Ror Wan
Komtouch Napattaloong
Thailand | 2023 | 84 min
World premiere
Languages : Thai, English, Arabic
Subtitles : English, French
Returning from a decade abroad, Komtouch Napattaloong meets the Ibrahim family in Bangkok, in exile due to the war in the Sudan. During their interminable six-year wait for a potential departure elsewhere, the director befriends the family, and together they create an uncommonly tender and lucid film.
Thai director Komtouch Napattaloong returns to Bangkok after a decade abroad. There he meets the Ibrahim family, exiled due to internal conflicts in Sudan. They befriend each other, sharing a mutual sympathy at finding themselves strangers in a country they call their own – for now, at least. As years spent stuck in the illegality of their status go by, they await a potential departure to Canada. The mother, Aswera, stubbornly dreams of a big family house like the one she had in Sudan, while her three joyfully carefree children begin to fit in at school and learn Thai. Time seems to stand still in this exile at the end of the world, while the camera moves from hand to hand, capturing moments of rare grace. Komtouch Napattaloong's infinitely gentle gaze comes to rest in this place they each call home for now, and which they will soon have to leave. His film sits precisely here, like a trace of hours gone by, made up of small moments of happiness and resilience.
Aurélien Marsais
El Cielo, 2016
Motherland, 2015
