SPECIFICATIONS

English Title : Andaman

Running Time: 17 minutes
Genre: Experimental Documentary
Audio: Sound
Language: No Dialogue
Format: DV
Year: 2005

 

 

CAST & CREW

Director: Sompot Chidgasornpongse

Assistant Director: Nok Paksanavin

Starring: Nanthawut Songrak

 

 

SYNOPSIS

 

A short trip to the southern sea of Thailand. Faces of people by the crashing waves. Tomorrow and today might not be the same as yesterday, but isn't the sea always captivating?

 

 

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

 

This film was shot in Phuket and Pang-nga in the Southern region of Thailand as a part of the one-year commemoration project of the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami tragedy. I went to the area where the Tsunami once hit and was overwhelmingly inspired by the people (the locals and the tourists) at the location. I asked them about their lives before and after the tragedy, how things have changed and how they coped with it.

I found that, despite the destruction, their spirits were strong. The tourists, knowing that the beaches may not be as beautiful as before, still chose to come here just to support the locals. I was touched by their hospitalities and wanted to capture their faces in this film as a memorial.

The sea itself was beautiful. It has changed but still was fascinating. When I looked at it and saw its calmness, it gave me a chill inside, knowing that it contained the power that is so strong that we, human, cannot compare.

The film is my little memo of this little trip to remember what it was like one year after that devastating tragedy. It was made possible by the supports of 'The Office of Contemporary Art & Culture' and 'Ministry of Culture' of Thailand.

 

 

SELECTED SCREENINGS

2020 'Director in Focus' New Narratives Film Festival, Taipei, Taiwan
2016 ‘Are We There Yet?’, DAM’N Cine Club, Bangkok, Thailand
2016 ‘Still Waters Run Deep’, an outdoor screening by Din Dang pier of Chaopraya River, Bangkok, Thailand

2006 Vision du Reel Festival, Nyon, Switzerland

2006 The 7th International DARKLIGHT Festival, Ireland

2006 The 7th Busan Asian Short Film Festival, South Korea

2006 REDCAT: Bangkok Democrazy, CA, USA

2005 The 4th Bangkok Experimental Film Festival, Bangkok, Thailand

2005 The 3rd World Film of Bangkok 2005, Thailand

 

 

SELECTED REVIEWS

"Another short that sacrifices the live audio, but instead of going silent, it substitutes the sound of surf and waves as the camera looks around at the island. You get a sense of a Phuket, still recovering after the tsunami. The beaches are a bit empty and lonely feeling. There are some tourists and locals making living from the tourist trade, and the camera stops to talk to them. Their lips are moving but you can't hear what they are saying. Just the sound of waves. Then a rainstorm kicks up and the sound ratchets up. It made me jump. A mini tsunami on film. In a headline on its story previewing these films yesterday, the English-language ThaiDay said: "News crews showed us what the tsunami looked like. Now, filmmakers show us what it felt like." Especially in Andaman's case, this is dead-on accurate."

 

-Wise Kwai, Thai Film Journal

 

"A young man takes a ferry that brings him to an island. The seaport, the passengers' faces, the headwind, followed by the first steps in the sand, a sudden downpour, the peace that follows the storm: in Sompot Chidgasornpongse's experimental film, the situations bear a double meaning, because ever since the day of the tsunami, the spectator is familiar with the images of dread and distress that constantly rise to the surface of memory and cloud over the peaceful images of everyday life. On the beach, Thais and tourists talk to the camera as they would in a classical interview; however, the roaring of the surf covers the sound of their voices. The sea appears to be almighty: it levels down all declarations and keeps the people under its spell, even though things will never be the same after the natural disaster."

 

-Vision du Reel Festival 2006, Nyon, Switzerland