One of the several elements with which Thai auteur
Apichatpong Weerasethakul indulges himself, is the notion of the body—the
various adventures and misadventures of bodilyness, the bliss, the pangs, the
illnesses and the suffering. As memory (or the lack of it)takes the
centre-stage in his oeuvre, bodies—young and old, male and female, rural and
urban, real and ethereal— are often forgotten, remembered and re-remembered in
quick succession. Such embodied characters, in their varied entanglements with
mnemonic and topographical occupations, haunt and are haunted by the setting.
More often, the rural Thailand features as the backdrop of Weerasethakul's
films with its multitudes of life: the daily interactions, the humdrum affairs,
the tedious tasks, the necessary rituals and customs. And all these reverberate
with a distinct south-east Asian palette. On the surface, there are these local
images of Isaan, the livelihood of villagers and the continuing migration: some
of the recurring subjects of his films that give his works a “national”
character, enabling a global audience to explore the society, culture, politics
and practices of both rural and urban population of Thailand. While on the
greater curve, his films unearth concerns that are universal and complex. As
Matthew Barrington observes, “When Weerasethakul uses his camera to focus on
Isaan and the exploration of the voiceless Thai inhabitants it becomes useful
to place Weerasethakul as a transnational filmmaker whose films provide an
international audience for the documenting of the marginalised individuals who
populate Isaan”.
On a similar note, documentation, identity, memory,
mythology, ethnicity, communication are some of the apparent themes that
Weerasethakul explores and problematizes in his films but there are several
others such as transcendence, ecoprecarity, sound, philosophy, aesthetics,
surrealism, superstition, environmentalism, capitalism, illness— to name a few,
that demand cross-disciplinary investigations. At one hand, his films represent
the everyday, and on the other, they challenge the very forms and modes of
representation through subversion and experimentation. The open-ended nature of
his films thwarts the expectations of the audience, conjures an enigmatic
atmosphere that can withhold a cathartic resolution, and frames an immersive
space for further possibilities. His innovation, improvisation,
self-reflexivity and avant-garde experimentation has earned him a place as an
important Asian filmmaker in the contemporary scene, which is otherwise flooded
with the emerging South Korean wave.
Mysterious Objects at Noon (2000), an experimental
documentary film is a collection of unrelated interviews that impart glimpses
on lives, times, traumas, memories and fantasies of randomly chosen individuals
who inhabit Thailand. Tropical Malady (2004) is an “unusual” romance captured
in a deeply enthralling cinematic arena. Syndromes and a Century (2006) is a
poignant tale on the idea of transformation, shot centrally in a hospital and a
medical centre. His Palme d’Or winning film, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His
Past Lives (2010) depicts the life of Boonmee, a farmer who is slowly dying
from kidney failure and his reunion with now “transformed” members. There are
primarily, three distinguishable storylines that construct the film: one that
includes Boonmee and his last days, the second one captures a princess, her
servant and a catfish and the third one is about Jen, Roong and Tong after he
becomes a monk. Through a disjointed timeline, the film explores themes of
identity, reincarnation and “death of cinema” itself. Cemetery of Splendour
(2015) is a breathtaking fantasy based on a group of soldiers who are suffering
from a mysterious sleeping sickness. His
other acclaimed films include Blissfully Yours (2002) a romance that centres on
a girl and her Burmese lover who is an illegal immigrant, and the auteur’s
recurring exploration of spectrality and mysticism features in a bizarre film
titled Mekong Hotel (2012).
The proposed volume on the aesthetics and politics of
Weerasethakul’s cinema invite chapter abstracts (within 350 words) along with a
short bio-note (within 100 words) and the volume is to be published from an
international press on film studies. The following are the details:
Abstract deadline: 15 September 2020
Acceptance notification: 25 September 2020
Communication email: weerasethakulvolume@gmail.com
In the submissions, the following areas may be
explored (but not limited to):
- Memory and amnesia
- The corporeal body and the lived-bodies
- The rural and the urban
- The natural and the supernatural
- The primitive and the modern
- Age, gender roles and ethnicity
- Avant-garde and postmodernism
- Cinematography and technique
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