Bangkok-based film fund Purin Pictures has selected seven projects from Southeast Asia as the recipients of its autumn 2022 funding round, which will receive a combined $230,000 in grants for production and post-production.
The production grants of $30,000 each are awarded to Aung Phyoe’s Fruit Gathering from Myanmar; Burmese-Indonesian co-production The Beer Girl In Yangon by Sein Lyan Tun; and Thai director Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s 9 Temples To Heaven.
The latter is co-produced by Cannes award-winning filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, known for titles including Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and Memoria.
Four documentaries will each receive $35,000 in-kind post-production grants: Riar Rizaldi’s Monisme from Indonesia; Breaking The Cycle by Aekaphong Saransate and Thanakrit Duangmaneeporn from Thailand; Cambodian director Polen Ly’s The Tongue Of Water; and Double Jeopardy by Phally Ngoeum, also from Cambodia.
“We are excited to support multiple projects from Myanmar and Cambodia, two countries that have less developed film industries than their Southeast Asian neighbours,” said Purin Pictures co-director Anocha Suwichakornpong. “Despite the difficulties, it’s heartening to see the young filmmakers there fighting to tell their stories.”
Both The Beer Girl In Yangon and Fruit Gathering are debut features by new voices in Burmese cinema, while documentaries The Tongue Of Water and Double Jeopardy explore the struggle of Cambodian individuals against the forces of the state and are produced by Cannes and Berlinale award-winner Rithy Panh (The Missing Picture, S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine).
Documentaries Monisme and Breaking the Cycle were previously funded by Purin Pictures during the production stage. “Because their subject matter may be less commercial, some films need to rely more on grants,” said Anocha. “We are happy to reaffirm our commitment to these projects by offering post-production support as well.”
Purin Pictures autumn 2022 grant recipients
Production Grants
Fruit Gathering (Myanmar)
Dir. Aung Phyo
Pro. Thu Thu Shein, Thaiddhi
Production company: Third Floor Production
San falls in love with her elder co-worker, Theint, but finds that each of them expects different things from their relationship.
The Beer Girl In Yangon (Myanmar, Indonesia)
Dir. Sein Lyan Tun
Pro. John Badalu
Production company: Kino Media Nusantara
Lily works as a beer girl in a Yangon pub, caught between her attraction for free-spirited co-worker Moon and mysterious older man Zaw.
9 Temples To Heaven (Thailand)
Dir. Sompot Chidgasornpongse
Pro. Kissada Kamyoung, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Production company: Kick The Machine Films
A family takes their elderly grandmother to nine temples in one day, hoping to prolong her life, but finds that the journey tests their relationships.
Post-production grants
Monisme (Indonesia)
Dir. Riar Rizaldi
Pro. B.M. Anggana
Production company: New Pessimism
An experimental documentary that observes the human-nature relationship around Mount Merapi, Java, from the perspectives of a mystic, volcanologist and sand miner.
Breaking The Cycle (Thailand)
Dirs. Aekaphong Saransate, Thanakrit Duangmaneeporn
Pro. Komtouch Napattaloong
Production company: Vertical Films
A documentary that captures the political awakening of the young generation, whose talisman, Thanatorn Juangroongruangkit, has called for an end to the cycle of military coups.
The Tongue Of Water (Cambodia)
Dir. Polen Ly
Pro. Rithy Panh
Production company: Anupheap Production
A documentary about Neang, an indigenous mother, who fights to continue her life on her native land after her village was engulfed by a dam project.
Double Jeopardy (Cambodia)
Dir. Phally Ngoeum
Pros. So Chandara, Rithy Panh
Production company: Kudu Studios
A documentary about Sophy’s family in the US, as he awaits pending deportation back to Cambodia, the country he left 40 years ago when he was only three months old.
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