Curated by Weiqi & organized by @untitled for film
Chiang Mai gathers people from across the world. Here, English is often the medium of exchange—yet it may not be their mother tongue, nor Thailand’s official language. Speaking in a “foreign tongue” in a foreign land does not merely make language a site of communication and resonance; in this unsettled era, drift, exile, concealment, and countless farewells force many to inhabit a space where language is constantly in flux. When our means of expression is taken over by another language, language itself becomes The Ministry of Pain—an archive of identities and memories marked by loss.
This screening begins with the question of the “mother tongue,” presenting five short films from Europe and Southeast Asia, which take us to explore the subtle relations between language, exile, and memory. In a foreign land, looking back on a past that cannot return, how do we face it?
Line up & Synopsis 107 min
La Voix des Autres (The Voice of Others)
Fatima KACI | Fiction | 2023 | France | 30 min
Synopsis :
Rim, a Tunisian woman, works in France as an interpreter for asylum-seekers. Every day, she translates the stories of exiled men and women whose voices question her own history.
All the Things You Leave Behind
Chanasorn CHAIKITIPORN｜Film Essay | 2022 | Thailand | 18 min
Synopsis :
Thailand’s strategic position and political orientation made it the ideal ally for the United States during the Vietnam war. Through an astonishing mix of contemporary and archival images, All the Things You Leave Behind deploys precise criticism to analyse a little-known page of modern history, emblematic of contemporary power games and warfare.
Federding (The Thing with Feathers)
Tianlin XU | Fiction | 2022 | German | 20 min
Synopsis :
An Iranian-Afghan family’s life in Germany can be solely seen through their hands. Maryam sticks to a daily studying routine, hoping to return to her medical career, while her husband receives a job interview, seeking to become a photographer.
จงสวัสดิ์ （The Announced Tragedy）
Thanut RUJITANONT | Animation | 2024 | Thailand | 10 min
Synopsis :
A recollection of the director’s fragmented memory he had at the time when his grandmother passed away. The film is a space-time conservation of his house in Bangkok, Thailand.
Au Revoir Siam
Domenico Singha PEDROLI | Documentary | 2024 | France, Switzerland, Thailand | 29 min
Synopsis :
Au Revoir Siam charts the mental journey of a Thai political refugee in France. Intertwining traditional Thai rituals with the reality faced by political refugees, filmmaker Domenico Singha Pedroli explores the concept of borders, examining time, space and identity. A poetic and political narrative that delves into the troubled past of the Kingdom of Siam.
Sat 30 August 2025
19:30 - 21:20
At Rooftop, Media Arts and Design, CMU
Free entry
5 short films, with English subtitles
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