>> Catalog 2001

Mysterious Object at Noon

THAILAND / 2000 / Thai / B&W / 35mm (1:1.85) / 83 min

Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Script: Villagers of Thailand
Photography: Prasong Klinborrom
Editing: Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Mingmongkol Sonakul
Sound: Teekadetch Watcharatanin, Sirote Tulsook, Paisit Panprucksachat
Producers: Mingmongkol Sonakul, Gridthiya Gaweewong
Production Company, Source: Kick the Machine
World Sales: Laong-Dao Co. Ltd. Bangkok
c/o Kick the Machine, 44/17 Ladprao 15 Jatujak, Bangkok 10900 THAILAND
Phone: 66-2-938-4460 Fax: 66-2-938-5646 E-mail: kickthemachine@yahoo.com

The director and his crew travel across Thailand asking the people he encounters in villages along the way to tell the next chapter in a story. On screen the locals come to the microphone, telling interlaced stories about a “mysterious object.” This tale continues to mutate with the appearance of each narrator, and moves towards a conclusion that not even the filmmaker could have envisioned.

[Director’s Statement] It is a great honor for my film to be included in YIDFF 2001. YIDFF ’99 was my very first international film festival experience, so this festival holds very exciting memories and great impressions for me. I am also surprised that my film will be there. Mysterious Object at Noon began as just a conceptual short film, then slowly grew haphazardly into a full-length film over two years. Still, the main force in finishing the piece was not myself, but the residents of many Thai towns. They own the story and the film. I constructed the film in an open-ended style, with the availability of the materials I had. With such a small budget, it took much time to work around shortcomings and to patch bits and pieces of narratives and time. For myself, the best result of the film was the wonderful time I had traveling with the crew looking for stories.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul Born in 1970. After getting an undergraduate degree in architecture, became active as a multi-media artist. Has dedicated himself to filmmaking since the early 1990s. Studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Works include Bullet (1993), 0116643225059 (1994) an Like the Relentless Fury of the Pounding Waves (1995). Founded 9/6 Cinema Factory in 1995, and co-curated the Bangkok Experimental Film Festival. Supplies publicity and distribution for young artists with film company Kick the Machine. thirdworld (1998) screened in New Asian Currents at YIDFF ’99. Since then, has made Windows (1999) and Malee and the Boy (1999), and a number of his video installations have shown around the world. Currently at work on the feature Blissfully Yours.