Ghost of Asia
Thailand / France 2005
9:11 minutes / Digital, 4:3, Dolby 5.1 / Colour
- Directors / Camera Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Christelle Lheureux
- Story Jantrakansorn Sukkrajang, Sakda Poka, Nantawat Poonpeum
- Cast Sakda Kaewbuadee
- Music Gandhi Anantagant (“Ghost of Asia” music), Decha Woongon (Guitar Man on the Beach), Boyd Kosiyabong (“Flower,” original song)
- Sound Supervisor Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr
- Post Production Supervisor Lee Chatametikool
- Production Assistants Suchada Sirithanawuddhi, Sompot Chidgasornpongse
- Color Correction Julien Loustau
- Production Cité Siam, Alliance Française, Bangkok; French Embassy, Bangkok. Funded by The Ministry of Culture, Thailand. Project Supporters: Dr. Apinan Poshyananda, Aruna Adiceam, Philippe Laleu
Premiered at the Bangkok World Film Festival, 20 October 2005
Ghost of Asia (installation version)
Thailand / France 2005
2 screen installation, 9:11 minutes, looped / Digital, 4:3, Dolby 5.1 / Colour
Presented in the group exhibition Politics of Fun at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, 30 September – 20 November 2005, curated by Gridthiya Gaweewong and Ong Keng Sen.
The video installation Ghost of Asia (2005) is a collaboration between two film-makers, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Christelle Lheureux, taking the recent tsunami in Asia as its starting point. For this double projection, the directors have used the idea of a ghost seen wandering along the rocky coastline of a Thai island and, in a life-affirming gesture, they have invited some local children to direct the film for them, suggesting and filming the movements of the actor-ghost. By projecting their own ideas on to this ghostly creature, half real, half imagined, the children’s fantasies are given real substance, their childish game mediated by the adult ‘game’ of shooting a film. – 2005 Andrea Viliani/ Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea
I want to play. / This is a squid.
Draw. / Draw a tree.
Draw… a football.
I want you to draw a tree. / I want you to draw…
Draw a giraffe.
Draw a ball.
Draw a house.
Draw a plane.
Draw…
Draw an animal.
Take a picture.
Throw the spear.
Shark.
Fish. Dolphins. Squid.
Eat them.
Drink.
Find crabs.
And… fish.
And jump in the sea.
And ride in a boat.
And kick a football.
And…
fly a plane.
And find a lizard.