{"id":465,"date":"2026-05-22T06:35:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T06:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=465"},"modified":"2026-05-22T06:35:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T06:35:47","slug":"thai-director-sompot-chidgasornpongse-on-9-temples-to-heaven-his-debut-feature-at-cannes-directors-fortnight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=465","title":{"rendered":"Thai Director Sompot Chidgasornpongse on \u20189 Temples to Heaven,\u2019 His Debut Feature at Cannes Directors\u2019 Fortnight"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nSompot Chidgasornpongse spent more than two decades as assistant director to Apichatpong Weerasethakul, working on films including \u201cTropical Malady,\u201d \u201cSyndromes and a Century,\u201d \u201cCemetery of Splendour\u201d and \u201cMemoria.\u201d Now he is at Cannes with a feature of his own: \u201c9 Temples to Heaven,\u201d an ensemble drama about a Thai family\u2019s one-day pilgrimage to nine temples, world premiering in Directors\u2019 Fortnight and in competition for the Cam\u00e9ra d\u2019Or.<\/p>\n

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\n\tThe film follows Sakol, who \u2013 after a fortune teller warns him his elderly mother may die soon \u2013 gathers the family for a ritual journey across Thailand\u2019s temple landscape. Produced by Kick The Machine Films and At A Time in Thailand, with international co-production from E&W Films (Singapore), petit chaos (France), Needle in the Haystack (Norway), La Fonte (China), Square One Film (Hong Kong) and Qun Films (Indonesia), the picture has international sales handled by Playtime.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe story took root in Chidgasornpongse\u2019s own family rituals. \u201cMaking offerings at 9 temples within 1 day, which my family and many Thais also practice, feels like one of the ultimate manifestations of those beliefs,\u201d he says. \u201cThough my critical side has always questioned the effectiveness of the promised outcomes, I continued to practice those rituals, sometimes simply to please my family, or to give myself peace of mind. I\u2019m interested in those contradictions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film\u2019s central practice is a ritual called Sangkatan, in which devotees offer containers of useful items to the monastic community. \u201cMy aim was simply to capture the way things really are in contemporary Thai temples, the regular everyday things that can happen, at least from what I\u2019ve witnessed through my own experiences,\u201d Chidgasornpongse says.<\/p>\n

\n\tStructured as a road movie, the film opens in morning light and tracks the family through to nightfall, moving from one temple to the next with scenes of travel in between. Chidgasornpongse trained as an architect before turning to cinema and later completed an MFA in Film\/Video at CalArts. \u201cWe were trained to first think about the overall plan and layout before dealing with the details,\u201d he says. \u201cPerhaps because of that, I often see the structure of my films first, including my short films, even before I fully know the stories that will eventually exist within them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tThe script took shape during a period of political turbulence in Thailand following the death of King Bhumibol. \u201cIt created many fractures within society and even within families, especially between the older and younger generations, in terms of how differently they view established sacred institutions and where the country should be heading in the future,\u201d Chidgasornpongse says. Those tensions run through the generational dynamics of the film\u2019s central family.<\/p>\n

\n\tWeerasethakul serves as producer on the project, extending a working partnership of more than two decades. \u201cI\u2019ve been working closely with Apichatpong for more than 23 years now, so it\u2019s almost impossible to list everything I\u2019ve learned from him,\u201d Chidgasornpongse says, adding, with evident humor, that his mentor \u201cstill hasn\u2019t made a feature film about a big family ensemble like this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn landing in Directors\u2019 Fortnight for his feature debut, Chidgasornpongse says: \u201cDirectors\u2019 Fortnight is an amazing section and the home of many films that I love, films that have deeply inspired me as both a filmmaker and a film lover, so premiering our film there is my greatest honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Thai filmmaker Sompot Chidgasornpongse discusses his debut feature ‘9 Temples to Heaven,’ world premiering at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[497,498,3,499],"class_list":["post-465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-9-temples-to-heaven","tag-apichatpong-weerasethakul","tag-cannes-film-festival","tag-sompot-chidgasornpongse"],"yoast_head":"\nThai Director Sompot Chidgasornpongse on \u20189 Temples to Heaven,\u2019 His Debut Feature at Cannes Directors\u2019 Fortnight - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=465\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thai Director Sompot Chidgasornpongse on \u20189 Temples to Heaven,\u2019 His Debut Feature at Cannes Directors\u2019 Fortnight - 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