FAMOUS PEN-EK RATANARUANG
AT THE WAJDA SCHOOL

Today, on 23 October, a well-known Thai film director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang will have a guest lecture at the Andrzej Wajda School.

The works of Pen-Ek Ratanaruang (born in 1962) is associated with the Thai new wave. He initiated the retro trend which derives from the Thai pop culture. He is one of the first Thai film directors who started to cooperate with foreign filmmakers. His films have been presented and appreciated in Cannes, Venice, Toronto. His work stands out among other genre productions with its non-classical following of the proven patterns. The films by Pen-Ek amaze with their sensuality and their sophisticated form based on the vague boundaries between the reality of the events and their visualisation by the characters.

Among the best known films by the Thai director, there are: The Last Life in the Universe (Ruang rak noi nid mahasan, 2003), The Invisible Waves (2006), Ploy (2007), Nymph (2009). In almost each film by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang theres is present the guilt motif. The ordinary, seemingly innocent people are capable of things nobody would expect them to do. Then they become victims of the awareness of the committed evil. How do they handle this, how does their environment react to their mystery, why do they commit crimes – this is what the director has been wondering about for years, finding the more and more subtle measures to ask these questions. The films by Pen-Ek will be presented at the 3 Warsaw Film Festival 'Kino w pięciu smakach [Cinema in Five Flavours]' between 22 and 25 October. The festival details are available at www.piecsmakow.pl/2009/.

Today (23 October) at 2.30 p.m., the film director will be our guest at the Andrzej Wajda School: he will present his film 'the Last Life in the Universe', give a lecture and he will meet the students to talk about the work on films.

 

October 2009)