Phantom of Illumination

"Everything changes. Cells die, cells grow, like cinema in the 21st century." The Bangkok Post

8 September 2017 — 26 September 2017

Thai with English subtitles.

The Saturday 16 September, 13.45 session features an exclusive Q&A with director Wattanapume Laisuwanchai.

Once upon a time, cinema was mainstream entertainment in Thailand. Movie theatres in Thailand were the place where families hung out. 30 years ago, there were 140 standalone movie theatres in Bangkok. As time went by, old-fashioned movie theatres are forgotten. Most of them became second-class movie theatre showing double feature or pornography and eventually closed down.

Thonburi Rama is the last second class movie theatre that opened until 2013 , when it had to close down. After the closure of Thonburirama, Rith, a projectionist who worked there for more than 25 years became a jobless person. His knowledge of film projecting became useless. He turned into an alcoholic and tried to study Dharma. Sometimes what he spoke were things that he mixed the reality with his own fantasy.

Rith went back to his hometown where his wife and daughter owned a rubber plantation, but he felt that he didn’t fit in and lost all hope.

About the film

Director: Wattanapume Laisuwanchai
Country: Thailand
Year: 2017
Duration: 70 mins