Dude, Movie presents "Hearing The Voice Of Absence", a programme of eight Thai and Japanese films, at Suan Anya in Chiang Mai, from Friday to Sunday.
Held in collaboration with the Japan Foundation, Bangkok, the film programme explores the inter-relationship between voices and spaces that have been obscured from appearing through the passage of time and the structures of power that determine what should and should not be recorded or remembered.
The eight films in the programme consider landscapes, objects and bodies as sites that retain traces of memory, leading to the processes of recovering, rearranging and reconstructing alternative narratives through the medium of moving images.
Each film reflects human attempts to struggle for and affirm the dignity and value of being alive. Through individual and collective experiences, as well as echoes of contemporary political history, the programme brings together diverse forms of visual representation, ranging from documentary films and testimony to experimental cinema.
The programme opens with a conversation between Nattakun Khamphinit, curator and programme designer of Dude, Movie, and Gohei Miyoshi of Asian Film Joint, co-programmer of the film programme, on Friday at 5pm.
It will be followed by the screening of three experimental documentary films -- Tongpan (1977), The Extinction Of Landscape (1971) and Night Colonies (2021) -- starting at 7pm.
On Saturday at 9.30am, there will be "Walking Through Memory", a historical walk to explore significant buildings and sites within Chiang Mai University and its surrounding communities.
A screening will follow at 5pm featuring the documentary The World Of Dementia (1986), the essay film The Cherry Tree With Gray Blossoms (1977) and the experimental film Local Sensations (2025).
The last day will feature the keynote lecture "Between Political And Ultra-personal: Exploring The Duality In Post-60s Japanese Cinema" by Koyo Yamashita at 5pm. The conversation will be in Thai and Japanese, with Thai interpretation.
The programme will wrap up with a screening of two experimental documentaries -- Narrative (2025) and Double-Layered Town/Making A Song To Replace Our Positions (2019), starting at 7.30pm.
There is no admission fee. For reservations, visit ticketmelon.com.
