PURIN PICTURES ANNOUNCES
GRANT RECIPIENTS FOR Fall 2022
November 1, 2022 - Bangkok
Bangkok-based film fund Purin Pictures has finalized the grantees for the Fall 2022 session. After evaluation and discussion of the submissions, the reading committee chose three fiction projects for production support and four documentary projects for post-production support. A total of 230,000 USD will be given out this session to the following projects:
Production Grants (30,000 USD in cash for fiction, 15,000 USD in cash for documentary)
FRUIT GATHERING (Myanmar)
Director: Aung Phyoe, Producer: Thu Thu Shein, Thaiddhi, Production Company: Third Floor Production
San falls in love with her elder coworker Theint, but finds that each of them expects different things from their relationship.
THE BEER GIRL IN YANGON (Myanmar, Indonesia)
Director: Sein Lyan Tun, Producer: John Badalu, Production Company: Kino Media Nusantara
Lily works as a beer girl in a Yangon pub, caught between her attraction for free-spirited coworker Moon, and mysterious older man Zaw.
9 TEMPLES TO HEAVEN (Thailand)
Director: Sompot Chidgasornpongse, Producer: Kissada Kamyoung, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Production Company: Kick the Machine Films
A family takes their elderly grandmother to nine temples in one day, hoping to prolong her life, but finds that the journey tests their relationships.
Post-production Grants (35,000 USD in services for documentary)
MONISME (Indonesia)
Director: Riar Rizaldi, Producer: B.M. Anggana, Production Company: New Pessimism
An experimental documentary that observes the human-nature relationship around Mount Merapi, Java, from the perspectives of a mystic, volcanologist, and sand miner.
BREAKING THE CYCLE (Thailand)
Director: Aekaphong Saransate, Thanakrit Duangmaneeporn Producer: Komtouch Napattaloong, Tanwarat Sombatwattana, Production Company: Vertical Films
A documentary that captures the political awakening of the young generation, whose talisman, Thanatorn Juangroongruangkit, has called for an end to the cycle of military coups.
THE TONGUE OF WATER (Cambodia)
Director: Polen Ly, Producer: Rithy Panh, Production Company: Anupheap Production
A documentary about Neang, an indigenous mother, who fights to continue her life on her native land after her village was engulfed by a dam project.
DOUBLE JEOPARDY (Cambodia)
Director: Phally Ngoeum, Producer: So Chandara, Rithy Panh, Production Company: Kudu Studios
A documentary about Sophy’s family in the US, as he awaits pending deportation back to Cambodia, the country he left forty years ago when he was only three months old.
This Fall 2022 session saw a large number of strong applications. After deliberation, the reading committee chose two Burmese, two Cambodian, two Thai, and one Indonesian project to receive grants.
Says Purin Pictures co-director Anocha Suwichakornpong, “We are excited to support multiple projects from Myanmar and Cambodia, two countries that have less developed film industries than their SEA neighbors. Despite the difficulties, it’s heartening to see the young filmmakers there fighting to tell their stories”. The Beer Girl in Yangon by Sein Lyan Tun and Fruit Gathering by Aung Phyoe, are both debut features from two promising new voices in Burmese cinema while documentaries Tongue of Water by Polen Ly and Double Jeopardy by Phally Ngoeum both shine a light on the struggle of Cambodian individuals against the larger forces of the state. Finally, rounding out the selection are 9 Temples to Heaven, the debut fiction feature of Sompot Chidgasornpongse, whose 2016 documentary Railway Sleepers was warmly received, and two documentaries, Monisme by Riar Rizaldi and Breaking the Cycle by Akeaphong Saransate and Thanakrit Duangmaneeporn, which were both already funded by Purin Pictures during the production stage. Continues Anocha, “Because their subject matter may be less commercial, some films need to rely more on grants. We are happy to reaffirm our commitment to these projects by offering post-production support as well.”
The call for entries for the Spring 2023 session opens on February 1, 2023.
