The Cinematheque

“The first of the new generation of Thai movie mavericks to make a name for himself on the international film fest circuit, Pen-ek has a penchant for brightly barbed sarcasm … [He’s] Thailand’s archest cineaste.”

Chuck Stephens, Film Comment

A poet of city streets, mysterious encounters, and perverted reveries, Pen-ek Ratanaruang (b. 1962) is Bangkok’s rebel of cinematic dreams. Where Apichatpong Weerasethakul brings out the spirits, recalling past lives, Pen-ek observes the living heart—with all its irresistible contradictions.

Celebrating his nearly thirty years of filmmaking, this select retrospective is proudly presented with Pen-ek in attendance and in partnership with the Royal Thai Consulate General in Vancouver, the latter marking 65 years of Thailand–Canada diplomatic relations. It features the Canadian premiere of Pen-ek’s latest film Morte Cucina, about a chef serving up a revenge dish, which reunites the director with cinematographer Christopher Doyle for the first time since 2006’s Invisible Waves. Presented in 35mm in collaboration with Cinema Thinks the World, Last Life in the Universe, which earned Asano Tadanobu the Best Actor prize at Venice 2003, involves a Japanese man desperate to disappear who finds himself drawn to a woman equally adrift. And concluding the retrospective, Ploy, a Directors’ Fortnight selection at Cannes 2007, arrives in its international cut—the version Thailand censors wouldn’t release domestically.

Anton Hing & Anna Sreekullkorn
Series curators