AWARDS ANNOUNCEMENT!
And the winner is....
Grand Prize: Women Directors’ Documentary
As a Bird that Briefly Perches
(Director : Dorothy Cheung)
Statement from the Juries :
“Weaving a deeply poetic and symbolic narrative, this essay film embarks on a contemplative journey that is also a cinematic treatise on the human condition. It interrogates the tensions between displacement and rootedness, exile and homecoming, meditating on our innate search for belonging and grounding within a world in flux. Through its rich symbolic language of the natural world, the film becomes an unassuming cinematic light, guiding us in our search for the meaning of existence in the contemporary world.”
Grand Prize: Thai Competition
Au Revoir Siam
(Director : Domenico Singha Pedroli)
Statement from the Juries :
“This film presents intersected layers within the history of Thailand and France, inviting the audience to engage with the pain of of the past and present, as well as contemporary Thai politics through the lense of Thai political exiles in France, that are silenced and rather forgotten by the Thai government. Through creative approach in experimental documentary film, it shows us the hopes and dreams of the exiles by challenging convention of interpretation and expanding new aesthetic possibilities of cinematic experience.”
Jury Prize: Thai Competition
Home and Away
(Director : Rachata Thongruay)
Statement from the Juries :
“This film invites us to explore the life of displaced woman, delving into the stereotypes of “Mea-Farang” or “foreigner’s wife”, who are often seen as women leeching of their husband for living, as well as abandoning their roots and homeland. Yet, the exploration is done without demoralizing or casting blames on them. At the same time, it quietly portrays the isolation and loneliness of the elderly Mae-Farang, ultimately illustrating the struggles of women, both in their working years and in old age, who must navigate their life in a place far from home.”
