BANGKOK — Cinema from the Latino and European worlds will collide at two film festivals across the capital later this month.
Film Festival in Spanish – Nov. 22-27
Seven films from the Spanish-speaking countries of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Spain will screen for free from Nov. 22 to 27 at Lido Connect as part of the “Film Festival in Spanish” event.
Opening the film fiesta is Argentine comedy “Super Crazy” (2018), about a dreary midlife woman who one day drinks a mysterious concoction and finds herself completely revitalized, to saying and doing anything she wants.
A dysfunctional love triangle set in Mexico City between a gay man, a bisexual man, and a woman is mashed up with a crime thriller involving drug lords in the Mexican “I Promise You Anarchy” (2015).
“The Dragon Defense” (2017) from Colombia takes a bold, dramatic move on three desperate chess-loving friends who live a tedious life in Bogota, whose comfort zones are shaken by midlife crises.
The details of other films and the festival schedule can be found online. Admission is free with online tickets available via Eventbrite.
All screening will be in Spanish and will include Thai and English subtitles.
Open-Air European Union Film Festival – Nov. 29-Dec. 15
Want to watch films made under the constellation of European Union stars and cool Bangkok breeze instead?
Grab some popcorn and head to “European Union Film Festival” where 17 films from 17 members of the union will screen for free from Nov. 29 to Dec. 15 at lawns of ambassador’s residences and cultural institutes across the capital.
The second outdoor edition of one of the longest-running film festivals in Bangkok will include fewer titles than last year’s, partly due to Brexit fallout – no films from the UK are included!
Still, the program will be able to capture the diverse facets of European history and culture, from a life of an indigenious Swedish girl, to the plight of refugees, to a Cold War-era impossible love story.
This year’s headlining film is the Finnish biopic “The Ragged Life of Juice Leskinen” (2018). Based on the life of the Finnish ‘70s and ‘80s rock legend, the biopic tells a classic story of a rockstar who rises to stardom while falling into the abyss of alcoholism and egotism. Although portrayed as a funny person, Leskinen is also dark and hurts many people, including himself.
Love detaches from time itself in Portugal’s “The Dead Queen” (2018). Weaving a story across three different eras from the medieval times through modern times and into the far dystopian future, it begins with King Dom Pedro digging up his assassinated lover from her grave.
The Polish “Cold War” (2018), directed by Pawel Pawlikowski of Academy Award-winning “Ida” (2013), again brings images of post-war Poland in nostalgic black and white to the screen. In Pawlikowski’s latest film, Wiktor and Zula, both in a Communist propaganda band, fall into a deep, soul-consuming love – that will be tested by the Berlin Wall itself.
Love isn’t even limited to humans in French film “Bloody Milk” (2017), which shows the ties between a dairy farmer and his cows. They are everything to him – but one day, one gets infected with an epidemic.
Those in the mood for something fun can check out “Tiger Theory” (2016) from the Czech Republic. A veterinarian who is fed up with his nagging wife fakes Alzheimer’s and admits himself a psychiatric facility to get away from her – but it’s not that easy to be free from the missus, he finds.
The details of other films and the festival schedule can be found online. Admission is free, but registration is required via Ticketmelon from Nov. 15.
All screenings will be in their native languages and will include Thai and English subtitles.
