Mysterious Object at Noon Interview: Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Q. Where did you get the idea for Mysterious Object at noon? A. I was inspired by the surrealist Exquisite Corpse Game. (In this game, each participant picks out a word at random, and connects the words by forming sentences that spring to mind.) The thoughts of transforming this two dimensional game into the four-dimensional game called "film", and of reforming a Western game in an Asian style intrigued me and inspired me to make this film. Q. I understand that this film received funding from the Hubert Bals Fund of the Rotterdam Film Festival. How much was the production budget? A. The budget was US$ 80,000 (approx. 9 million yen). To get funds from the Hubert Bals Fund, one has to have a script for the film. But because this film has no script, I had to start filming with funding I had gathered myself, then got funding from the Fund after I showed them the rushes. This film was shot in 16mm, and the Fund's help was invaluable in blowing it up into 35 mm. Q. Has this film been released in Thailand ? A. No. An ordinary Thai audience wouldn't find the film interesting. Also, to release this film in Thailand, I would have to run it by Thai censors. Although I don't think this film would be censored in any way, I did not want to pay the censor screening fee. It was shown in Thailand at a festival that was screening experimental work, but I think that might be the one and only time it will be shown there. Director's Profile: Born in 1970 in Thailand. After working as an architect and multi-media artist, moved into filmmaking to filmmaking in the early 90s. Made his first feature-length film Mysterious Object at Noon in 2000. FoundedeKick the Machinefwith a Taiwanese investor. The company is working on a new documentary project, Band of Hope and a new feature film Blissfully Yours. The most interesting filmmaker emerging from Thailand.