Thai Pitch At Cannes Selects Three Projects Including Ekachai Uekrongtham’s ‘The Weight Of Ash’
Thai Pitch is returning to Cannes film festival this year with three projects from veteran director-producer Ekachai Uekrongtham and upcoming filmmakers Thanakrit Duangmaneeporn and Nuntanat Duangtisarn.
Ekachai, whose second feature Pleasure Factory premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2007, will present The Weight Of Ash at this year’s Thai Pitch in Cannes. Set in 1944, the project follows a young Thai nurse who retreats to a Buddhist monastery to find peace following the Allied bombings of Bangkok. Monticha Mathanukroh is on board as co-producer.
Ekachai’s credits also include his feature debut Beautiful Boxer, which premiered in Berlin Panorama in 2004, while more recently he has been heading GMM Studios International, executive producing Netflix original series including Girl From Nowhere and Doctor Climax.
So Long, Maesalong, directed by Thanakrit and produced by Itt Patiparn Boontarig, follows a Thai of Chinese descent who returns from Taiwan to his hometown where he takes on new responsibilities against the backdrop of the political corruption of the Golden Triangle's opium trade.
Thanakrit’s short film, Ghost Of Phukang (2021), was in competition at Singapore International Film Festival, while his documentary feature, Breaking The Cycle (2024), co-directed with Aekaphong Saransate, premiered at Hot Docs and won Best Documentary at Thailand National Film Association Awards.
Nuntanat’s feature debut The Apocalypse Of Bees, produced by Patchara Eaimtrakul, is the story of a film director invited to an art exhibition that features a square glass room housing a lone beekeeper, surrounded by beehives. The artist is auctioning off pieces of the bee suit that the beekeeper must remove while in the room.
This cruelty triggers a connection between the director and the beekeeper that leads to an understanding of working class injustice that can only be remedied by vengeance.
Woman 1 (2010), Nuntanat’s first short, premiered at Venice Orizzonti competition, while The Serpent’s Song (2017) won Best Cinematography at the Shanghai Queer Film Festival, and The Stain (2018) was selected for Busan Asian Short Film Competition.
Supported by Thailand’s Ministry of Culture and the Department of Cultural Promotion, Thai Pitch will help match the projects with investors, co-producers, funders, sales agents, distributors and film festivals.
This year’s projects were selected by a committee including Bangkok International Film Festival’s Donsaron Kovitvanitcha, award-winning director and producer Pimpaka Towira, producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon and Thai Film Archive’s Chalida Uabumrungjit and Kong Rithdee. Phathanavirangoon is also coordinating the Thai Pitch meetings in Cannes.
Past projects selected for Thai Pitch include Berlinale Forum title Die Tomorrow (2017), from Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit; Anucha Boonyawatana’s Malila: The Farewell Flower (2017), which won Best Picture at Thailand’s National Film Awards; Locarno title Arnold Is A Model Student, directed by Sorayos Prapapan; and Itt Patiparn Boontari’s Solids By The Seashore and Nontawat Numbenchapol’s Doi Boy, which both premiered at Busan.
Thai Pitch is scheduled take place May 18-19 at the Thai Pavilion in the International Village.
