The Chiang Mai Film Festival 2025 (เทศกาลหนังแห่งเมืองเชียงใหม่ 2568) will take place from 9th to 13th July at the Chiang Mai Cultural Centre. Exactly 100 short films have been selected, and highlights include Warat Bureephakdee’s Crazy Soft Power Love, Patipat Oakkharhaphunrat’s Black Hole, and Vichart Somkaew’s The Poem of the River (บทกวีแห่งสายน้ำ). This year’s theme is Spirit of Local (จิตวิญญาณแห่งท้องถิ่น).
Crazy Soft Power Love is a satire on the government’s soft power strategy, featuring a Songkran water fight that escalates into a brawl. In the surreal, black-and-white Black Hole, a young son discovers that his father, a corrupt military officer, has sold citizens’ digital data for personal gain. Both films include archive footage of the 6th October 1976 Thammasat University massacre.
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.
Crazy Soft Power Love is a satire on the government’s soft power strategy, featuring a Songkran water fight that escalates into a brawl. In the surreal, black-and-white Black Hole, a young son discovers that his father, a corrupt military officer, has sold citizens’ digital data for personal gain. Both films include archive footage of the 6th October 1976 Thammasat University massacre.
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.
Crazy Soft Power Love and Black Hole were both previously shown at the fourth Amazing Stoner Movie Fest (มหัศจรรย์หนังผี ครั้งที่ 4). All three films were included in the Short Film Marathon 28 (หนังสั้นมาราธอน 28), and Black Hole was screened at The 27th Short Film and Video Festival (เทศกาลภาพยนตร์สั้น ครั้งที่ 27).
Crazy Soft Power Love has been screened at Can’t Stop Won’t Stop (ไปให้สุด หยุดไม่อยู่), White Love and White, and เทศกาลถนนศิลปะ ครั้งที่ 22 (‘the 22nd street art festival’). It was first shown at Wildtype 2024.
The Poem of the River has also been shown at the Isan Creative Festival 2025 (เทศกาลอีสานสร้างสรรค์). It had its Thai premiere as part of a mini retrospective of the director’s recent work, Vichart Movie Collection.
Crazy Soft Power Love has been screened at Can’t Stop Won’t Stop (ไปให้สุด หยุดไม่อยู่), White Love and White, and เทศกาลถนนศิลปะ ครั้งที่ 22 (‘the 22nd street art festival’). It was first shown at Wildtype 2024.
The Poem of the River has also been shown at the Isan Creative Festival 2025 (เทศกาลอีสานสร้างสรรค์). It had its Thai premiere as part of a mini retrospective of the director’s recent work, Vichart Movie Collection.
