SERIES
September 12 & 14 at the Trylon
Southeast Asian Cinema and Its Diaspora: Theory/Praxis/Politics brings together film practitioners, academics, and other stakeholders from across Southeast Asia for a series of public talks, workshops and public screenings of Southeast Asian films. This program is interdisciplinary in that it seeks to enhance collaborations across fields, methodologies, and areas of expertise. It also aims to invite participants to consider contemporary Southeast Asian cinema as a productive site that processes historical and political events, especially after many atrocities that took place in the region. The series celebrates Southeast Asian cinema and, most importantly, the people behind it for their creativity and resilience, and acknowledges their contributions to the global collective of film theory, praxis, and politics of filmmaking.
This activity is supported by an Imagine Fund Special Events Grant, an initiative of the University of Minnesota Executive Vice President and Provost, established through a generous gift from the McKnight Foundation, and facilitated by the Institute for Advanced Study.
Organized by Palita Chunsaengchan, assistant professor of Southeast Asian Cinema and media cultures at the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
(2016, DCP, 102m) dir Sompot Chidgasornpongse (Thailand). Railway Sleepers explores the close connection between Thai people and the Thai railway. Through various activities and scenes inside and outside the moving vehicles, the film turns the train into a microcosm of life in Thailand. With mundane talk, onboard walks, outward gazes, exchanged glances, sitting, and sleeping,…
Screenings: May 18 7:00
(2020, DCP, 98m) dir Maung Sun (Myanmar). Wai Bhone, a young film director, has to overcome the tough realities in order to direct his debut film. The hard worked scenario is criticised and undermined by the unpretentious censorship of the authorities. The film producers constantly pressure for lack of money, and even casting actors to…
Screenings: May 20 4:00
(2021, DCP, 115m | Thailand, Switzerland) dir. Taiki Sakpisit. Bangkok 2006, amid brewing political tension, a family, led by politician Parl, shares one final night together at the safe house before a coup d'etat forces him into exile. Later that night, while on the run, Parl crosses paths with a group of illegal immigrants near the…
Screenings: September 12 7:00
(2024, DCP, 92m | Vietnam, Singapore, France, Philippines, Norway) dir. Phạm Ngọc Lân A woman tries to cling onto dimming links to her past after inheriting a pygmy slow loris from her long-estranged husband; meanwhile, her niece prepares for marriage as the young couple ponders their uncertain future together. The present and the complex echoes of Vietnamese…
Screenings: September 14 1:00
(1975, Philippines, 125m, Tagalog with English subtitles) dir Lino Brocka w/ Hilda Koronel and Bembol Roco. A young fisherman from a provincial village arrives in the capital on a quest to track down his girlfriend, who was lured there with the promise of work and hasn’t been heard from since. In the meantime, he takes…
Screenings: October 17 7:00
(1980, Philippines, 86m, Tagalog with English subtitles) dir Lino Brocka w/ Nora Aunor and Philip Salvador. Bona, a young woman from a patriarchal family, becomes infatuated with Gardo, a narcissistic, womanizing, B-movie actor. When her father reacts violently after discovering that the two spent the night together, Bona abandons her home and moves in with…
Screenings: December 5 7:00