
Spotlight: Southeast Asian Shorts
In this edition of SPOTLIGHT, the festival features a carefully curated selection of Southeast Asian short films.
166 min | 2024 | Thailand
Language: Thai
Subtitles: English
Breaking The Cycle captures the political awakening among Thais after the rise and fall of Thanathorn, a young politician who calls to end the cycle of coups d’etat.
The film explores the 2019 election in Thailand, which marked the end of five years of full military rule and a new group of young politicians who campaign against an authoritarian constitution, sparking hope and a once-in-a-generation youth movement.
Aekaphong SARANSATE is an emerging Thai director and an editor specialized in documentary filmmaking. His debut short documentary THE SEA RECALLS (2018) won the Best Short Documentary at the 11th DMZ International Film Festival, competed at the
SGIFF 2018, and screened at various other festivals worldwide. Additionally, He is the editor for feature documentaries such as SOIL
WITHOUT LAND (Visions du Reel 2019, Special Jury Prize at TIDF) and HOURS OF OURS (Visions du Reel 2023, SGIFF 2023).
Tanwarat SOMBATWATTANA is a producer and filmmaker based in Bangkok. After her graduation in 2019, she has been working in close collaboration with filmmakers Pom Bunsermvicha, Noorahaya Lahtee, Jirassaya Wongsutin and Primrin Puarat as part of the producing team at production companies Vertical Films and Dream Sequenze. She has also worked as a researcher and project coordinator for projects and initiatives at Purin Pictures, Pop Pictures and Electric Eel Films. She was also the production coordinator
for the Netflix 2021 released The Trapped 13: How We Survived the Thai Cave by Thai director Pailin Wedel.

In this edition of SPOTLIGHT, the festival features a carefully curated selection of Southeast Asian short films.

Based on real-life trials of the Atis, the indigenous people of Central Panay, and starred by the Atis themselves, ANG TUMANDOK features a 16-year-old chieftain’s daughter as she fights tooth and nail with her people for their ancestral land.