Two of Vichart Somkaew’s short films will be shown at this year’s Isan Creative Festival (เทศกาลอีสานสร้างสรรค์) in Khon Kaen. The Letter from Silence (จดหมายจากความเงียบ) and The Poem of the River (บทกวีแห่งสายน้ำ) will be screened as part of the Isan Cinema House programme.
The festival runs from 28th June to 6th July. Koraphat Cheeradit’s short film Yesterday Is Another Day was one of the highlights of last year’s event.
The Letter from Silence and The Poem of the River were both included in last year’s Short Film Marathon (หนังสั้นมาราธอน). The Poem of the River was also shown at Hat Yai last year. The Letter from Silence has also been screened at The 28th Thai Short Film and Video Festival (เทศกาลภาพยนตร์สั้น ครั้งที่ 28), Resonance of Revolt, and Save It with Our Eyes.
The festival runs from 28th June to 6th July. Koraphat Cheeradit’s short film Yesterday Is Another Day was one of the highlights of last year’s event.
The Letter from Silence and The Poem of the River were both included in last year’s Short Film Marathon (หนังสั้นมาราธอน). The Poem of the River was also shown at Hat Yai last year. The Letter from Silence has also been screened at The 28th Thai Short Film and Video Festival (เทศกาลภาพยนตร์สั้น ครั้งที่ 28), Resonance of Revolt, and Save It with Our Eyes.
The Letter from Silence features extracts from letters by lawyer and pro-democracy campaigner Arnon Nampa to his family, written while he serves a prison sentence for lèse-majesté. Arnon’s letters are often heartbreaking, as he faces the prospect of many years in jail if convicted on further charges, separated from his wife and their two young children.
The film is silent, except for ambient sounds recorded at night in a quiet neighbourhood. It avoids the explanatory captions of Vichart’s previous documentaries 112 News from Heaven and Cremation Ceremony (ประวัติย่อของบางสิ่งที่หายไป), instead letting Arnon’s words stand alone. This makes the film all the more powerful, and emphasises the hopelessness of Arnon’s situation.
The Letter from Silence’s focus on Arnon’s letters themselves has echoes of another short film with a similar title, Prap Boonpan’s Letter from the Silence (จดหมายจากความเงียบ). Prap’s film documented the suicide note left by Nuamthong Praiwan, who had protested against the 2006 coup by crashing his taxi into a tank.
The film is silent, except for ambient sounds recorded at night in a quiet neighbourhood. It avoids the explanatory captions of Vichart’s previous documentaries 112 News from Heaven and Cremation Ceremony (ประวัติย่อของบางสิ่งที่หายไป), instead letting Arnon’s words stand alone. This makes the film all the more powerful, and emphasises the hopelessness of Arnon’s situation.
The Letter from Silence’s focus on Arnon’s letters themselves has echoes of another short film with a similar title, Prap Boonpan’s Letter from the Silence (จดหมายจากความเงียบ). Prap’s film documented the suicide note left by Nuamthong Praiwan, who had protested against the 2006 coup by crashing his taxi into a tank.
The Poem of the River opens with a caption describing “a Royal Development Project, costing 100 million baht” to dredge the water from the Lai Phan canal in Phatthalung. The film juxtaposes tranquil images of the canal and its verdant, fertile banks — including some beautiful drone photography — with footage of the dredging process. (The effect is similar to Yesterday Is Another Day, in which scenes set in a woodland are interrupted by shots of a JCB digging up the area.)