The short of it

Published on October 19, 2007

The art of moving images are in focus in the World Film Festival of Bangkok's selection of short films. Unlike previous years when Thai shorts were featured, this year's festival is devoted to animated shorts from the UK, plus a series of 14 shorts by respected writer Suchart Sawasdsri.

Supported by the British Council, the festival presents three programmes of the Best of British Animation, selected from the 2006 British Animation Awards (BAA).  Held every two years, BAA covers most aspects of the UK animation scene, from student work to commercials, children's entertainment, short and experimental art films, music videos, new technologies, script-writing and craftsmanship.

The award-winning pieces convey a variety of techniques ranging from paintings, drawing, collage, stop motion, computer graphic and photography.

Suchart's "Personal Histories" is a series of that present the writer's inspirations in his works and life. The 94-minute series portrays his own painting collection, visual arts, novels, video painting and his experimental films.

"Interestingly, Suchart's shorts features the creative process of a writer as well as his painting. Instead of penning or painting, Suchart conveys his personal history via digital camera. Like his books, his shorts are very poetic and a bit like conceptual art," says Dusit Silakong, the festival's deputy director. All elements in his films represent the artist's personal interests - what books he's read, how he lives his life and how he was inspired to create his works.

In "The Kingdom of the Shadows", Suchart portrays arrays of shadow, while "In the Light of Love" is a bit more narrative, depicting the story of a couple in a candlelit room.

A drawing of the moon by digital camera to the rhythms of jazz music is portrayed in his "Dancing Moon", while "Giving Tree" depicts his wife reading a book to a tree in his own garden. Reflecting on the democracy transition era of the 1970s, the 60-year-old writer conveys Thai political history in his music video, "Don't Even Think About It".

Suchart's shorts is part of this year's new programme "From Books to Celluloid" programme emphasising the links between literature and cinema.

Joining with ModerNine TV (Channel 9), this year's festival is holding a short film contest, in which entrants are invited to interpret "Lok Nai Duangta Kapajao"            ("The World Through My Eyes"), a poem by this year's SeaWrite Award winner, Montri Sriyong, the "Duck Noodle Poet". The shorts are limited to about 10 to 15 minutes. The closing date for submissions is on October 27.

The public is invited to join the festival by submitting short films for a contest on the theme of "Father", in commemoration of His Majesty the King's 80th birthday. The winning films will be screened on MCOT 2 (UBC 23) in December.

Weekend Staff