Mysterious Object at Noon
Encyclopedia
Mysterious Object at Noon is a 2000
Thai
independent
experimental
documentary film
directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
.
party game as a concept, with the film crew traveling across Thailand
, interviewing people and asking each person to add their own words to a story.
The film was shot in 16mm and enlarged to 35mm for international exhibition.
, having received support from the Hubert Bals Fund in 1998. It had its North American premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival
, where it won a special citation Dragons and Tigers Award. It won the Grand Prize (Woosuk Award) at the Jeonju International Film Festival
, second prize and the NETPAC
Special Mention Prize at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
. The film was screened at many other film festivals, including the London Film Festival
, the Singapore International Film Festival
and the Hong Kong International Film Festival
.
, Mysterious Object at Noon received little attention in the director's native country. However through film festival screenings overseas, the film gained positive notice from film critics.
"Mr. Weerasethakul's film is like a piece of chamber music slowly, deftly expanding into a full symphonic movement; to watch it is to enter a fugue state
that has the music and rhythms of another culture. It's really a movie that requires listening, reminding us that the medium did become talking pictures at one point," said Elvis Mitchell
in The New York Times
.
2000 in film
The year 2000 in film involved some significant events.The top grosser worldwide was Mission: Impossible II. Domestically in North America, Gladiator won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor ....
Thai
Cinema of Thailand
The cinema of Thailand dates back to the early days of filmmaking, when King Chulalongkorn's 1897 visit to Bern, Switzerland was recorded by Francois-Henri Lavancy-Clarke. The film was then brought to Bangkok, where it was exhibited...
independent
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
experimental
Experimental film
Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Apichatpong "Joe" Weerasethakul is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His feature films include Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, winner of the prestigious 2010 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or prize; Tropical Malady, which won a jury prize at the 2004...
.
Production
The film is unscripted and uses the exquisite corpseExquisite corpse
Exquisite corpse, also known as exquisite cadaver or rotating corpse, is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule Exquisite corpse, also known as exquisite cadaver (from the original...
party game as a concept, with the film crew traveling across Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, interviewing people and asking each person to add their own words to a story.
The film was shot in 16mm and enlarged to 35mm for international exhibition.
Festivals and awards
Mysterious Object at Noon premiered in January 2000 at the International Film Festival RotterdamInternational Film Festival Rotterdam
The International Film Festival Rotterdam is an annual film festival held in various cinemas in Rotterdam, Netherlands held at the end of January. It is approximately comparable in size to other major European festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Locarno...
, having received support from the Hubert Bals Fund in 1998. It had its North American premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival
Vancouver International Film Festival
The Vancouver International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for two weeks in late September and early October...
, where it won a special citation Dragons and Tigers Award. It won the Grand Prize (Woosuk Award) at the Jeonju International Film Festival
Jeonju International Film Festival
The Jeonju International Film Festival has been held annually since 2000 in Jeonju, South Korea, focusing on digital, independent and art films.-2000:*April 28-May 4: 184 films from 21 countries...
, second prize and the NETPAC
Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema
The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema is a worldwide organization of 29 member countries. It was created as the result of a conference on Asian cinema organized by Cinemaya, the Asian Film Quarterly, in New Delhi in 1990 at the instance and with the support of UNESCO, Paris.Headquartered...
Special Mention Prize at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
The Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival is a documentary film festival held biennially in Yamagata, Japan.It was first held in October 1989, which makes it one of the longest running documentary film festivals in the world and the most distinguished such festival in Asia...
. The film was screened at many other film festivals, including the London Film Festival
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
, the Singapore International Film Festival
Singapore International Film Festival
The Singapore International Film Festival was launched in 1987. The festival is an annual film event, held around April/May each year, and screens about 300 films from over 45 countries...
and the Hong Kong International Film Festival
Hong Kong International Film Festival
The Hong Kong International Film Festival is a platform for filmmakers, film professionals and filmgoers from all over the world to launch and experience new film work. There are seminars, conferences, exhibitions, and parties celebrating the festival community...
.
Critical reception
Because its experimental nature falls outside the mainstream of Thai cinemaCinema of Thailand
The cinema of Thailand dates back to the early days of filmmaking, when King Chulalongkorn's 1897 visit to Bern, Switzerland was recorded by Francois-Henri Lavancy-Clarke. The film was then brought to Bangkok, where it was exhibited...
, Mysterious Object at Noon received little attention in the director's native country. However through film festival screenings overseas, the film gained positive notice from film critics.
"Mr. Weerasethakul's film is like a piece of chamber music slowly, deftly expanding into a full symphonic movement; to watch it is to enter a fugue state
Fugue state
A fugue state, formally dissociative fugue or psychogenic fugue , is a rare psychiatric disorder characterized by reversible amnesia for personal identity, including the memories, personality and other identifying characteristics of individuality...
that has the music and rhythms of another culture. It's really a movie that requires listening, reminding us that the medium did become talking pictures at one point," said Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell is an American film critic, host of the public radio show The Treatment, and visiting lecturer at Harvard University. He has served as a film critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the LA Weekly, The Detroit Free Press, and The New York Times...
in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.