Graceland (2006 film)

Last updated
Graceland
Directed by Anocha Suwichakornpong
Written byAnocha Suwichakornpong
Cinematography Leung Ming Kai
Edited byLee Chatametikool
Release date
  • 2006 (2006)
Running time
17 minutes
CountryThailand
LanguageThai

Graceland is a short film directed by Anocha Suwichakornpong in 2016. The film follows an Elvis impersonator who travels from Bangkok into the countryside with a mysterious stranger. It premiered at 59th Cannes Film Festival. [1] It was the first Thai short film to be officially selected by Cannes Film Festival. [2]

It was the first collaboration between director Anocha Suwichakornpong and cinematographer Leung Ming Kai. The film was shot on 35mm in rural Thailand.

The film was partly inspired by The Wizard of Oz. [3] It was Anocha Suwichakornpong's thesis film for her MFA at Columbia University. She was inspired to make the film after receiving advice from her screenwriting professor, Milena Jelinek, who advised her that “It’s not the character’s action that drives the story, but the character’s dream." [3]

Since its premier at Cannes in 2006, the film has screened at various institutions and festivals, such as the multidisciplinary festival and exhibition, Other Futures. [4] It was included in the monthly Staff Picks series at e-flux in 2021. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apichatpong Weerasethakul</span> Thai film director (born 1970)

Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, film producer and Professor at Tama Art University in Tokyo. Working outside the strict confines of the Thai film studio system, Apichatpong has directed several features and dozens of short films. Friends and fans sometimes refer to him as "Joe".

Karyn Kiyoko Kusama is an American filmmaker. She made her feature directorial debut with the sports drama film Girlfight (2000), for which she won Best Director and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature.

Women's cinema primarily describes cinematic works directed by women filmmakers. The works themselves do not have to be stories specifically about women, and the target audience can be varied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinema of Thailand</span>

The cinema of Thailand dates back to the early days of filmmaking, when King Chulalongkorn's 1897 visit to Bern, Switzerland was recorded by François-Henri Lavancy-Clarke. The film was then brought to Bangkok, where it was exhibited. This sparked more interest in film by the Thai Royal Family and local businessmen, who brought in filmmaking equipment and started to exhibit foreign films. By the 1920s, a local film industry had started and in the 1930s, the Thai film industry had its first "golden age", with a number of studios producing films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadine Labaki</span> Lebanese actress, director and activist (born 1974)

Nadine Labaki is a Lebanese and Canadian actress, director, and activist. Labaki first came into the spotlight as an actress in the early 2000s. Her filmmaking career began in 2007 after the release of her debut film, Caramel, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. She is known for demonstrating everyday aspects of Lebanese life and covering a range of political issues such as war, poverty, and feminism. She is the first female Arab director to be nominated for an Oscar in the category for Best Foreign Language Film for her third directorial effort, Capernaum (2018).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 Cannes Film Festival</span> 59th edition of the Cannes film festival

The 59th Cannes Film Festival was held from 17 to 28 May 2006. Twenty films from eleven countries competed for the Palme d'Or. The President of the Official selection Jury was Wong Kar-wai, the first Chinese director to preside over the jury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea Arnold</span> English film director and actor

Andrea Arnold, OBE is an English filmmaker and former actor. She won an Academy Award for her short film Wasp in 2005. Her feature films include Red Road (2006), Fish Tank (2009), and American Honey (2016), all of which have won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Arnold has also directed four episodes of the Amazon Prime Video series Transparent, as well as all seven episodes of the second season of the HBO series Big Little Lies. Her documentary Cow premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and played at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucrecia Martel</span> Argentine film director, screenwriter and film producer

Lucrecia Martel is an Argentine film director, screenwriter and producer whose feature films have frequented Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, and many other international film festivals. Film scholar Paul Julian Smith wrote in 2015 that she is "arguably the most critically acclaimed auteur in Spanish-language art cinema outside Latin America" and that her "transnational auteurism and demanding features have earned her a hard-won reputation in the world art cinema festival circuit". Similarly, film scholar Haden Guest has called her "one of the most prodigiously talented filmmakers in contemporary world cinema", and film scholar David Oubiña has called her body of work a "rare perfection". In April 2018, Vogue called her "one of the greatest directors in the world right now".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annemarie Jacir</span> Palestinian filmmaker and poet

Annemarie Jacir is a Palestinian filmmaker, writer, and producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anocha Suwichakornpong</span> Thai film director

Anocha Suwichakornpong is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter and producer. She is currently Professor of Film at Columbia University, where she advises thesis students in the MFA Film Program and teaches film directing. She was formerly Visiting Lecturer on Art, Film, and Visual Studies at Harvard University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Šejla Kamerić</span> Bosnian photographer

Šejla Kamerić is a Bosnian visual artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Carmichael (filmmaker)</span> American film director, writer, and animator

Emily Carmichael is an American film director, screenwriter, and animator. Her short films have screened in competition at Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, Slamdance, and other US and International film festivals. Carmichael co-wrote the screenplay for the 2018 science fiction sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising and the 2022 film Jurassic World: Dominion.

Mundane History is a 2009 film by the Thai film-maker Anocha Suwichakornpong. She wrote, co-produced and directed the film. It is described as “one of the most startling and original feature debuts of recent years", and received its world premiere on 10 October 2009 at the 14th Busan International Film Festival in South Korea. It was the first Thai film to receive the country's most restrictive viewing rating, due to a scene of full-frontal male nudity and masturbation.

Anja Marquardt is a German film director who won two major international film awards for her first feature film She's Lost Control. Marquardt was previously known for her screen-writing and directing of critically acclaimed short films. Her first full-length movie explored the emotional journey of a young female student who works as a sexual surrogate and falls in love with an unusually recalcitrant client. Marquardt stated that she intended "not to write a love story, but an anti-love story." In 2019, Marquardt wrote and directed the third season of the American television series The Girlfriend Experience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marialy Rivas</span> Chilean screenwriter and film director

Marialy Rivas is a Chilean screenwriter and film director, known for her 2012 film Young and Wild, winner of the World Cinema Screenwriting Award in Sundance Film Festival. She grew up in Chile during a violent dictatorship under Augusto Pinochet. Rivas is openly lesbian and has commented publicly that, "In Chile, it is of good taste not to say that you are gay, even if everybody knows it. People are usually infuriated by your sexuality if you are open. Nobody wants to know, so nobody wants to tell."

<i>The Human Surge</i> 2016 film

The Human Surge is a 2016 experimental film directed, written, shot and edited by the Argentine director Eduardo Williams. It was Williams' debut feature film, after having made a number of short features. The Human Surge is divided into three separate narrative and geographical segments: the first in Buenos Aires, the second in Maputo, and the third in Bohol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominga Sotomayor Castillo</span> Filmmaker from Chile

Dominga Sotomayor Castillo is a Chilean filmmaker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mati Diop</span> French film director and actress

Mati Diop is a French film director and actress. She won the Grand Prix at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival for her feature film debut, the supernatural romantic drama Atlantics, and the Golden Bear at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival for her second feature film, the documentary Dahomey. As an actress, she is known for the drama film 35 Shots of Rum (2008).

Danielle Lessovitz is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. She began her career in 2008, releasing several short films before her feature directorial debut Port Authority, which premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard section. She has screened her films at more than 100 film festivals worldwide. She typically casts non-actors in her films, and focuses on marginalized communities.

Celine Held is an American and British film director, writer, and actress. Her debut feature film Topside, co-directed with her partner Logan George, premiered at the 77th Venice International Film Festival. Her short film Caroline that she co-wrote, co-directed and starred in, was nominated for the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. Her additional short film work has premiered at Sundance Film Festival and at South by Southwest.

References

  1. "GRACELAND". Festival de Cannes.
  2. "Anocha Suwichakornpong Biography Film Study Center at Harvard University". Harvard University Film Study Center.
  3. 1 2 Guerrasio, Jason (2017). "Filmmaker Magazine, Sundance 2007 Special Coverage". Filmmaker Magazine.
  4. "Graceland, Other Futures". Other Futures.
  5. "Graceland - Film - e-flux". www.e-flux.com.