Song of the City

• Year 2018
• Part of Ten Years Thailand, omnibus film, 95 min., DCP, colour
  Thailand / Hong Kong / Japan
• Omnibus directors Aditya Assarat, Wisit Sasanatieng, Chulayarnnon Siriphol, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
• Premiere Special Screenings, Cannes Film Festival, 2018

Song of the City is Apichatpong’s segment of Ten Years Thailand, an omnibus of five films by Thai filmmakers asked to imagine the country ten years ahead. The project follows Ten Years (2015), in which Hong Kong filmmakers pictured their city in 2025, and similar projects in Japan and Taiwan. The other segments are Aditya Assarat’s Sunset, Wisit Sasanatieng’s Catopia and Chulayarnnon Siriphol’s Planetarium.

Apichatpong’s film is set in Ratchada Nuson Park in Khon Kaen, his hometown. People gather to enjoy the breeze and a chat. Two old friends talk about their summer plans, a man tries to sell a sleep-aid device to a group of friends, a pair of soldiers amble through another corner. Somewhere in the distance a marching band rehearses, and the orange of a backhoe appears among the trees now and then.

Over everything stands a statue of Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat, filmed from below so that he looks solid and powerful. Sarit led the US-backed coup of 1957, and his government closed parliament, banned political parties and censored the press, imprisoning those who opposed it.