8/10/2019 Luang Prabang Hotel Villa Maly Supports Luang Prabang Film Festival's Activites

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WISE KWAITHE NATIONLUANG PRABANG, LAOS

THE FIFTH edition of the Luang

Prabang Film Festival hadnt official-ly opened yet and its founder anddirector Gabriel Kuperman wasspeechless. No, really. Hed lost hisvoice.

Curtis, theres a ..., he raspily tellsan out-of-town journalist beforebeing told to shush and save his voicefor his remarks later in the evening,when hed join Lao dignitariesonstage to bang a gong to signal thestart of the festival.

How can it be that we are alrea dyin our fifth year? It feels like only afew months ago we were just figuringout how a major film event could berealised in a country that had neverseen anything like it before, thehoarse-voiced Kuperman told thecrowd assembled to watch the worldpremiere of the opening film,Vientiane in Love, which featuredfive stories by four directors fromLaos newly emergent movie indus-try.

Since the festival started in 2011 asa showcase of Southeast Asian cine-ma, Kuperman has been joined by aboard of directors. Among the mem-bers is producer Nicholas Simon,whose Indochina Productions hasspecialised in supporting services forsuch films as Transformers: Dark ofthe Moon in Cambodia and theupcoming Avengers: Age of Ultronin Bangladesh.

The festival is growing. Were see-ing more Lao people attending, andfor our opening night its estimatedwe had an audience of 1,500, Simonsays. His ultimate goal would be forthe Luang Prabang Film Festival tobe the Sundance of Southeast Asia,referring to Robert Redfords tinyindie-film fest. That one, in a smallUtah town, has grown over the pastthree decades to become a mecca forHollywood bigwigs in search of theirnext Oscar winner.

That the Luang Prabang festivalhas continued is a constant source ofamazement for the organisers, espe-cially given the fact that the city hasno working cinemas. The notion ofseeing a movie is still usually associ-ated with popping in the latest DVDfrom a pirate vendor and watching iton a small screen at home.

Boosting the cinema culture is oneof the festivals aims, says anotherboard member, Bree Fitzgera ld, aToronto filmmaker and programmerbased in Vientiane.

Aside from the theatre inVientiane, there arent really any cin-emas in this country, Fitzgerald says.The film culture needs to be broughtup. By exposing folks to what the restof Southeast Asia and beyond aredoing, thatll filter in.

Organisers also want to supportthe nascent Lao movie industry, andfor that theyre looking to the earlyversions of Sundance, before that fes-tival became so big. We dont want toget big it wouldnt fit this environ-

ment, Fitzgerald says. Our model isSundance in the beginning, when itwas all about master classes andworkshops and making it for thefilmmakers themselves. LuangPrabang is perfect for that. Its theplace you want to go if you need a cre-ative jump-sta rt to finish your film.

This year, for the second edition ofthe Lao Filmmakers Fund, the festi-val awarded a total of $15,000 ingrants to two Lao directors, with sup-port from Coca-Cola, the MotionPicture Association and Lao Ford.They are XaisongkhamInduangchanthy, who will completehis drama Those Below about thelegacy of unexploded bombs left byAmericas Secret War against Laos,and Vilayphong Phongsavanh, who isusing a flying drone-camera to makea short documentary on the trendynew sport of freerunning.

The fests main venue is the

Handicraft Market, which is the cen-tre of the citys Unesco WorldHeritage district, home to the lucra-tive tourist trade that attracts around500,000 visitors a year. The bigscreen is erected in the outdoor plazathat is filled with blue plastic chairsthat have become the festivals icon.Each night, foreigners and localsmingle as the movies are beamedfrom a digital projector. Some folksdrift in and out, pausing to take in ascene or two before continuing ondown the street to browse for sou-venirs at the night ma rket or grab acold Beerlao.

On Sunday, the plaza was burstingat the seams for the Thai blockbusterhorror-comedy Pee MakPhrakanong, one of seven Thaimovies in the fest. That was followedby We Are Moluccans, anIndonesian drama in which a motor-bike-taxi driv er starts a youth foot -

ball lea gue to save the c hildren in acommunity torn apart by sectarianviolence.

Other outdoor highlights includethe rousing Thai documentary TheSongs of Rice, which screened lastnight with producer Pimpaka Towirain attendance. Dont worry, Thaimoviegoers, Pimpaka says its com-ing soon to cinemas near you. Theresalso this years biggest Thai block-buster, the Oscar-hop eful TheTeachers Diary, the Lao drama TukTuk, the Thai-Lao co-productionMy Teacher, and, remarkably, theAcademy Awa rd-nomin ated docu -mentary The Missing Picture, inwhich Cambodian director RithyPanh uses clay figures to reconstructhis painful memories of the KhmerRouge era.

By day, the festival is a smalleraffair, but that component is growing.This year the fest moved to a new day-

time venue, the Hotel de la Paix, aFrench-colonial edifice that used tobe a prison. Transformed into a five-star resort, albeit one with very highwalls, the Hotel de la Paix hosts thefestival in an old-fashioned woodenhouse on stilts. The rustic setting hasroom for 50 viewers, more than dou-ble the capacity of the daytime venueof past years. A tuk-tuk shuttle pro-vides transport from the HandicraftMarket to the hotel, but it isnt all thatfar away.

Attracting mostly foreign touristsand local expat characters, the day-time screenings offer movies that aredeemed too risky to show outside,such as Indonesias The JungleSchool, about a schoolteacher whorebels against her NGO to trek deepinto the forest to teach a remote tribehow to read. Others include MadamPhungs Last Journey, about aVietnamese carnival troupe of ageing

drag queens, and The Patriarch, adark Filipino crime drama about afisherman who, much like WalterWhite in the TV series BreakingBad, turns to dealing drugs and ulti-mately betrays his family.

Theres gentler fare too, such asthe contemplative elder-careromance Sayang Disayang.Director Sanif Olek was on hand totalk excitedly about his slow-mov-ing drama, which chronicles therelationship between an elderly,upper-class Singaporean Muslimand his Indonesian cook and house-keeper. The first Malay-languagefilm from Singapore in 50 years, itsthe city-states Oscar pick.

That was followed by CanadianDaniel Zivs musical documentaryJalanan from Indonesia. The noon-time screening filled the house tocapacity, prompting festival organis-ers to start thinking about an evenbigger venue for the coming years.

Accommoda tions for the writerwere provided by the Luang Prabang

Film Festival and Villa Maly

THE REST OF

THE FESTThe Luang Prabang Film Festivalwraps up tomorrow.For more details,see www.LPFilmFest.org.

Khun Pleum comes up witha great Fathers Day gift

ML Nattakorn Khun Pleum Devakulasurprised viewers of his TV show TheDaily Doseon Fathers Day by talkingabout this dad,MR PridiyathornDevakula.The thing is that he and hisfather are widely seen as irrevocablydivideddue to their different politi-cal outlooks.

Khun Pleum works for Voice TV,owned by Thaksin Shinawatras sonPanthongtae,while his dad is part of

the current military regime as deputypremier in charge of economics andhas sharply criticised the YingluckShinawatra governments costly riceprice-pledging scheme.

Referring to his father by his nick-name Mom Oui, Khun Pleum said hebelieved the timing was right to talkabout the old mans contributions tothe country.I wouldnt talk about mydad had he not become a public fig-ure,but today Ill talk about him in hisofficial role, he said.

And so the Fathers Day tributebegan.I recently met some red shirtsand Pheu Thai Party members andthey said I dont criticise the govern-ment enough.Martial law preventshim from saying much,he acknowl-edged,but, As a matter of fact,I havecriticised Mom Ouis economic policy.

Nevertheless,Khun Pleum praisedhis father for helping establish theExport-Import Bank of Thailand yearsago.That was his baby. He recalledtoo how MR Pridiyathorn,when he

was governor ofthe Bank ofThailand,sackedKrung Thai presi-dent VirojNualkae foralleged malfea-sance.There wasdoubt whether itwas within theBOT governorsmandate, butMom Oui did itand it underlinedhis leadership,said Pleum.

Broaching the subject of politics,Pleum reminded viewers thatPridiyathorn also served asspokesman for the ChatichaiChonhavan government, which was

brought down in the 1991 coup,and asdeputy commerce minister in theinterim government of AnandPanyarachun that succeeded it.

He hailed Mom Oui,TharinNimmanhaemin and SupachaiPanichpakdi as outstanding tech-nocrats who came into governmentfrom the banking sector. Its a shamewe havent had any new technocrats[of their calibre] coming along lately.

Its not true,as some peoplebelieve,that his father works in anivory tower, too isolated to care aboutreal life,Khun Pleum said. Hes verydown to earth and routinely goes intothe fieldto study problems.Many ofyou whove met me while I was tapingmy show outside the studio have saidIm very down to earth.Well,I want totell you guys that I inherited that from

Mom Oui!Even as governor of the central

bank,Pridiyathorn would often borrowhis chauffeurs motorcycle to getaround.He hardly ever used the carbecause he wanted to get all his workdone within a limited timeframe.Tothis day its rare that the old man hashis personal limousine parked athome.And,unlike politicians,MomOui doesnt need a personal entouragewhenever he goes out.

So theres no need to worry thatthe man running Thailands economydoesnt understand the fundamen-tals,like the hardships that farmersand other ordinary people endure,Khun Pleum said.

It seems the prodigal son retur-neth,assuming he ever strayed far inthe first place.

THE NATION Tuesday, December 9, 2014 nationmultimedia.com/life

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THE LUANG PRABANGFILM FESTIVAL ASPIRESTO BE THE SUNDANCEOF SOUTHEAST ASIA

ADRIBERGER

Finding a cinematic VOICE

The main venue at the Handicraft Market has Vientiane in Love on opening night.

ML Nattakorn MR Pridiyathorn

The daytime venue,in an old wooden building on the grounds of the Hotel de la Paix.

The closing film, The Missing Picture. The outdoor venue was packed for the Thai film Pee Mak Phrakanong..

The tuk-tuk shuttle runs fans between the two venues.A scene from the opening film,Vientiane in Love.