Early and Obscure Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Known for his dreamlike features such as Memoria and Tropical Malady, Apichatpong Weerasethakul has always used short form filmmaking to sketch out his thoughts and ideas. While production of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives was underway, for instance, he also created many adjacent works that share themes or geographical elements. Such as the 17-minute companion piece A Letter to Uncle Boonmee, which covers in part the making of the aforementioned feature, but is mostly concerned with the violent past of a remote Thai village where a group of teenagers are napping or building a UFO.

Often, Weerasethakul’s projects expand rhizomatically, which is to say that the works grow in any direction without a clear beginning or end. They expand and expand and take on many different shapes. Making films allows him to think through his ideas, his concepts, his desires. With each short film he tackles one or two aesthetic or thematic concerns which might then find their way into his features. This methodology of constantly making films has resulted in a sizeable archive of works that lay bare his thought process.

In this very special screening we’ll show a few of the incredibly rare short films from earlier in his career, chosen by Weerasethakul. Most of these were made before he won the Palme D’Or in 2010, and they vary greatly in terms of production values. Where one might have a traditional crew, the next could be a poem shot using his phone. But they are all the beautiful parts of a whole that never fully comes into focus.