re:assemblage collective

― PROGRAM DETAILS ―

Originally screened Aug. 16, 2021 at Cafe Pamenar

A trilogy of films that explore displacements, transformations and the ebb and flow of urbanity are collected in this program of recent shorts by Daphne Xu and Prapat Jiwarangsan. Xu's A THOUSAND-YEAR STAGE features local residents and migrant workers in the rapidly shifting Xiongan New Area, a region in Hebei, China being transformed from a rural zone into a megacity. Jiwarangsan's DESTINATION NOWHERE tells the story of a Japanese-born Thai teenager whose mother, a Thai migrant worker who “illegally” lived in Japan for many years, was deported back to Thailand while alluding to the young man’s unrecognised status and his fight to stay in the only country he calls home. Jiwarangsan's THE ASYLUM follows DJ Dok Rak who worked at a radio station in Chiang Mai that was shut down after the 2014 coup d'etat in Thailand and "Ah Tay" a boy of Keren ethnicity who secretly works in a village and fears being sent back to Myanmar due to lack of identification documents.

A THOUSAND-YEAR STAGE / 千年舞台 · Daphne Xu DESTINATION NOWHERE · Prapat Jiwarangsan THE ASYLUM · Prapat Jiwarangsan

DESTINATION NOWHERE

Directed by Prapat Jiwarangsan
Thailand · 2018 · 9'00

Prapat Jiwarangsan is a visual artist from Thailand with a background in interdisciplinary art and research. Trained in ceramics and glassmaking after studying at London's Royal College of Art, he shifted his artistic practice to focus on fine arts. Primarily utilizes photography and video to investigate and represent the relationships between history, memory, and politics in Thailand—particularly in relation to the theme of migration. More recently he's researched and developed a practice that explores the experience of migrant workers outside of their home countries. His most recent film "Ploy" premiered at the 2021 Berlin Film Festival [↗]