“FILMVIRUS WILDTYPE : HARMFUL INSECTS”
Curated by Wiwat Lertwiwatwongsa, Filmvirus
Filmvirus is a loose group of Thai cinephiles found by Sonthaya Subyen since 1995 working as a non – profit screening films and publishing books about films . in the year 2008 ain 13th anniversary of Filmvirus we decided to select some thai short films that was overlooked and screen it in a program called ‘ FILMVIRUS WILDTYPE’ and after that westared to making an annual program called FILMVIRUS WILD TYPE a program of our selection of thai short films
FILMVIRUS WILD TYPE is not just another short film festival, it focuses on rescuing films that are overlooked, rejected, and unrecognized. Admittedly, these films are often unpolished and raw, yet they are full of adventurousness and sincerity – the exhilaration, the ennui, the bawdy humor, and the carefree attitude of these films make us realize the power of the cinematic medium. This medium that can now finally escape from the hands of professionals, film students, financial backers, studios, or experts. These films have now fallen from heaven into the hands of common people with the aid of new technology that makes cinematic equipments cheaper and easier to operate.
Some films are made by high school students who use a camera for the first time in his/her life. Some films are made by ordinary people who have never had any film education before. Some films are made just to entertain the family of the directors. Some films are even made to teach moral lessons to the audience. These films represent voices of people who are often overlooked or who are often allowed to speak in stereotypes. They record personal and intimate reality that reflects contemporary sociopolitical situation truthfully and with utmost immediacy. They allow us to experience different kind of aesthetics and teach us new ways to experience the same old world.
FILMVIRUS WILDTYPE : HARMFUL INSECTS
YOU AND ME
Karsten Krause
Germany, 2009, 0:12:35
“A woman is walking towards her husband’s camera through four decades. A love story on small gauge film accompanied by the voice of another woman, reading a poem by E. E. Cummings.Touching and poetic.”
Bodily Fluid is so revolutionary (2009)
41:00 mins
Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
Gaze and Nob form a nice couple. Their relationship goes smoothly until Gaze starts to have rash on parts of his body. Since his condition becomes more serious, he is later diagnosed to be allergic to Nob’s bodily fluid which prevents them from intimate physical contact, especially sexual intercourse. He is told to relieve his desire by masturbation or having sexual relationship with someone else. Unfortunately, Gaze’s choice turns out to extremely offend Nob’s feeling. They both try to save the relationship from falling apart, no matter how desperate they are.
Celestial Space (2012)
27:00 mins
Ukrit Sa-nguanhai
A story of the night time of Rak and Noi. They are construction worker lovers who live freely in a typical construction camp site somewhere. Everything seems to be normal. However, in their wedding night, Rak couldn’t perform a usual sexual intercourse with Noi for some reasons and it looks like both of them are stuck in the darkness of night.
The Corpse (2013)
17:00 mins
Wachara Kunha
The video is a combination of found footages and newly recorded ones. The piece is a portrayal of struggles of heroes in flamboyantly idealistic yet unrealizable dream, the fight for liberation of human class that only results in death. The dead heroes who become spirits independently float to everywhere, to an imagined utopia where freedom is to be found.
Kornly and her plastic vagina (2013)
18:00 mins
Korn Kanogkekarin
The story concerns an insane male-to-female transsexual who is thrown into a screen to have a crystal-like plastic vaginal surgery. After unsuccessful operation, she starts destroying the rest of her body pleasantly.
Curator:
Cinephiles, film blogger and writer, of BEFF (Bangkok Experimental Film Festival) team, a member of the Filmvirus group – a loose group of Thai cinephiles that organises film screenings, seminars and film book publications in Thailand, such as a Retrospective to Lav Diaz in 2010. Since 2008, Wiwat curates and organise a series of Thai short film screening called Filmvirs Wildtype, focusing on overlooked Thai short films.