Thai director Sivaroj Kongsakul first made “Immortality,” which screened at festivals including Busan, Rotterdam and Hong Kong in 2010. After waiting more than a decade, Kongsakul chose to bring together the fates of an old man, a young girl and a young soldier in his second feature, “Regret at Dawn.”
The new film has been confirmed to screen in the New Directors section at the San Sebastian Film Festival and will be followed shortly by an appearance at the Busan International Film Festival in October.
The film is quite different from “Immortality” and Kongsakul's recent TV work.
In a small province not far from Bangkok, the life of Yong Jonggam (played by Surachai Juntimathorn, better known as a veteran Thai rock musician) seems at first glance to be typical of an old man. The traces of his past as a soldier are clearly visible. Although he is currently feeling ill, Yong spends each day dreaming of building a tree house on his own, while at the same time raising his intelligent and energetic niece who was abandoned by her parents. The two live with Rambo, his black dog with strange eyes. When one day it seems that time has stopped and the sun will never shine again, the man feels his death coming.
Producers are Pimpaka Towira (Thailand) and Weijie Lai (Singapore), of Extra Virgin and E&W Films respectively. Diversion is handling worldwide sales of the film.
At the project stage, the film was previously screened at several labs and co-production markets in Asia and Europe, including the Hubert Bals Screenplay Development Fund, the Cannes Foundation Residency Programme, Cinema La Fabrique, and the now-defunct Civic Centre. The film also received grant funding from the Singapore Film Industry Development Authority's Southeast Asia Co-production Scheme.
transformation
“The long journey I took with this film led me to reflect on different dimensions of my own emotions: thinking about my post-teenage years, a time I can never get back, and entering middle age, a period I now want to take more seriously. Then there is the reality of death: I saw death approaching all around me as the world faced the plague called COVID-19. I also revisited my memories – scenes in my life where I lost someone dear to me forever, and a departure without saying goodbye. I have been unable to stop thinking about these things for the past 10 years. They circulate in my thoughts and inevitably find their way into my creative process,” Kongsakul said. “The three main characters in Regret at Dawn are vessels for my memories of the past, records of the present and prophets of a future world where I glimpse hopes and dreams.”
Kongsakul was one of the directorial trio who shot the Asian feature film “Distance” in 2015. Much of his other work has been for the small screen.
These include: the 2012 Korean remake of “Autumn in my Heart” which aired on Thailand’s True TV; the 2015 series “Devil Lover” which was filmed in Kitakyushu, Japan and aired on Thailand’s GMM25; and the Thai series “Nyctophobia” and “Two Pillows & a Lost Soul” for GMM Studios International. Most recently, he directed the Netflix series “Master of the House” in Thailand.
Watch the trailer here.
