A family of four and their dog arrive at a seaside hotel in Kui Buri, Thailand. What appears to be an ordinary vacation turns into a series of interactions that betray an unspoken tension in their relationships. The next day, complexities unfold in a cave housing buddha statues.
Year of production 2024 Length 27' CountryThailand/USA/Singapore/Hong Kong Shooting Format ALEXA 35 Aspect Ratio1:1.66 Dialogue Thai Director Pom Bunsermvicha Productions Electric Eel Films, Pop Pictures Co-productions Hodori Pictures, Purple Tree, Moonduckling Films ProducersPom Bunsermvicha, Tanwarat Sombatwattana Assistant Producer Prima Sirivasuntra Co-producersRavisrarat Pibulpanuvat, Nicha Ratana-Apiromyakij, Daniel Pravit Fethke, Xuan Trang Nguyen Thi Writers Pom Bunsermvicha, Nicha Ratana-Apiromyakij Executive Producers Josh Kim, Charlyn Ng, Jwanwat Ahriyavraromp, Jean-Alexandre Luciani, Annette Fausboll Production Design Juthamas Aintharasuwan Production Manager Worarat Sawatdipisan Cinematographer Kritsada Nakagate Editors Dina Karaman, Nisarat Meechok Sound Design & Mixing Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr, Vincent Villa Costume Design Apirath Phromli Post Production White Light Studio, One Cool Sound Studio Cast Chayanit Chansangavej, Sanya Kunakorn, Duangjai Hiransri, Wasin Panumaporn Festival selections Locarno Film Festival 2024 - World Premiere
Director's Statement Above religion, the foremost social contract in Thai society is that of the family. People are raised as codependent members of a traditional unit. One of the edicts of the contract is the infallibility of parents, wherein unquestioning loyalty is expected of the child. Which is why, when this belief is shaken, the family is left to wander in a crisis of faith while continuing their participation in the unit. We focus on an upper-middle class Bangkok family taking a seaside vacation. The father’s absence is not discussed, but is expressed in the family’s dynamics – in the mother’s self-effacement, the daughter’s headstrong personality, the son’s compromising optimism, and the father’s inability to connect with his loved ones. Upon closer inspection, subtext and the language of bodies navigating space betray an intricate web of wounds and loyalties. When I began writing this film, I was at a point in my life where I could not speak to my father. Over the course of i ts making, my father became a subject of close study, and the film acted as a way for me to have a dialogue with him. Inside the liminal space of the cave, the darkness sheds away layers of hierarchy and conditioning. Father and daughter present only as themselves, more tender and human than before. Something akin to a start at reconciliation begins.
