NAKHON PATHOM — Thai farmers suffered even before the recent plunge in rice prices.
A filmmaker who grew up in a northern farming family’s award-winning trilogy of tales on that subject can be seen for free on Saturday.
Born and raised in the north, Uruphong Raksasad knows best when it comes to rice and the lives of those who cultivate it. With this knowledge and his filmmaking excellency, Uruphong has directed three docs offering unmatched insights into the real lives of rice farmers.
First off is 2005’s “Stories from the North,” composed of Uruphong’s shorts illustrating the simple life in the northern village where he grew up, from the cultivating culture to younger generations looking to leave it all behind.
“Agrarian Utopia” follows. In the 2009 film, two farming families are about to lose their land, so they have to farm the same field to survive. The doc received a Special Mention award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
Rounding out the trilogy is “The Songs of Rice,” in which harmonious melodies are played and sung after rice harvesting in different parts of Thailand. Before its 2015 release, the acclaimed doc won another award in 2014 from Rotterdam and recently won two awards from Thailand National Film Association.
All films are in Thai with English subtitles. Admission is free.
The screenings are at 1pm, 3pm and 5:15pm respectively on Saturday at the Thai Film Archive’s Srisalaya Community Theater. The archive is located on Phutthamonthon Sai 5 Road west of Bangkok in Nakhon Pathom. It can be reached by taxi or bus No. 515 from Victory Monument in front of Rajavithi Hospital.