News

Singapore’s Mokster Films is launching an upcoming Thai action romance here at the market from renowned director Nonzee Nimibutr.

The Diary, which is in production, follows an explosion that shatters the lives of a Muay Thai fighter who is imprisoned for his role in the tragedy and a pianist who is blinded. When they cross paths after the former’s release from jail, their shared pain sparks a connection that may lead to redemption.

Singapore-based sales company Mokster Films was launched last year by Nelson Mok, who recently handled Oscar-shortlisted Thai dramaHow To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, and is making its EFM debut.

Netflix has revealed its slate of original titles from Indonesia and Thailand set to premiere in 2025, including a series from the team behind box office phenomenon How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies.

Thai series Mad Unicorn follows a reformed rural street thug who dives into the express delivery industry to challenge a business mogul who once betrayed him and goes on to become the country’s first “unicorn” startup.

It marks the series directorial debut of Nottapon Boonprakob, who co-wrote Sundance 2021 award-winner One For The Road, and is executive produced by Jira Maligool and Vanridee Pongsittisak – the team behind...

Thailand’s skill with ghostly drama series gets another showing in “The Legend of Nang Nak,” which releases widely across Asia next week.

Directed by Taweewat Wantha and scripted by Sorarat Jirabovornwisut, the pair behind “Death Whisperer 1 and 2,” the 30-part series portrays a ghostly love story that defies the barriers between life and death.

The series hails from production firm Minds@Work and Thai terrestrial broadcast group Bec World. International sales are handled by I.E. Entertainment.

It will begin airing from Oct. 14 in Thailand on Channel 3 and on Netflix in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar. Viewers in Indonesia able to stream on the Vidio and Viu platforms.

Starring the duo of Yiwha Preeyakarn and Job Thuchapon, the early 19th century-set story sees Nak, promised to Lord Sanpimarn. But she discovers love in Mak and escapes to his village, Bang Phra Khanong. Challenged by Mak’s mother and a jealous acquaintance,...

One of the country’s most infamous ghost stories, the allegedly true story of Mae Nak Phra Khanong is a favorite among Thai people who gather from all over at a popular shrine dedicated to her near where she lived. Although film adaptations have been sparse, it still remains to be said that the most celebrated version is the 1999 masterpiece directed by celebrated Thai auteur Nonzee Nimibutr.

In 1868, Mak (Winai Kraibutr) is summoned to the army to fight in the war and leaves his beloved wife Nang Nak (Inthira Charoenpura), who is pregnant, alone in their isolated house in the village of Prakanong. Mak fights with his friend but is seriously wounded while his friend dies. He miraculously survives and after several years, he returns to Prakanong to finally meet Nak and their son, and they live happily together. However, one day a friend comes to visit...

Selection includes films from Siddiq Barmak, Yoon Gaeun and Min Bahadur Bham.

In South Korea, the Busan International Film Festival (Biff)’s Asian Project Market (Apm) has announced 28 titles from 17 countries for this year.

The 20th Apm’s selection includes projects from Golden Globe best foreign language film award winner Siddiq Barmak (Osama) and Berlinale Generation director Yoon Gaeun (The World Of Us).

Afghan filmmaker Barmak’s Georgia-France co-production The Pass is a wartime drama about two soldiers from opposite sides who are forced to cooperate in order to cross a dangerous mountain pass alongside refugees.

Korean director Yoon’s Sora is a drama about a middle school girl who finds out a secret about the new kid in the neighborhood.

According to organizers, the number of projects submitted to Apm this year went up “almost 25%” from the previous year to reach 317. In the 19 previous years, “a total of 499 projects have been selected with more than 220 of...

Bangkok-based Five Star Production has picked up international rights to biopic F.Hilaire, about a French priest who wrote a famous Thai language textbook.

Francois Touvenet Hilaire visited Thailand in the early 1900s and not only mastered the language but wrote the Darunsuksa textbook that is still used in Thailand today. Directed by Surussavadi Chuarchart, the film tells his story through a present-day teacher who is using the book and researchs Hilaire’s life for a Masters Degree.

Jason Young, a Bangkok-based actor who is fluent in Thai, plays Hilaire, while the teacher is played by Pharunyoo Rojanawuttitham (Still 2). The script was written by Chuarchart and Ek Iemchuen.

“We decided to distribute the film because we were impressed by the quality of the script and the acting. We’ve already had a lot of interest from Asian buyers,” said Five Star’s Amy Iamphungphorn.

Schedueld for Thai release in July, the project was produced by Bluering Company and Omac...

Thai director Banjong Pisanthanakun - co-director of Shutter and Alone, solo contributor to both Phobia horror anthology projects and helmer of the hysterical N Is For Nuptials segment in The ABCs of Death - is hard at work on his latest effort, the feature horror comedy Pee Mak Phrakanong. While plot details are generally being kept under wraps - all we've been told is that it's a sort of gender inversion of the classic Nang Nak legend - and there is not yet an English title for the film, Pisanthanakun let us know that the quartet of young men who starred in his Phobia shorts would be in the cast here as well along with star Mario Maurer. And whaddaya know? There they all are...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

One of the leaders of the wave of internationally minded Thai cinema that brought the Asian nation back to global attention in the early 2000's, Nang Nak and Jan Dara director Nonzee Nimibutr returns to Thai screens in May with Distortion. A grisly murder on a hot day in Bangkok sets in motion a psychological horror involving four people haunted by nightmares, repressed memories and the darkest past. Keun is a psychiatrist well-known for criminal profiling. He's sent to help solve the murder and at the crime scene, he meets Tien, a forensic scientist with a traumatic childhood. During the investigation, Keun meets Kwang, a 19-year-old woman whom he first met 9 years ago. Back then, Keun was sent to treat Kwang after she...

In 1999 the world was introduced to Thai horror via the romantic horror film Nang Nak. Upon its international success Thailand's horror film industry took off. The popularity of Nang Nak and the rise of J-horror has set a tone that seems to be featured in all Thai horror films. Unfortunately 'Tai hong' ('Die A Violent Death') does not stray far from these well-established and cliche' conventions. It does however have its moments, including one segment that is a parody of the entire genre itself.

[Updated with new poster and much higher quality trailer.]

Thanapon Maliwan’s The Sanctuary is a film that we’ve been tracking here for a good while now. Maliwan rose to attention as one of the directors in the Pechpanna Productions stable, the Thai action outfit where both Panna Rittikrai and Tony Jaa got their starts, Maliwan directing both Jaa and his mentor is at least one early pre-Ong Bak film together. And then there’s star Mike B, a Thai stunt man who was one of the key stunt performers in Ong Bak who Maliwan has been grooming for stardom for a little while.

This particular project began life as Dead End before finance troubles forced it to be suspended for a while and Maliwan and Mike B went off and made inconsistent action-comedy Brave instead. That project out of the way the materials from Dead End were reworked and redeveloped and the project re-launched as The Sanctuary...