In Thailand, a hymn to rice need not always be sung. A dance, or spectacular homemade fireworks can say the same thing. As can a film, as is convincingly demonstrated by this lyrical, beautifully filmed homage to this essential staple food.
Related Movies
Innocence (2006)
In the mountains of Northern Thailand lies a boarding school. The students come from different tribes in the area and live together with their Thai teacher, grow their own crops and cook their own meals while continuing their education. The biggest question on their mind, having spent all their lives in the mountainside, is where the rivers running down the hills end. If they pass the final exams their reward is a trip to the end of the river, to the ocean itself. The children are poor, some orphans, and most of them only speak their tribe's language, but all try their best to pass the exams to be able to take the long-awaited trip. This trip is not only a journey from the children's villages to the ocean but also a journey that symbolizes the change from childhood to adulthood.
Gohan (2017)
A film about rice cultivation that depicts the most beautiful rice field landscape in Japanese cinema history and the most realistic depiction of modern rice farmers.
Serene Siam (1937)
This travelogue begins at Bangkok's rail depot, a center of Indo-Chinese commerce. Next the narrator talks about Buddhism as the camera shows us some of Bangkok's many temples. Then, the narrator introduces us to the importance of traditional dance, with emphasis on the way that delicate wrist movements tell stories. It's on to the system of waterways in Bangkok, where more than 1,000,000 people live or conduct commerce. We take a ride down the Menam River, the country's most important commercial and social road. From our boat, we pass Wat Arun and other colorful signs of life typical in serene Siam.
Last Temptation in Thailand (2007)
Looking for paradise lost, the "Last Temptation in Thailand" is a mesmerizing odyssey through ancient temples, idyllic islands & enticing dark-eyed ladies of eve in a very sexy, off the beaten track road movie.
Storror Supertramps - Thailand (2015)
Storror Supertramps - Thailand is the first film of its kind. Seven friends take you on a thrilling feature length adventure, documenting their wild journey around South East Asia. Join some of the worlds favourite athletes on an incredible exploration into their world of fun, freedom and adventure. The boys push the limits of their comfort zone as they endure twenty-eight days with no plans, accommodation or money. What could possibly go wrong ?
Thailand Most Viral Vlogger 2 (2024)
From love pride parade to the strain hunters of Thailand. A vlogger makes its journey from the side hustle streets of Bangkok, covering the lost gems of Pattaya beaches and the mystical wonders of valuable antiques, amulets and significant temple paintings.
Sabai Sabai (2022)
A short documentary about the Thai restaurant Sabai Sabai located in Middlebury, Vermont.
Muay Thai (2018)
This intimate portrait of a Thai boxer, from New York-based filmmaker Josh Hayward, reveals the rituals and pressures experienced in Bangkok's boxing culture—an environment of grueling physical and psychological tension.
Chop, Chop, Chop (2023)
Care work, awareness-raising, waste reduction. Thieboudienne, chaufa, paella. What do these recipes have in common? Who cooks them? Where?
The Importance of Being Mlabri (2007)
There are only 320 Mlabri people left on this planet. They came out of the jungle in Northern Thailand on the border to Laos one generation ago. The Mlabri people used to be hunters and gatherers. Today they scrape out a meagre existence at the bottom of society working as day labourers for the Hmong farmers, and living in shacks on the outskirts of larger Hmong villages. The Mlabri people are currently going through a transformation process, which has taken many other people thousands of years. Now the young people are faced with the choice of staying with their families in the village or adapting to the Thai society. How do they experience the meeting between their own culture and the local, regional and national majority cultures? In this film young Mlabri tell about their past, present and future as they see it; all expressed in their unique and expressive Mlabri language.
Katoey (2019)
Katoey meets three people in rural Thailand who are clearly and confidently women even though their bodies are male. Integrated to an impressive degree into society, these women have successfully overcome the difference between their physical and mental genders.
Bananas!* (2009)
Juan “Accidentes” Dominguez is on his biggest case ever. On behalf of twelve Nicaraguan banana workers he is tackling Dole Food in a ground-breaking legal battle for their use of a banned pesticide that was known by the company to cause sterility. Can he beat the giant, or will the corporation get away with it?
The Money Lenders (1991)
Critical investigation of The World Bank and IMF. Too hot for PBS, but prime time TV everywhere else. Do the World Bank and IMF make the poor even poorer? Are the Bank and IMF democratic institutions? Why do people demonstrate against the Bank and IMF? For the first time, a documentary global investigation of major criticisms of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), two of the most powerful financial institutions in the world. Five country case studies are presented, each concentrating on a different aspect of critics' charges: 1. Bolivia: Debt, Drugs and Democracy 2. Ghana: The Model of Success 3. Brazil: Debt, Damage and Politics 4. Thailand: Dams and Dislocation 5. Philippines: The Debt Fighters. The charges, including those related to structural adjustment, are controversial and provocative. Some go to the heart of the power and policies of these institutions.
Art as a Weapon (2014)
Street art, creativity and revolution collide in this beautifully shot film about art’s ability to create change. The story opens on the politically charged Thailand/Burma border at the first school teaching street art as a form of non-violent struggle. The film follows two young girls (Romi & Yi-Yi) who have escaped 50 years of civil war in Burma to pursue an arts education in Thailand. Under the threat of imprisonment and torture, the girls use spray paint and stencils to create images in public spaces to let people know the truth behind Burma's transition toward "artificial democracy." Eighty-two hundred miles away, artist Shepard Fairey is painting a 30’ mural of a Burmese monk for the same reasons and in support of the students' struggle in Burma. As these stories are inter-cut, the film connects these seemingly unrelated characters around the concept of using art as a weapon for change.
Moving to Mars (2009)
Moving to Mars charts the epic journey made by two Burmese families from a vast refugee camp on the Thai/Burma border to their new homes in the UK. At times hilarious, at times emotional, their travels provide a fascinating and unique insight not only into the effects of migration, but also into one of the most important current political crises - Burma.
Elephant Whisperer (2012)
Sangduen Chailert, or Lek, as she is generally known, has already rescued over 200 elephants. She has dedicated her life to saving the Asian elephant and founded a special camp, The Elephant Nature Park to protect them. We follow this winner of Time Magazine’s “Asian Hero of the Year” Award in her work. Lek is on a mission to save the Asian elephant in her native Thailand. This film looks at the plight of the Asian elephant, as it goes from being a widely used domestic animal, to becoming a burden on modernizing communities. With experts predicting its extinction within four decades, Lek’s work is needed now more than ever and she has gathered a large group of supporters and volunteers in her quest for a better future for the Asian elephant. This moving film demonstrates Lek’s natural understanding of and rapport with these huge animals and will stir the viewers emotions as it highlights the often desperate state some elephants are kept in.
My Boyfriend, The Sex Tourist (2007)
A look at global sex tourism, focusing on the situation in Venezuela and Thailand.
Earth (1931)
A main agenda of the prewar farmer's movement was struggle against landowners. Prokino also considered this as their prime concern. The main title sequence and the latter part of the film have unfortunately been lost. While we cannot see its entire structure, we can still get a glimpse of it from this surviving short.