tropical Malady'," says Apichatpong, who dedicated the award to his dad on stage in Cannes.

"'Tropical' is about me and 'Blissfully Yours' is about cinema and the way I see it. So I wanted to make 'Syndromes' about my parents to complete the circle.

But after shooting for a while, he changed his mind.

"I got stuck with the storyline. If I changed anything, it was no longer about them. As I didn't want to dramatise their lives, I decided not to fix the film around them, just use their story as a springboard."

Apichatpong is fond of the dual structure approach (both "Tropical Malady" and "Blissfully Yours" have separate but vaguely related parts).

The first half of "Syndromes", he says, is for his mother; the second for his father.

"I was still thinking about them while I wrote the new script. Some elements remind me of them. The movie is really about memories. It tries to show how seemingly insignificant things can make us remember the past."

"But I'm not sure if it will attract people as it doesn't have any of the elements that today's moviegoers seem to need. There's no violence, no blood, no repulsion, nothing but good feelings."

The Thai title "Sang Satawat" means "Light of the Century" and Apichatpong plays with both natural and artificial light to show how it affects the mind. A century, he notes, is close to the average life span.

The film is among the works commissioned for Peter Sellars' New Crowned Hope festival celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The aim is to use the composer's themes as both the inspiration and springboard for contemporary works and to explore the deeper issues treated by Mozart in three of his works, including "The Magic Flute".

Apichatpong is one of seven directors from non-Western cultures participating in the project.

"I was not a fan of classical music at the start of the project," he admits.

"Fortunately, Sellars is wide open to creativity."

"Mozart's 'Flute' is similar in terms of the flow of the structure in the film. It's like time moving forward. If I'd listened to the music before starting the film, it would probably have had more effect on the story, but for better or worse I am not sure.

After Venice, "Syndromes" goes to Canada for the Toronto Film Festival, then to Vienna to screen alongside the project's six other films in November.

The director is currently negotiating with local cinemas for a run in Bangkok.

"My movie should show at theatres rather than just be released on DVD. The sets and sound are designed for cinema," he says.

He sent "Syndromes" to the Venice selection committee after realising it would not be finished in time for Cannes.

"The Biennale is a wonderful opportunity to meet dealers in the global film market," he notes.

Despite recognition on the international scene, Apichatpong is cautious about the future.

"Fame is like an illusion. Success comes and goes in the blink of an eye and that makes people change too. I've learned from experience."

But with movies that don't make profits at the box office, he recognises the need for achievement on the festival circuit to attract ongoing investment.

"After 'Blissfully Yours', a Taiwanese producer asked me what I considered the ultimate success in filmmaking. I replied it was winning an award at Cannes.

"Well, I've achieved that. Now I can say that I will rest in peace if I die tomorrow," the director says.

Parinyaporn Pajee

The Nation