No. 016 - Apichatpong Weerasethakul

The director of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010), Memoria (2021) and countless short films, Apichatpong Weerasethakul is currently in Sydney for a new installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art. While here, AFTRS staff and students were treated to a special event - a screening of several of his shorts and a Q&A. The program included The Anthem (2006), Monsoon (2012), Ghost of Asia (2005), Vapour (2015), Sakda (2012), Footprints (2014) and A Letter to Uncle Boonmee (2009).

Across the 45-minute screening strong motifs of the natural environment, a sense of time and of breaking the artifice emerged. At times observational and documentary-like, some still and silent, others full of rapidity and musicality, each full of sentimentality and tenderness. Weerasethakul showed a considered eye for building a memory within specific places and times.

His shorts often involved a push and release between the film and the audience. Through long, locked-off shots, Weerasethakul would build a tension and command attention, drawing our eye to every detail within the frame. Wound tight, sitting in the stillness, he would then release the grip through subversion. In The Anthem this involved an elaborate set, full of energy and freneticism as the camera spun freely after a quiet conversation between women at lunch. In Vapour it was the reversing of the haze through the forest's creek bed after clouded shots of people in houses. And, in many of the shorts, it was the stepping behind the curtain, to show us the process of making the short within the film itself.

Across the selection the audience saw the changing of lenses between shots, the dolly tracks, the recording devices and the smoke machines. Each time, we were reminded we were watching a film, or as Weerasethakul called it 'an illusion'. We saw the designing of the illusion, making us appreciate what we saw instead of taking it for granted. It called your focus back to the moment by showing you the cause of the effect. Weerasethakul also explained how, for him, the most important thing is the process. To know that humans created something. By revealing how the short film was made, he invites the audience to be part of that journey.

Another aspect of that journey is the sense of time (or timelessness) Weerasethakul creates. Long, still shots suspend us out of time yet call into stronger focus the very passage of time. Vapour had perhaps the most pronounced effect due to its silence, and similarly for Footprints. Weerasethakul explained how he sought to liberate the audience from story to instead emphasise the space in which the film operates; both the space on screen and the space in which we viewed it. Before entering film, Weerasethakul studied architecture, an artistic form in which you cannot control how much time people spend in a space. This influence is clear in each of Weerasethakul's works as space becomes integral to and reflective of story. Yet, interestingly, it was often the natural environment, not the built space, in which this occurred.

In Ghost of Asia it was the buzzing energy of the beach reflected in the sped-up montage and energetic narration. In Footprints, the winding, circular paths of the park captured a contemplative atmosphere. And in A Letter to Uncle Boonmee the forest was synonymous with the mystical, dark and mysterious. Weerasethakul favours shooting in these environments as they demand a surrender to the elements. They remove creative control from the director, at the whim of sunlight, weather and animal sounds and instead force greater self-awareness. One must be in tune with their own feelings to be in tune with the feeling of the set and environment.

It was a pleasure to hear from one of the hardest working and reflective artists operating today. Weerasethakul's films feel like an antidote to so much in cinema today. They invite us to sit in contemplation and to experience the current moment.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul will be hosting a Q+A at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Saturday 16 August for his new installation A Conversation with the Sun (Afterimage). Details are available here.

Fleapit Pick of the Week

Blood Simple, the debut feature film from the Coen brothers (Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men) and for Frances McDormand, will be screening at Dendy Newtown for one night only in a 4K director's cut.

Screenings: Thursday 14 AUGUST - Wednesday 20 AUGUST
Kino Sydney
Wednesday @ the Petersham Bowling Club

Tunnel Vision
Stars of Orion: Japanese Martyrs for Palestine (2012, May Shigenobu)
Friday (SOLD OUT)

Riverside Parramatta
Future Council (2024, Damon Gameau)
Saturday

Hayden Orpheum | selected highlights
Laputa - Castle in the Sky (1986, Hayao Miyazaki)
Thursday

Stop Making Sense (1984, Jonathan Demme)
4K Restoration and Live Show
Friday

Tombstone (1993, George P. Cosmatos)
4K Restoration
Saturday

Life is Beautiful (1997, Roberto Benigni)
Saturday

Future Council (2024, Damon Gameau)
Saturday & Sunday

Golden Age Cinema | selected highlights
Together (2025, Michael Shanks)
Thursday, Saturday & Wednesday

The Extraordinary Miss Flower (2024, Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard)
Friday

Somersault (2004, Cate Shortland)
Sunday

Ritz Cinemas, Randwick | selected highlights
Together (2025, Michael Shanks)
Daily

Future Council (2024, Damon Gameau)
Daily

Robert Altman Retrospective (link)
Vincent & Theo (1990, Robert Altman)
Thursday

Cult Classics (link)
Possession (1981, Andrzej Zulawski)
Saturday & Monday

Celluloid Film (link)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
Friday

Classic Matinees (link)
Sunset Boulevard (1950, Billy Wilder)
Saturday & Monday

Make It Musical (link)
Jailhouse Rock (1957, Richard Thorpe)
Sunday & Wednesday

Meet Cute (link)
Knocked Up (2007, Judd Apatow)
Tuesday

Dendy Newtown | selected highlights
Together (2025, Michael Shanks)
Daily

Future Council (2024, Damon Gameau)
Daily (except Friday)

Blood Simple (1984, Joel & Ethan Coen)
4K Director's Cut
Friday

The Toxic Avenger (2023, Macon Blair)
Sydney Premiere
Saturday

Night Shift (link)
Miracle Mile (1988, Steve De Jarnatt)
Daily

Palace Cinemas | selected highlights
Together (2025, Michael Shanks)
Daily

NYTimes Top 10 Films of the 21st Century (link)
No Country for Old Men (2007, Joel & Ethan Coen)
Saturday

Moonlight (2016, Barry Jenkins)
Sunday

Cult Vault (link)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015, George Miller)
Monday

Matinee Memories (link)
The Searchers (1956, John Ford)
Saturday

Museum of Contemporary Art
In Conversation with Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Saturday

Art Gallery of NSW
The Handmaiden (2016, Park Chan-wook)
w/ guest speaker Ryu Seong-hee
Saturday

Film Series - Nouvelle Vague: A Short History of the French New Wave
Adieu Philippine (1962, Jacques Rozier)
Sunday

Alphaville (1965, Jean-Luc Godard)
Wednesday