Further watching: These Thai short docs deserve more recognition.

Chayanin Tiangpitayagorn

After a complete absence in 2016, Thai moviegoers got back their chance to see at least three fresh compatriot feature documentary in theatre this year - Railway Sleepers (2016, Sompot Chidgasornpongse) were released with rave reviews, #BKKY (2016, Nontawat Numbenchapol) got a rare chance by being screened nationwide, and Phantom of Illumination (2017, Wattanapume Laisuwanchai) is now promoting prior to its mid-August release date. Apart from those festival-acclaimed films, although quite many short documentaries being made domestically each year, the international film scene rarely got a chance to see them with various reasons, just like Thai short films in general compared to fellow Asian countries.

That’s why this article would like to give readers a sneak peek of Thai short docs by recommending some outstanding works from recent years, considered from their contents and cinematic approaches. Please don’t miss them at film festivals near you or online with English subtitles, sometimes in the future.

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Michael’s (2014, Kunnawut Boonreak, 48 minutes)

Traditional by interviewing and recording lives of its subjects straightforwardly, but Boonreak’s vast knowledge and dedication made it a respectable documentary. The film follows two Rohingya migrants Michael Right and Yameen Michael Muhammad, now you know why it’s called Michael’s. One of them has gotten American citizenship and trying to obtain ones for his family members, while the other one living in a refugee camp at Mae Sot, conditions differentiate their fates yet both still have to struggle for their livelihood in Thailand. The film delicately let us through Michaels’ lives, hopes (also hopelessness), and their visions of future, which could bring you to tears without any tearjerking attempt. With compassion and justice, Boonreak portrayed them as human with dignity and made his film not only telling us specifically about some nameless migrants, which could only ended up in human rights seminar activities for a short period of time, but strong and universal enough to represent all stateless people of this planet. 

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Kunnawut Boonreak’s master’s degree graduation thesis from Center of Ethnic Studies and Development (CESD), Chiang Mai University is ‘Rohingya Diaspora in Thailand-Myanmar Borderland’. Michael’s won Thai Documentary Competition’s runner-up prize from Thai Short Film and Video Festival in 2015, while Sinmalin won Duke Award (main prize).Currently he’s working for Thai Civil Rights and Investigative Journalism (TCIJ).

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The House of Love (2015, Tossaphon Riantong, 23 minutes)

Many Thai students and amateur filmmakers turn cameras towards their families. Those docs could be jolly, funny, nostalgic, sweet, sad, or daring, but none of them would stun you the way The House of Love do. Like a bloody dish served freezing, this personal film is fueled with grudge and resentment within calm manner. Riantong candidly record his family’s daily life then juxtaposed footages with beautiful layered essay of anger, from his point of view, the house’s history was founded on unfaithfulness. The story expands from his father’s affair with another woman until to his grandfather who had eight wives, and all mess in the past, boldly told through images and recollections by the son who couldn’t care less about secrecy and privacy (the woman’s Facebook account was put on screen uncensored). Bizarre and suspiciously common at the same time, this house became a distinctive portrait of Thai families. His parents are still living together and sometimes even joking about dad’s behaviour during dinner, but no one would ever know which kind of complex feelings lay beneath. Absolutely, the blunt approach is ethically questionable or even unacceptable for some, but the outcome is undeniably astonishing and memorable.

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Tossaphon Riantong became a fresh talent to watch since his high school days with witty low cost shorts. Within film school period, his filmography is a compilation of well-crafted fictions, challenging experimental films and intimate documentaries. The House of Love was the finalist of Thai Short Film and Video Festival in 2015. Currently he’s a screenwriter for leading Thai film studio GDH (formerly GTH), and his latest screenwriting credit is The Swimmers (Sopon Sakdapisit, 2014).   

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Death of the Firefly (2016, Jirattikal Prasonchoom & Pasit Tandaechanurat, 21 minutes)

Prasonchoom’s elder brother is mentally-challenged but well-known within the community, not only for physical appearance but also his dedication to Buddhism activities. No surprise, he wants to be a monk but people with certain kinds of disabilities (including mentally-challenged) are prohibited from ordination. Societal judgment is annoying yet understandable, but when so-called ‘receptive’ religion officially joined this judgment is whole another level. Complexity kicks in when both directors led us into further details. Despite his condition, the brother’s still be able to communicate, he even graduated with bachelor’s degree from an acclaimed Buddhist university, and can construct his own arguments upon religious issues profoundly (in one particular scene, while the elder abbot who hesitates to perform ordination struggling with religious details, the brother completes them with confidence). Death of the Firefly raises questions on paradoxical Thai culture of Buddhism, the brother’s denied wish isn’t a rare case of misfortune, but a systematic exclusion. While Thai temples repeatedly citing religious rules against men like him, they easily ignore all rules when it comes to the topic of female monk (bhikkhuni) ordination.

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Jirattikal Prasonchoom and Pasit Tandaechanurat both have collaborated and their own solo works while studying film at faculty of architecture, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL). Death of the Firefly won Thai Documentary Competition’s runner-up prize from Thai Short Film and Video Festival in 2016. Their previous collaboration, Echoes from the Hill (2014), was in competition at Salaya International Documentary Film Festival in 2015. 

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Mr. Zero (2016, Nutcha Tantivitayapitak, 42 minutes)

Thailand’s political crisis passed its decade milestone with no end in sight. During this crucial period, Lèse-majesté laws (commonly known as ‘Article 112’ for Thai cases) were excessively exploited, at least 82 individuals have been charged after 2014 coup d’etat alone, and became an unjust political tool to keep citizens within the spiral of silence because the accused will be heavily stigmatized, the trial usually conducted in secret, reproducing accused phrases or acts also considered a crime, and each offense could land you 15-year jail time. These conditions made it harder for anyone to tackle the issue, and even worse under the military junta. Mr. Zero captures life of Bundit Aneeya, an outspoken septuagenarian writer and translator who has been thrice charged with Lèse-majesté. More than just another static case, Tantivitayapitak portrayed Aneeya’s long life with delicacy, led us through his tragic past involves domestic violence and mental hospitals, his political nature which continuously brought him troubles, his physical sickness, his relationship with human rights lawyers, and his struggles as an outcast even within circles of writers and activists. All stories and constructed scenes were accompanied by Aneeya’s readings of phrases from his titular book, self-published and fakes it as translated novel, about Mark David Chapman’s hallucination of himself as John Lennon. With experimental approach, she creatively blends documentary and fiction elements together, and pushed her film out of cinematic boundaries. Aneeya’s political views were presented here with justice alongside his sorrowful memories, as a completed vision of a man known and dismissed only by his cases and mental conditions (the court acquitted him once due to insanity, but he always denied this label). Surely, this is a brave political documentary according to its time, but further than questioning the law’s primitive nature and unjust usage intellectually, it also opens our eyes towards the victims’ existence with humanity. 

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Nutcha Tantivitayapitak with her friend and co-director, Chawanrat Rungsaengcharoenthip, created this documentary as their bachelor’s degree graduation thesis from faculty of journalism and mass communication, Thammasat University. Mr. Zero won Duke Award (best Thai documentary) from Thai Short Film and Video Festival in 2016 then got chances to be screened in Japan and South Korea. Later, Bioscope Awards 2016 named her the year’s Fresh Talent to Watch. Currently she’s working as a journalist for Prachatai. 

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Sawankhalai (2017, Abhichon Rattanabhayon, 15 minutes)

Sawankhalai (the word is used for the royal family members’ deaths) was born out of pure coincidence, yet extremely powerful once-in-a-lifetime documentary. Rumours about King Bhumibol’s deteriorating health were circulating around Thai social networks and reached its peak in mid-October 2016, people flocked into Siriraj Hospital where he was admitted for years, including Rattanabhayon and his camera. It would have been just another typical observational documentary if he didn’t choose to go there on October 13th, same day as King Bhumibol’s death was announced. The camera recorded hours before the crucial moment when people was wearing yellow and pink shirts singing songs praising the King and praying for his health out loud, until when all hopes became tears and filled the place with cries of grief. Unlike most of the press, Rattanabhayon’s documentary wasn’t there just to tell us the situation, but invites us to reconsider and reposition all images through details we’ve seen through his gaze. Within short period of time, his sharp eyes found out some gestures and characteristics of people there, from collective behaviours of some leading others in singing and praying to those looked different with selfies and Facebook live, and little kids with confusion after their parents burst into tears like many other adults around them. This could be perceived as simple powerful documentary about Thailand’s historic moment which cannot be repeated elsewhere, or could be seen as one profoundly dangerous when Thai collective sadness was dissected into layers.

Abhichon Rattanabhayon unofficially named a fresh talent to watch after his Siamese Revolution documentary The Six Principles (2010), and later became a regular finalist for Thai Documentary Competition of Thai Short Film and Video Festival (awarded once in 2016) from wide-ranged short works he made for television series of documentary. He regularly works with Thai independent filmmakers in various positions, including Nontawat Numbenchapol, his latest and first major credit is #BKKY (2016) as the film’s main cinematographer.

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