Director Anocha Suwichakornpong’s By the Time It Gets Dark, a critically heralded look back at Thailand’s political upheaval of the 1970s, has been chosen to represent the kingdom as its contender for the 2018 Foreign Language Film Oscar.
The drama is one of 92 films named yesterday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as official submissions in the category.
Dubbed a “magical, melancholic ode to the intellectual’s struggle against the forces of history” by the Hollywood Reporter, Suwichakornpong’s picture weaves three loosely connected stories together to examine the Oct. 6, 1976, massacre at Thammasat University.
While official government reports of the clash between students and the military government cite more than 40 dead, survivors recently told AFP that more than 100 students were killed.
Using the device of a filmmaker’s attempt to recreate those disputed events, Suwichakornpong introduces a series of characters who perceive and are affected differently by the tragedy.
Speaking to Timeout earlier this year, the director said it was her goal to get viewers to think about their own relation to the massacre.
“I was born in that year. When I was young, I didn’t get to learn about that event. The schools don’t teach us. We learn about it by reading outside of school… I kept thinking, how was I connected to that event, or are we not?” she said, adding it’s up to each viewer to decide.
“When the audience walks out of the theater, I want them to think about what they have seen… I want them to watch it and reflect it to themselves. What does this movie talk about? Who are they in the society?”
By the Time It Gets Dark, which has earned generally stellar reviews, was released in Thai theaters in December and won the Thailand National Film Association Award for Best Picture.
Anocha, an independent filmmaker, was born in Thailand before continuing her higher education in England. After that, she graduated from the MFA film program at Columbia University.
Her 2009 film Mundane History won the Tiger Award at the 2010 International Film Festival Rotterdam.
If you want to catch up on the Oscar submissions for our Coconuts sister cities, check out our coverage of the entries from Hong Kong, Singapore and Manila.
Reader Interactions